Good Areas Northern Kentucky (Lexington, Louisville: housing, rent, income)

[Blue_panda]

Hello! ^_^

My family and I are from Florida and where looking to move to a nice state, away from all the "city life". And were looking torwards Kentucky , now we know nothing about it .. so i was wondering if anyone here could help us with some infomation about the areas in the northen parts.. which place is better or the worst. how much is the housing there (it'll have to be under 150,000) and what kinda jobs are there, etc. Some info about these things would be great , thank you.

[rppipa01]

away from all the "city life".

Before I try to answer the rest of your questions, could you please clarify this for me. I understand that you don't want to live in a city/very developed area (I've been to Florida so I can understand). But do you mean you want to be totally away from civilization? Would you like to have access to a larger city but live in a remote area? If so, how far away? Or would you like a small town in the middle of a very rural area? If so, what size? What are important factors to you? Friendliness? Job market? Housing cost?

the areas in the northen parts

Since you are unfamiliar with the state, I am going to ask just for clarification purposes. What do you mean by the northern parts. Do you mean the Northern Kentucky region (i.e. the nub adjacent to Cincinnati):



or just the northern half of the state (if you drew a line across the state east and west from Lexington):



As you can see, the second half encompasses much more of the state (Northern Kentucky, top portion of Eastern Kentucky, and the Central/Bluegrass Region).

Thanks and hope I can fill you in on more info once I get a clear picture of what you are looking for!

[Blue_panda]

Originally Posted by rppipa01

Before I try to answer the rest of your questions, could you please clarify this for me. I understand that you don't want to live in a city/very developed area (I've been to Florida so I can understand). But do you mean you want to be totally away from civilization? Would you like to have access to a larger city but live in a remote area? If so, how far away? Or would you like a small town in the middle of a very rural area?

Like you said, somewhere romote but has a city near by. Somewhere where its peaceful with lots of land and friendly nighbors kinda thing. As for housing and such it really doesn't matter... because right now were just looking at the prices, the only rule we have is that it has 3 bedrooms and 2 baths. (and its around 150,000)

Since you are unfamiliar with the state, I am going to ask just for clarification purposes. What do you mean by the northern parts. Do you mean the Northern Kentucky region (i.e. the nub adjacent to Cincinnati):

Yes, somewhere near the border. : )

[rppipa01]

Alright, now that I have an idea of what you want, I can suggest a few places for you to look.

Because you want a rural area, I'd suggest you automatically rule out the three darker colored red counties (Boone, Kenton, Campbell...see above picture). While I personally liked visting there (and would not mind living there), they are very densley populated. The southernmost parts of the three core counties are still primarily rural in nature but are rapidly being consumed by urban sprawl. You may want to consider these areas as you will be close to Cincinnati, however, keep in mind the growing sprawl of the area. These are mainly the counties people consider "Northern Kentucky" and, due to its close location to Cincinnati, many consider themselves as much "Cincinnatians" as they do "Kentuckians".

The four outer counties in Cincy's metro area are still primarily rural (Gallatin, Grant, Pendleton and especially Bracken). So if I were you, I'd consider these four first (as well as Mason, which while not in Cincinnati's metro area, is only a hour away from both Cincinnati and Lexington).

Pendleton County - pretty rural county though you are still close to NKY. I have heard a lot of good things about this area and have been to the high school a few times. No sure if the county itself has a lot of "high paying" jobs (remember, all things are relative...a high paying job in some rural counties would be looked at as minimum wages in places like CA...tradeoff is goods/lands/all that are usually a lot cheaper).

Grant/Gallatin I don't really know a lot about but that is probably because a) they are not very heavily populated and b) you simply don't hear much about them.

Bracken is a VERY rural county and is probably the farthest out from Cincy. If you want to commute to the Nati for work, I would advise something a bit closer to home. Agriculture remains vital to the economy, with farms occupying 83.8 percent of the land area. It does have some beautiful rural landscapes, however, and I did like Augusta (nice small town, but there isn't a lot of industry jobs there). If you like a slow place and aren't concerned about the job market, might look here.

Mason county is not part of the Cincinnati Metro area but is my home county (i.e.e I know the most about it). It is right next to Ohio and approximately an hour from Lexington and Cincinnati. The population is somewhere around 17-18K. It is also a very rural county with most of its population contained in Maysville (which acts a small magnet town for many surrounding counties). There official population is around 8K, although it is most likely closer to 10-12K. My personal view is that it is a nice smaller town with a friendly attitude (I personally enjoy Louisville much more...but that is probably due to the fact that I enjoy larger cities). Job market is so-so (this is pretty much anywhere in rural KY) but downtown has several historic buildings.


Hope this helps and at least give you so clue of where you might like to look at living. Good luck in your search.

