View source for Kentucky

{{short description|U.S. state}}
{{About|the U.S. state|the river|Kentucky River|other uses}}
{{pp-vandalism|small=yes}}
{{Pp-move}}

{{Use American English|date=August 2019}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=September 2025}}
{{Infobox U.S. state
| name = Kentucky
| official_name = Commonwealth of Kentucky
| image_flag = Flag of Kentucky.svg
| flag_link = Flag of Kentucky
| image_seal = Seal_of_Kentucky.svg
| image_map = Kentucky in United States.svg
| nickname = The Bluegrass State
| Former = Part of [[Virginia]] ([[District of Kentucky]])
| population_demonym = Kentuckian
| motto = ''United we stand, divided we fall''<br />''Deo gratiam habeamus''<br />(Let us be grateful to God)
| anthem = [[My Old Kentucky Home]]
| seat = [[Frankfort, Kentucky|Frankfort]]
| OfficialLang = English<ref name="kysym">{{cite web |title=Kentucky State Symbols |publisher=Kentucky Department for Libraries and Archives |url = http://kdla.ky.gov/resources/KYSymbols.htm |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20070703084450/http://www.kdla.ky.gov/resources/KYSymbols.htm |archive-date=July 3, 2007 |access-date=November 29, 2006 |url-status=dead }}</ref>
| LargestCity = [[Louisville, Kentucky|Louisville]]
| LargestCounty = [[Jefferson County, Kentucky|Jefferson]]
| LargestMetro = [[Louisville metropolitan area|Louisville]]{{efn|name=MSA|However, a portion of the larger [[Cincinnati metropolitan area]] does extend into the state.}}
| Governor = {{nowrap|[[Andy Beshear]] ([[Democratic Party (United States)|D]])}}
| Lieutenant Governor = {{nowrap|[[Jacqueline Coleman]] (D)}}
| Legislature = [[Kentucky General Assembly|General Assembly]]
| Upperhouse = [[Kentucky Senate|Senate]]
| Lowerhouse = [[Kentucky House of Representatives|House of Representatives]]
| Judiciary = [[Kentucky Supreme Court]]
| Senators = {{nowrap|[[Mitch McConnell]] ([[Republican Party (United States)|R]])}}<br />{{nowrap|[[Rand Paul]] (R)}}
| Representative = 5 Republicans<br />1 Democrat
| postal_code = KY
| TradAbbreviation = Ky
| area_rank = 37th
| area_total_sq_mi = 40,408
| area_total_km2 = 104,656
| area_land_sq_mi = 39,486
| area_land_km2 = 102,269
| area_water_sq_mi = 921
| area_water_km2 = 2,387
| area_water_percent = 2.2
| population_rank = 26th
| population_as_of = 2024
| 2010Pop = {{IncreaseNeutral}} 4,588,372<ref name="QuickFacts">{{Cite web|url=https://www.census.gov/quickfacts/fact/table/KY/PST045224|accessdate=January 9, 2025|title= United States Census Quick Facts Kentucky}}</ref>
| population_density_rank = 24th
| MedianHouseholdIncome = ${{round|61118|-2}} (2<span>0</span>23)<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www2.census.gov/library/publications/2024/demo/acsbr-023.pdf|title=Household Income in States and Metropolitan Areas: 2023|accessdate=January 12, 2025}}</ref>
| IncomeRank = [[List of U.S. states and territories by income#States and territories ranked by median household income|44th]]
| 2000DensityUS = 114
| 2000Density = 44
| AdmittanceOrder = 15th
| AdmittanceDate = June 1, 1792
| timezone1 = [[Eastern Time Zone (North America)|Eastern]]
| utc_offset1 = −05:00
| timezone1_DST = [[Eastern Daylight Time|EDT]]
| utc_offset1_DST = −04:00
| timezone1_location = eastern half
| timezone2 = [[Central Time Zone (North America)|Central]]
| utc_offset2 = −06:00
| timezone2_DST = [[Central Daylight Time|CDT]]
| utc_offset2_DST = −05:00
| timezone2_location = western half
| Latitude = 36° 30′ N to 39° 09′ N
| Longitude = 81° 58′ W to 89° 34′ W
| width_mi = 187
| width_km = 302
| length_mi = 397
| length_km = 640
| elevation_max_point = [[Black Mountain (Kentucky)|Black Mountain]]<ref name=USGS>{{cite web |url = https://egsc.usgs.gov/isb/pubs/booklets/elvadist/elvadist.html |title = Elevations and Distances in the United States |publisher=[[United States Geological Survey]] |year=2001 |access-date=October 21, 2011 |url-status=dead |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20111015012701/http://egsc.usgs.gov/isb/pubs/booklets/elvadist/elvadist.html |archive-date=October 15, 2011 }}</ref>{{efn|name=NAVD88|Elevation adjusted to [[North American Vertical Datum of 1988]]}}
| elevation_max_ft = 4,145
| elevation_max_m = 1265
| elevation_ft = 750
| elevation_m = 230
| elevation_min_point = [[Mississippi River]] at {{nowrap|[[Kentucky Bend]]}}<ref name="USGS" />{{efn|name=NAVD88}}
| elevation_min_ft = 250
| elevation_min_m = 78
| iso_code = US-KY
| website = Kentucky.gov
| Capital = 
| Representatives = 
| House Speaker = 
| Senate Pro Tem = 
}}
{{Infobox region symbols|country=United States
|state= Kentucky
|image_flag = Flag of Kentucky.svg
|image_seal = Seal of Kentucky.svg
 |bird= [[Northern cardinal|Cardinal]]
 |butterfly= [[Viceroy butterfly]]
 |wildlife_animal = [[Eastern gray squirrel|Gray squirrel]]
 |horse = [[Thoroughbred]]
 |fish= [[Spotted bass|Kentucky spotted bass]]
 |flower= [[Solidago gigantea|Goldenrod]]
 |insect= [[Western honeybee]]
 |tree= [[Liriodendron tulipifera|Tulip poplar]]
 |beverage= {{ubl|[[Milk]]|[[Ale-8-One]]}}
 |dance= [[Clogging]]
 |food= [[Blackberry]]
 |fossil= [[Brachiopod]]
 |gemstone= [[Agate|Kentucky agate]]
 |mineral= [[Calcite]]
 |rock= [[Coal]]
 |slogan= Kentucky Unbridled Spirit
 |soil= [[Crider Soil Series]]
 |other= [[Chevrolet Corvette]] (state sports car)
 |image_route= Elongated circle 3.svg
 |image_quarter= 2001 KY Proof.png
 |quarter_release_date= 2001
}}
'''Kentucky''' ({{IPAc-en|audio=en-us-Kentucky.ogg|US|k|ə|n|ˈ|t|ʌ|k|i}}, {{IPAc-en|UK|k|ɛ|n|-}}),<ref>{{cite LPD|3}}</ref><ref>{{cite EPD|18}}</ref> officially the '''Commonwealth of Kentucky''',{{efn|Kentucky is one of [[Commonwealth (U.S. state)|only four U.S. states]] to use the term "Commonwealth" in its official name, along with [[Massachusetts]], [[Virginia]], and [[Pennsylvania]].}} is a landlocked [[U.S. state|state]] in the [[Southeastern United States|Southeastern]] region of the [[United States]]. It borders [[Illinois]], [[Indiana]], and [[Ohio]] to the north, [[West Virginia]] to the northeast, [[Virginia]] to the east, [[Tennessee]] to the south, and [[Missouri]] to the west. Its northern border is defined by the [[Ohio River]]. Its capital is [[Frankfort, Kentucky|Frankfort]] and its [[List of cities in Kentucky|most populous city]] is [[Louisville, Kentucky|Louisville]]. As of 2024, the state's population was approximately 4.6 million.<ref name="QuickFacts"/>

