Biggest Cities in Kentucky

Kentucky's population is concentrated in two metro areas — Louisville and Lexington — with smaller regional centers in Bowling Green, Owensboro, and Covington.

Louisville — 633,000 (metro: 1.4 million)
Kentucky's largest city and the cultural center of the state — Louisville is where Kentucky's southern character, midwestern work ethic, and Appalachian heritage intersect. The Louisville Slugger Museum, Churchill Downs and the Kentucky Derby (first Saturday in May — the event creates a two-week festival that effectively doubles the city's population), the Muhammad Ali Center, and the NuLu arts district anchor a city with more cultural depth than its regional reputation suggests. Brown-Forman (Jack Daniel's, Woodford Reserve), Humana (one of the largest health insurance companies in the US), and Kindred Healthcare are headquartered here.

Lexington — 330,000 (metro: 520,000)
The "Horse Capital of the World" — Lexington is surrounded by the most valuable agricultural land in the world (per acre, Inner Bluegrass horse farm land is among the priciest anywhere). The Kentucky Horse Park, Keeneland Race Course (one of the two most important Thoroughbred racing venues in the US), Rupp Arena (home of the UK Wildcats, the most successful college basketball program in history), and the Distilled Spirits Epicenter (bourbon tour hub) define Lexington. The University of Kentucky is the largest employer.

Bowling Green — 75,000
Home of the National Corvette Museum — every Chevrolet Corvette ever made is produced at the GM Bowling Green Assembly Plant adjacent to the museum. The museum's 2014 sinkhole (which swallowed 8 display cars) became a national story. Western Kentucky University and the nearby Mammoth Cave NP (30 miles north) give Bowling Green more significance than its size suggests.

Covington — 42,000
Northern Kentucky's largest city — directly across the Ohio River from Cincinnati. Covington's MainStrasse Village (a preserved 19th-century German immigrant commercial district) and the Roebling Suspension Bridge (1866, designed by John Roebling — a prototype for the Brooklyn Bridge) are its main attractions.