[torrentgirl]

you can always live in northern kentucky and work in cincinnati. that is what alot of people do. of course, the rush hour drive is just that. about an hour to drive 15 - 20 miles.:

[nalabama]

Thanks for the question Blue Panda and the answers rppipa01 and torrentgirl. I'm after the same kind of input. How about Robertson County? I note it has the lowest population density in the state, as well as the lowest per capita income. I assume it is almost entirely rural, given the only city I see is Mt. Olivet, with a population in the 500 to 600 range. Why the low population density and low incomes? Is the county government effective and free of corruption? Would you want to live there if you were retired and still relatively healthy? Thanks for any info you can provide.

[rppipa01]

While I spend the first 18 years of my life living in Mason County (Maysville), Robertson County was just southwest of us. As of 2000, the population was a little over 2K. Robertson is a dry county (i.e. no alcohol sales) and it is the smallest county by population in Kentucky (it is also one of the smallest area wise too).

I note it has the lowest population density in the state, as well as the lowest per capita income. I assume it is almost entirely rural, given the only city I see is Mt. Olivet, with a population in the 500 to 600 range.

The median income is very low for the county...somewhere around 30K I think. As you can imagine, this low income rate also means a high poverty level (around 30ish%). Both of these facts are probably tied to the fact that Robertson is not mostly, but entirely rural. This has good and bad points. On the good side, the air is clean (no pollution), traffic is light, land is cheap, and you don't have to worry about loads of crime. On the bad side, you have to drive a long ways to get to civilization (Maysville is one of the bigger cities as it has a Wal-mart and a movie theater and it is about 20 miles). Mt. Olivet is the only "city" (it is more like a village) and its population is closer to 300 people. In addition, there isn't much to do there and jobs are scarce (this is one place the Industrial Revolution never reached). Blue Licks State Park is a nice spot in the county.

Here are some picture from the county website:

http://robertsoncountyky.com/Gallery/generalphotos

Personally, I would retire elsewhere in the state (Bardstown, Maysville, Mt. Washington, Berea, etc.). If you really like rural areas though and want to be alone on your land, then you might want to consider. Just my opinion though (plus, I like civilization a bit better than miles of endless unsettled land).

[nalabama]

Thank you for the info rppipa01. Robertson County sounds good to me, but then I am partial to rural areas without Wal-Mart and lots of people. It was good to hear that crime is not a major problem, as the low employment was raising that question in my mind. All the other areas you mention are very nice from all I have heard and seen. All my relatives are around Frankfort, which is beautiful, but is losing its cropland and farms to development at a steady pace.

Thanks

[Trail Majic]

Originally Posted by rppipa01

Before I try to answer the rest of your questions, could you please clarify this for me. I understand that you don't want to live in a city/very developed area (I've been to Florida so I can understand). But do you mean you want to be totally away from civilization? Would you like to have access to a larger city but live in a remote area? If so, how far away? Or would you like a small town in the middle of a very rural area? If so, what size? What are important factors to you? Friendliness? Job market? Housing cost?



Since you are unfamiliar with the state, I am going to ask just for clarification purposes. What do you mean by the northern parts. Do you mean the Northern Kentucky region (i.e. the nub adjacent to Cincinnati):



or just the northern half of the state (if you drew a line across the state east and west from Lexington):



As you can see, the second half encompasses much more of the state (Northern Kentucky, top portion of Eastern Kentucky, and the Central/Bluegrass Region).

Thanks and hope I can fill you in on more info once I get a clear picture of what you are looking for!

where can you recommend that's 1 hour away from city life,rural living,grace of love and reasonable to live without living in the midst of illegal crap from 3rd world countries playing music every FRI & SAT straight from the trash can to your community?

[jak88]

I lived in Taylor Mill, which is in Kenton County. It was a very small town, by small town standards. I live in a 'small town' in Illinois, and the population is 35,000 and takes at least 30 minutes to get to my job six miles down the road.

In Taylor Mill, the population doesn't even near 10,000, and it only took my dad 20 minutes tops to drive to his job in Cincinnati, Ohio. There are routes to take to avoid traffic.

Not only that, but the area is very beautiful. If you like hills and nice, moderate winters, Northern Kentucky is amazing. I would recommend it to anyone. Not many people in the country know about this area, but that is because we don't want people to know about it. It is a very convienant place to live, especially if you work in Cincinnati but want to avoid living in a larger city. I also don't like the crime and murder rates in Cincinnati, which are almost non-existant in my old town of Taylor Mill.

Many benefits to living in that area, around Kenton, Boone, etc. I can't speak from a town by town basis, but I can tell you that if you want to raise a family and buy an affordable house, Taylor Mill is the place to go.