Previously a part of [[Colony of Virginia|colonial Virginia]], Kentucky was admitted into the Union as the fifteenth state on June 1, 1792.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.pr51st.com/kentucky/|title=How Kentucky Became a State|date=August 8, 2014|website=Puerto Rico 51st|access-date=February 21, 2020|archive-date=February 21, 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200221205433/http://www.pr51st.com/kentucky/|url-status=live}}</ref> It is known as the "Bluegrass State" in reference to [[Kentucky bluegrass]], a species of grass introduced by European settlers, which has long supported the state's [[thoroughbred]] horse industry.<ref>{{cite web |title=The Bluegrass State |url=https://statesymbolsusa.org/symbol-official-item/kentucky/state-nickname/bluegrass-state |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200421220530/https://statesymbolsusa.org/symbol-official-item/kentucky/state-nickname/bluegrass-state |archive-date=April 21, 2020 |access-date=March 19, 2020 |website=State Symbols USA|date=June 2014 }}</ref>

The fertile soil in the central and western parts of the state led to the development of large tobacco plantations similar to those in Virginia and [[North Carolina]], which utilized [[Slavery in the United States|enslaved labor]] prior to the passage of the [[Thirteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution|Thirteenth Amendment]]. Kentucky ranks fifth nationally in goat farming, eighth in [[beef cattle]] production,<ref name="bamabeef2007">{{cite web |title=2007 Rankings of States and Counties |url=http://www.bamabeef.org/NewStateandCountyrankings05.htm |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060504170140/http://www.bamabeef.org/NewStateandCountyrankings05.htm |archive-date=May 4, 2006 |access-date=May 1, 2007 |publisher=Alabama Cattlemen's Association}}</ref> and fourteenth in corn production.<ref name="econedlink2007">{{cite web |url=http://www.econedlink.org/lessons/EM453/docs/em453_Corn_Production_Det_Answers.pdf |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070605025350/http://www.econedlink.org/lessons/EM453/docs/em453_Corn_Production_Det_Answers.pdf |archive-date=June 5, 2007 |title=Corn Production Detective |publisher=National Council on Economic Education |access-date=May 3, 2007}}</ref> While Kentucky has been a long-standing center for the tobacco industry, its economy has diversified into non-agricultural sectors including auto manufacturing, energy production, and medicine.<ref name="Hunt 2019 9–14">{{Cite journal|title=Are Kentucky Farmers Prepared for Farm-Related Emergencies?|journal = Journal of Agromedicine|volume = 24|issue=1|pages = 9–14|last=Hunt|first=Matthew|date=2019|doi=10.1080/1059924x.2018.1536571|pmid = 30317936|s2cid = 52977999 | issn=1059-924X}}</ref> Kentucky ranks fourth among US states in the number of automobiles and trucks assembled.<ref name="Tradeandindustrydev.com">{{cite web |last=Strong |first=Marvin E. "Gene" Jr. |date=December 31, 2003 |title=Kentucky: In the Middle of Auto Alley |url=http://www.tradeandindustrydev.com/region/kentucky/kentucky-in-middle-auto-alley-429 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220814053224/https://www.tradeandindustrydev.com/region/kentucky/kentucky-middle-auto-alley-429 |archive-date=August 14, 2022 |access-date=November 28, 2012 |publisher=Trade and Industry Development}}</ref> It is one of several states considered part of the [[Upland South]].

The state is home to the world's longest known cave system in [[Mammoth Cave National Park]], the greatest length of navigable waterways and streams in the [[contiguous United States]], and the nation's two largest artificial lakes east of the [[Mississippi River]]. [[Culture of Kentucky|Cultural aspects of Kentucky]] include [[horse racing]], [[bourbon whiskey|bourbon]], [[moonshine]], [[coal mining]], [[My Old Kentucky Home State Park]], automobile manufacturing, tobacco, [[Cuisine of the Southern United States|Southern cuisine]], [[Cuisine of Kentucky|barbecue]], [[bluegrass music]], [[college basketball]], [[Hillerich & Bradsby|Louisville Slugger]] baseball bats, and [[KFC|Kentucky Fried Chicken]].

==Etymology==
Prior to 1769, [[Botetourt County, Virginia|Botetourt County]] and successor counties in the [[Colony of Virginia]], whose geographical extent was south of the [[Ohio River|Ohio]] and [[Allegheny River]]s beyond the [[Appalachian Mountains]], became known to European Americans as ''[[Fincastle County, Virginia|Kentucky (or Kentucke) country]]''. It was named for the [[Kentucky River]], a tributary of the Ohio.<ref>{{cite web |last=Johnson and Parrish |title=Kentucky River Development: The Commonwealth's Waterways |url=http://www.uky.edu/WaterResources/KCEWM/PDF/History%20of%20the%20Kentucky%20River.pdf |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210111161541/http://www.uky.edu/WaterResources/KCEWM/PDF/History%20of%20the%20Kentucky%20River.pdf |archive-date=January 11, 2021 |website=University of Kentucky}}</ref>

The precise etymology of the name is uncertain.<ref>{{OEtymD|Kentucky|access-date=February 25, 2007}}
{{cite web |url=http://0-dictionary.oed.com.clicnet4.clic.edu/cgi/entry/50126019 |archive-url=https://www.webcitation.org/5QmSe2SRR?url=http://0-dictionary.oed.com.clicnet4.clic.edu/cgi/entry/50126019 |url-status=dead |archive-date=August 2, 2007 |title=Kentucky |access-date=February 25, 2007 |website=[[Oxford English Dictionary]] }}</ref> One theory sees the word based on an [[Iroquoian languages|Iroquoian]] name meaning "(on) the meadow" or "(on) the prairie"<ref name=Mithun>{{cite book |last1=Mithun |first1=Marianne |title=The Languages of Native North America |date=1999 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |isbn=978-0-521-23228-9 |page=312 |hdl=2027/heb07832.0001.001 |url=https://hdl.handle.net/2027/heb07832.0001.001 |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{cite encyclopedia|url=http://encarta.msn.com/encyclopedia_761554924/Kentucky.html |title=Kentucky |access-date=February 25, 2007 |encyclopedia=Microsoft Encarta Online Encyclopedia 2006 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20091030052538/http://encarta.msn.com/encyclopedia_761554924/Kentucky.html |archive-date=October 30, 2009 |url-status=dead }}</ref> (cf. [[Mohawk language|Mohawk]] ''{{Lang|moh|kenhtà:ke}}'', [[Seneca language|Seneca]] ''{{Lang|see|gëdá'geh}}'' ([[Phoneme|phonemic]] {{IPA|/kɛ̃taʔkɛh/}}), "at the field").<ref>{{cite book | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=n8uvs6Qw3pEC&pg=PA250 | title=Native American Place Names of Indiana | publisher=University of Illinois Press | author=McCafferty, Michael | year=2008 | page=250| isbn=9780252032684 }}</ref> Another theory suggests a derivation from the term ''{{Lang|alg|Kenta Aki}}'', which could have come from an [[Algonquian languages|Algonquian language]], in particular from [[Shawnee]]. Folk etymology translates this as "Land of Our Fathers". The closest approximation in another Algonquian language, [[Ojibwe]], translates as "Land of Our In-Laws", thus making a fairer English translation "The Land of Those Who Became Our Fathers".<ref>{{cite book |last1=Nichols |first1=John D. |last2=Nyholm |first2=Earl |title=The Concise Dictionary of Minnesota Ojibwe |date=1994 |publisher=University of Minnesota Press |location=Minneapolis |isbn=978-0-8166-8584-4}}{{page needed|date=August 2025}}</ref> In any case, the word ''{{Lang|alg|aki}}'' means "land" in most Algonquian languages.

==History==
{{Main|History of Kentucky}}

===Native American settlement===
The first archaeological evidence of human occupation of Kentucky is approximately 9500 BCE, and it was [[Clovis culture]], primitive hunter-gatherers with stone tools. Around 1800 BCE, a gradual transition began from a hunter-gatherer economy to agriculturalism. Around 900 CE, a [[Mississippian culture]] took root in western and central Kentucky and a [[Fort Ancient]] culture appeared in eastern Kentucky. While the two had many similarities, the distinctive ceremonial earthwork mounds constructed in the former's centers were not part of the culture of the latter. Fort Ancient settlements depended largely on corn, beans, and squash, and practiced a system of agriculture that prevented ecological degradation by rotating crops, [[controlled burn|burning]] sections of forest to create ideal habitat for wild game, relocating villages every 10–30 years, and continually shifting the location of fields to maintain plots of land in various stages of [[ecological succession]].<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Patrick |first1=Andrew P. |title=Birth of the Bluegrass: Ecological Transformations in Central Kentucky to 1810 |journal=The Register of the Kentucky Historical Society |date=2017 |volume=115 |issue=2 |pages=155–182|doi=10.1353/khs.2017.0049 |s2cid=133557743 }}</ref>

In about the 10th century, the Kentucky native people's variety of corn became highly productive, supplanting the [[Eastern Agricultural Complex]] and replacing it with maize-based agriculture in the [[Mississippian culture|Mississippian era]]. As of the 16th century, what became Kentucky was home to tribes from diverse linguistic groups. The [[Kispoko]], an [[Algonquian languages|Algonquian-speaking]] tribe, controlled much of the interior of the state.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Franquelin |first1=Jean Baptiste Louis |title=Franquelin's map of Louisiana |url=https://www.loc.gov/item/2001620469/ |website=Library of Congress |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20250407232550/https://www.loc.gov/item/2001620469/ |archive-date=April 7, 2025 |language=english |date=January 1, 1896 |url-status=live}}</ref>

French explorers in the 17th century documented numerous tribes living in Kentucky until the [[Beaver Wars]] in the 1670s; however, by the time that European colonial explorers and settlers began entering Kentucky in greater numbers in the mid-18th century, there were no major Native American settlements in the region.{{citation needed|date=August 2025}}

The [[Chickasaw]] had territory up to the confluence of Mississippi and Ohio rivers. During a period known as the [[Beaver Wars]] (1640–1680), another Algonquian tribe called the [[Maumee people|Maumee]], or [[Mascouten]] was chased out of southern Michigan.<ref>"Early Indian Migration in Ohio." GenealogyTrails.com. Retrieved August 17, 2017.</ref> The vast majority of them moved to Kentucky, pushing the Kispoko east and war broke out with the [[Tutelo]] of North Carolina and Virginia that pushed them further north and east. The Maumee were closely related to the [[Miami people|Miami]] from Indiana. Later, the Kispoko merged with the [[Shawnee]], who migrated from the east and the Ohio River valley.{{citation needed|date=August 2025}}

A persistent myth, perpetuated in many popular and scholarly works, alleges that Native Americans never lived permanently in Kentucky, but rather used it only as a "hunting ground".<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Henderson |first1=A. Gwynn |title=Dispelling the Myth: Seventeenth- and Eighteenth-Century Indian Life in Kentucky |journal=The Register of the Kentucky Historical Society |date=2018 |volume=90 |issue=1 |pages=1–25}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=Native Americans of Clay County & Kentucky |url=https://www.claycountykentucky.org/history/indians/ |website=claycountykentucky.org}}</ref> According to early Kentucky historians, early European settlers encountered extensive evidence of permanent, advanced settlements, including numerous burial mounds, [[copper]] and stone [[Artifact (archaeology)|artifacts]], and what early historians describe as "fortifications:" large sites consisting of extensive walls enclosing the flat tops of bluffs, cliffs or mountains, constructed from stone that was [[quarry|quarried]] in the surrounding valleys and brought up to the summit.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Cotterill |first1=Robert S. |title=History of Pioneer Kentucky |date=1917 |publisher=Johnson & Hardin |location=Cincinnati |pages=36–37}}</ref> These sites and artifacts were sometimes explained as being the remnants of a "lost" white race,<ref>{{cite book |last1=Cotterill |first1=Robert S. |title=History of Pioneer Kentucky |date=1917 |publisher=Johnson & Hardin |location=Cincinnati |page=30}}</ref> or some variously identified ethnic group predating and distinct from the Native Americans.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Ranck |first1=George W. |title=History of Lexington Kentucky |date=1872 |publisher=Robert Clarke & Co |location=Cincinnati |page=12}}</ref> More recent scholarship identifies the mound builders as the Mississippian and Fort Ancient peoples, which were distinct from the indigenous cultures encountered by settlers, although sharing the same origin in Paleoindian groups that inhabited the area for at least 12,000 years.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Henderson |first1=A. Gwynn |title=Dispelling the Myth: Seventeenth- and Eighteenth-Century Indian Life in Kentucky |journal=The Register of the Kentucky Historical Society |date=2018 |volume=90 |issue=1 |pages=6–7}}</ref>

Beginning in the seventeenth century, before indigenous groups in Kentucky made direct contact with Europeans, articles of European origin such as glass [[bead]]s entered the region via [[trade route]]s, and the appearance of [[mass grave]]s suggests that European diseases were also introduced.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Henderson |first1=A. Gwynn |title=Dispelling the Myth: Seventeenth- and Eighteenth-Century Indian Life in Kentucky |journal=The Register of the Kentucky Historical Society |date=2018 |volume=90 |issue=1 |page=17}}</ref> By the eighteenth century, epidemics of disease had destabilized and changed the indigenous groups that inhabited Kentucky, causing some to reassemble into multi-tribal towns, and others to [[Human migration|disperse]] further from the sphere of European influence.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Henderson |first1=A. Gwynn |title=Dispelling the Myth: Seventeenth- and Eighteenth-Century Indian Life in Kentucky |journal=The Register of the Kentucky Historical Society |date=2018 |volume=90 |issue=1 |pages=18–22}}</ref> Around the end of the French and Indian War, as European settlers began to claim parts of the Bluegrass State, Native Americans abandoned their larger, more permanent villages south of the Ohio River and continued to maintain only small or transient settlements. This upheaval likely led the settlers to believe that Kentucky was a hunting ground contested by multiple tribes but not permanently inhabited, when in reality it had only recently been abandoned due to social and political turmoil.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Henderson |first1=A. Gwynn |title=Dispelling the Myth: Seventeenth- and Eighteenth-Century Indian Life in Kentucky |journal=The Register of the Kentucky Historical Society |date=2018 |volume=90 |issue=1 |pages=24–25}}</ref>

===Early explorations: the discovery of Kentucky===
{{See also|Kentucke's Frontiers}}
European explorers arrived in Kentucky possibly as early as 1671. While French explorers surely spied Kentucky during expeditions on the Mississippi, there is no evidence French or Spanish explorers set foot in the lands south of the Ohio, notwithstanding speculations about Hernando de Soto and Robert de la Salle. The terrain in those days was not surveyed, so there is some uncertainty whether and to what extent the early English explorers out of Virginia set foot on the land. Confounding the issue is that the region south of the Ohio/Allegheny later known as ''Kentucky country'' was larger than the state of Kentucky today, encompassing most of today's West Virginia and (vaguely) part of southwestern Pennsylvania.<ref>"South of the Ohio" was almost, but not quite, synonymous with ''Kentucky country''.</ref> Notable expeditions were Batts and Fallam 1671, Needham and Arthur 1673.<ref>The First Explorations of the Trans-Allegheny Region by the Virginians 1650–1674</ref> Thomas Walker and surveyor Christopher Gist surveyed the area now known as Kentucky in 1750 and 1751.

===European settlement: The Treaty of Fort Stanwix 1768===
{{further|Transylvania Colony|Lord Dunmore's War|Treaty of Fort Stanwix (1768)}}
{{See also|Indian Reserve (1763)}}
As more settlers entered the area, warfare broke out with the Native Americans over their traditional hunting grounds.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.merceronline.com/Native/native01.htm |title=The Presence |publisher=Mercer County Online |access-date=November 29, 2006 |website=History of Native Americans in Central Kentucky |archive-date=December 12, 2006 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20061212023438/http://www.merceronline.com/Native/native01.htm |url-status=dead }}</ref>

June 16, 1774, James Harrod founded Harrod's Town (modern [[Harrodsburg, Kentucky|Harrodsburg]]). The settlement was abandoned during the conflict period of [[Lord Dunmore's War|Dunmore's War]], and resettled in March 1775, becoming the first permanent European settlement in Kentucky. It was followed within months by [[Boone Station|Boone's Station]], [[Stanford, Kentucky|Logan's Fort]] and [[Lexington, Kentucky|Lexington]] before Kentucky was organized.

This period was the time of [[Daniel Boone|Daniel Boone's]] legendary expeditions starting in 1767 through the [[Cumberland Gap]] and down the Kentucky River to reach the bluegrass heartland of Kentucky.

While the [[Cherokee]] did not settle in Kentucky, they hunted there. They relinquished their hunting rights there in an extra-legal private contract with speculator Richard Henderson called ''[[Treaty of Sycamore Shoals]]'' in 1775.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Murphree |first1=Daniel S. |title=Native America: A State-by-State Historical Encyclopedia |date=2012 |publisher=ABC-CLIO |location=Santa Barbara, CA |isbn=9780313381270 |page=395 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=0UNzFCOYTU4C |access-date=March 19, 2023 |archive-date=March 26, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230326164802/https://books.google.com/books?id=0UNzFCOYTU4C |url-status=live }}</ref>

===Kentucky County and the Cherokee-American wars===
{{Further information|Kentucky County, Virginia|Cherokee-American wars|Fort Nelson (Kentucky)|History of Louisville, Kentucky}}

On December 31, 1776, by an act of the [[Virginia General Assembly]], the portion of [[Fincastle County]] west of the [[Big Sandy River (Ohio River)|Big Sandy River]] (including today's [[Tug Fork]] tributary) terminating at the North Carolina border (today Tennessee) extending to the Mississippi River, previously most of what was known as ''Kentucky (or Kentucke) country'', was split off into its own county of [[Kentucky County, Virginia|Kentucky]]. Harrod's Town (Oldtown as it was known at the time) was named the county seat.{{citation needed|date=August 2025}}

A 1790 U.S. government report states that 1,500{{spaces}}Kentucky settlers had been killed by Native Americans since the end of the [[American Revolutionary War|Revolutionary War]].<ref>{{cite book|author=James, James Alton|title=The Life of George Rogers Clark|location= Chicago|publisher= [[University of Chicago Press]]|year= 1928|isbn=978-0-404-03549-5}}</ref>

===Statehood===
[[File:Kentucky Statehood 150th Anniversary, 3c, 1942 issue.jpg|thumb
|In 1942 the U.S. Post Office issued a postage stamp [[commemorative stamp|commemorating]] the 150th anniversary of Kentucky statehood, a 3-cent 1942 issue]]
The county was subdivided into [[Jefferson County, Kentucky|Jefferson]], [[Lincoln County, Kentucky|Lincoln]] and [[Fayette County, Kentucky|Fayette]] Counties in 1780, but continued to be administered as the District of Kentucky even as new counties were split off.{{citation needed|date=August 2025}}

On several occasions the region's residents petitioned the General Assembly and the [[Congress of the Confederation|Confederation Congress]] for separation from Virginia and [[U.S. state|statehood]]. Ten constitutional conventions were held in [[Danville, Kentucky|Danville]] between 1784 and 1792.
One petition, which had Virginia's assent, came before the Confederation Congress in early July 1788. Unfortunately, its consideration came up a day after word of [[New Hampshire]]'s all-important ninth [[Article Seven of the United States Constitution|ratification]] of the proposed [[United States Constitution|Constitution]], thus establishing it as the new framework of governance for the United States. In light of this development, Congress thought that it would be "unadvisable" to admit Kentucky into the Union, as it could do so "under the Articles of Confederation" only, but not "under the Constitution", and so declined to take action.<ref>{{cite journal|last1=Kesavan|first1=Vasan|title=When Did the Articles of Confederation Cease to Be Law|journal=Notre Dame Law Review|date=December 1, 2002|volume=78|issue=1|pages=70–71|url=http://scholarship.law.nd.edu/ndlr/vol78/iss1/3|access-date=October 31, 2015|archive-date=January 1, 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160101052616/http://scholarship.law.nd.edu/ndlr/vol78/iss1/3/|url-status=live}}</ref>

On December 18, 1789, Virginia again gave its consent to Kentucky statehood. The [[United States Congress]] gave its approval on February 4, 1791.<ref>{{USStat|1|189}}</ref> (This occurred two weeks before Congress approved [[Vermont]]'s petition for statehood.<ref>{{USStat|1|191}}</ref>) Kentucky officially became the fifteenth state in the Union on June 1, 1792. [[Isaac Shelby]], a military veteran from Virginia, was elected its first Governor.<ref>{{cite web|title=Constitution Square State Historic Site |publisher=Danville-Boyle County Convention and Visitors Bureau |url=http://www.danville-ky.com/attractions2.php?category=History%20and%20Museums |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071011230008/http://danville-ky.com/attractions2.php?category=History%20and%20Museums |archive-date=October 11, 2007 |access-date=November 29, 2006 |url-status=dead }}</ref>

===Post-colonial plantation economy===
[[File:LincolnBirthplaceJBM82908.jpg|thumb|[[Abraham Lincoln Birthplace National Historical Park|Abraham Lincoln Birthplace]] near [[Hodgenville, Kentucky|Hodgenville]]]]
{{See also|History of slavery in Kentucky}}
The central [[Bluegrass region]] and the western portion of the state were the areas with the most [[History of slavery in Kentucky|slave owners]]. [[Planter (American South)|Planters]] cultivated [[tobacco]] and [[Hemp in Kentucky|hemp]] on plantations with the use of slave labor, and were noted for their quality [[livestock]]. During the 19th century, Kentucky slaveholders began to sell unneeded slaves to the [[Deep South]], with Louisville becoming a major slave market and departure port for slaves being transported down the Ohio River.{{citation needed|date=August 2025}}

===The Civil War===
{{Main|Border states (American Civil War)|Kentucky in the American Civil War}}
Kentucky was a heavily divided slave state during the [[American Civil War]]. Though the state had dueling Union and Confederate state governments, Kentucky was never an official component of the Confederacy. [[Kentucky in the American Civil War|Kentucky was one of]] the Southern [[Border states (American Civil War)|border states]] during the war, and it remained neutral within the [[Union (American Civil War)|Union]].<ref>{{cite web | title=Border States in the Civil War | date=February 15, 2002 | publisher=CivilWarHome.com | url=http://www.civilwarhome.com/borderstates.htm | access-date=November 29, 2006 | archive-date=December 8, 2006 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20061208033207/http://www.civilwarhome.com/borderstates.htm }}</ref> Despite this, representatives from 68 of 110 counties met at [[Russellville, Kentucky|Russellville]] calling themselves the "Convention of the People of Kentucky" and passed an [[Ordinance of Secession]] on November 20, 1861.<ref>{{cite web | title=Ordinances of Secession | publisher=Historical Text Archive | url=http://historicaltextarchive.com/sections.php?action=read&artid=170 | access-date=November 29, 2006 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101123052735/http://historicaltextarchive.com/sections.php?action=read&artid=170 | archive-date=November 23, 2010 | url-status=dead | df=mdy-all }}</ref> They established a [[Confederate government of Kentucky]] with its capital in [[Bowling Green, Kentucky|Bowling Green]], and Kentucky was officially admitted into the Confederacy on December 10, 1861, as the 13th Confederate state with full recognition in Richmond.<ref>{{cite web | title=Civil War Sites – Bowling Green, KY | publisher=WMTH Corporation | url=http://www.trailsrus.com/monuments/reg3/bowling_green.html | access-date=November 29, 2006 | archive-date=October 9, 2007 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071009101515/http://www.trailsrus.com/monuments/reg3/bowling_green.html | url-status=live }}</ref> The Confederate shadow government was never popularly elected statewide, though 116 delegates were sent representing 68 Kentucky counties which at the time made up a little over half the territory of the commonwealth to the Russellville Convention in 1861, and were occupied and governed by the Confederacy at some point in the duration of the war, and Kentucky had full representation within the Confederate Government. Although Confederate forces briefly controlled Frankfort, they were expelled by Union forces before a Confederate government could be installed in the state capital. After the expulsion of Confederate forces after the Battle of Perryville, this government operated in-exile. Though it existed throughout the war, Kentucky's provisional government only had governing authority in areas of Kentucky under direct Confederate control and had very little effect on the events in the commonwealth or in the war once they were driven out of the state.

Kentucky remained officially "neutral" throughout the war{{citation needed|date=May 2023}} due to the [[Southern Unionists]] sympathies of a majority of the commonwealth's citizens who were split between the struggle of Kentucky's sister Southern States fully in the [[Confederate States of America]] and a continued loyalty to the Unionist cause that was prevalent in other areas of the South such as in East Tennessee, West Virginia, Western North Carolina, and others. Despite this, some 21st-century Kentuckians observe [[Confederate Memorial Day]] on [[Confederate States of America|Confederate]] leader [[Jefferson Davis]]' birthday, June 3, and participate in Confederate battle re-enactments.<ref>{{cite web | title=KRS 2.110 Public Holidays | publisher=[[Kentucky General Assembly]] | url=http://www.lrc.ky.gov/KRS/002-00/110.PDF | access-date=November 29, 2006 | archive-date=September 27, 2006 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060927011246/http://www.lrc.ky.gov/KRS/002-00/110.PDF | url-status=dead }}</ref><ref>Tony Hiss, ''Confederates in the Attic''</ref> Both Davis and U.S. president [[Abraham Lincoln]] were born in Kentucky. [[John C. Breckinridge]], the 14th and youngest-ever Vice President was born in Lexington, Kentucky at Cabell's Dale Farm. Breckenridge was expelled from the U. S. Senate for his support of the Confederacy.

Henry W. Grady, editor of the Atlanta Constitution, coined the term ''New South'' in 1874, urging transformation from an agrarian economy to a modern industrial one.

===Reconstruction and the ''New South''===
{{See also|Hatfield-McCoy feud}}
On January 30, 1900, Governor [[William Goebel]], flanked by two bodyguards, was mortally wounded by an [[assassination|assassin]] while walking to the State Capitol in downtown Frankfort. Goebel was contesting the [[Kentucky gubernatorial election, 1899|Kentucky gubernatorial election of 1899]], which [[William S. Taylor (Kentucky politician)|William S. Taylor]] was initially believed to have won. For several months, [[J. C. W. Beckham]], Goebel's running mate, and Taylor fought over who was the legal governor until the [[Supreme Court of the United States]] ruled in May in favor of Beckham. After fleeing to [[Indiana]], Taylor was indicted as a co-conspirator in Goebel's [[assassination]]. Goebel is the only governor of a U.S. state to have been assassinated while in office.<ref>{{cite web|title=The Old State Capitol |publisher=[[Kentucky Historical Society]] |url=http://history.ky.gov/sub.php?pageid=23&sectionid=8 |access-date=September 9, 2007 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070827133601/http://history.ky.gov/sub.php?pageid=23&sectionid=8 |archive-date=August 27, 2007 }}</ref>

The [[Black Patch Tobacco Wars]], a vigilante action, occurred in Western Kentucky in the early 20th century. As a result of the [[tobacco industry]] monopoly, tobacco farmers in the area were forced to sell their crops at prices that were too low. Many local farmers and activists united in a refusal to sell their crops to the major tobacco companies.

An Association meeting occurred in downtown [[Guthrie, Kentucky|Guthrie]],<ref>{{cite web|url=http://wkms.org/post/understanding-black-patch-tobacco-war-west-kentucky-and-tennessee#stream/0|title=Understanding the Black Patch Tobacco War of West Kentucky and Tennessee|publisher=[[WKMS]]|last1=Lochte|first1=Kate|last2=Markgraf|first2=Matt|date=September 22, 2014|access-date=May 6, 2016|archive-date=June 10, 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160610004656/http://wkms.org/post/understanding-black-patch-tobacco-war-west-kentucky-and-tennessee#stream/0|url-status=live}}</ref> where a vigilante wing of "Night Riders", formed. The riders terrorized farmers who sold their tobacco at the low prices demanded by the tobacco corporations. They burned several tobacco warehouses throughout the area, stretching as far west as [[Hopkinsville, Kentucky|Hopkinsville]] to [[Princeton, Kentucky|Princeton]]. In the later period of their operation, they were known to physically assault farmers who broke the boycott. Governor [[Augustus E. Willson]] declared [[martial law]] and deployed the [[Kentucky National Guard]] to end the wars.

==Geography==
{{See also|Coal mining in Kentucky}}
[[File:Map of Kentucky NA (cropped).png|thumb|upright=1.3|Map of Kentucky]]

Kentucky is situated in the [[Upland South]].<ref>{{cite book |title= Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary |publisher= [[Merriam–Webster]] |year= 2003 |edition= 11th |isbn= 978-0-87779-809-5 |url= https://books.google.com/books?id=O78rzaI2XmUC&pg=RA1-PA1562 |page= 1562 |author=Frederick C. Mish |access-date= January 17, 2013}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |title=The North American Midwest: A Regional Geography|url=https://archive.org/details/northamericanmid0000garl|url-access=registration|publisher=Wiley Publishers |location=New York |year=1955}}</ref> A significant portion of eastern Kentucky is part of [[Appalachia]].

Kentucky borders seven states, from the [[Midwestern United States|Midwest]] and the [[Southeastern United States|Southeast]]. [[West Virginia]] lies to the northeast, [[Virginia]] to the east, [[Tennessee]] to the south, [[Missouri]] to the west, [[Illinois]] to the northwest, and [[Indiana]] and [[Ohio]] to the north. Only Missouri and Tennessee, both of which border eight states, touch more.

Kentucky's northern border is formed by the north shore of the [[Ohio River]]<ref name="Supreme">{{cite web |author1=United States Supreme Court |title=Indiana v. Kentucky, 136 U.S. 479 (1890) KENTUCKY. |url=https://www.law.cornell.edu/supremecourt/text/136/479 |website=LII / Legal Information Institute |publisher=Cornell University Law School |access-date=August 17, 2024 |language=en |quote=The Court said that the question whether the land lay within the State of Kentucky or of Indiana...and reached the conclusion that the boundary between the states was at low water mark on the northwest side of the river.}}</ref> and its western border by the [[Mississippi River]]; however, the official border is based on the courses of the rivers as they existed when Kentucky became a state in 1792. For instance, northbound travelers on [[U.S. Route 41 in Kentucky|U.S. 41]] from Henderson, after crossing the Ohio River, will be in Kentucky for about {{convert|2|mi|km|0|spell=in}}. [[Ellis Park Racecourse|Ellis Park]], a thoroughbred racetrack, is located in this small piece of Kentucky. Waterworks Road is part of the only land border between Indiana and Kentucky.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.mapquest.com/maps?address=%5B1300-1699%5D+Waterworks+Rd&city=Evansville&state=IN&zipcode=47713 |title=Map of <nowiki>[</nowiki>1494–1557<nowiki>]</nowiki> Waterworks Rd Evansville, IN |access-date=January 1, 2009 |archive-date=January 22, 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120122102011/http://www.mapquest.com/maps?address=%5B1300-1699%5D+Waterworks+Rd&city=Evansville&state=IN&zipcode=47713 |url-status=live }}</ref>

Kentucky has a non-contiguous part known as [[Kentucky Bend]], at the far west corner of the state. It exists as an [[exclave]] surrounded completely by [[Missouri]] and [[Tennessee]], and is included in the boundaries of [[Fulton County, Kentucky|Fulton County]]. Road access to this small part of Kentucky on the Mississippi River (populated by 18 people {{as of|2010|lc=y}})<ref>{{cite journal |author= <!--Staff writer(s); no by-line.--> |date= October 1, 2013 |title= Exclaves |journal= Virginia Quarterly Review |volume= 89 |issue= 4 |pages= 22–23 |issn= 0042-675X }}</ref> requires traveling through Tennessee.

The epicenter of the [[1811–12 New Madrid earthquakes]] was near this area, causing the Mississippi River to flow backwards in some places. Though the series of quakes changed the area geologically and affected the small number of inhabitants of the area at the time, the Kentucky Bend is the result of a surveying error, not the New Madrid earthquake.<ref>{{cite web | title=Life on the Mississippi | publisher=[[Kentucky Educational Television]] | date=January 28, 2002 | url=http://www.ket.org/kentuckylife/800s/kylife804.html | access-date=November 29, 2006 | archive-date=February 13, 2007 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070213074544/http://www.ket.org/kentuckylife/800s/kylife804.html | url-status=dead }}</ref>

===Regions===
[[File:KYphysiography.svg|thumb|upright=1.6|Kentucky's regions (click on image for color-coding information; contrary to the map, regions do not follow county lines and the Western Coal Field is not as extensive as indicated. The outer part of it is the Clifty Area, which contains no coal but has bituminous sandstone.)]]

Kentucky can be divided into five primary regions: the [[Cumberland Plateau]] in the east, which is wholly underlain by coal and constitutes the Eastern Coal Field; the north-central [[Bluegrass region]], where the major cities and the capital are located; the south-central and western [[Pennyroyal Plateau]] (a Mississippian-age plateau that is divided into eastern, central and western sub-regions, the latter known as the Pennyrile); the [[Western Coal Field]]; and the far-western [[Jackson Purchase]], the northernmost extension of the Mississippian Embayment, west and south of the Tennessee River.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Gnadinger |first=Zac |date=February 13, 2023 |title=The Ecological Regions of Kentucky |url=https://www.kynativeplants.com/post/ecological-regions-of-kentucky |access-date=December 17, 2023 |website=KY Native Plants |language=en |archive-date=December 17, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231217184609/https://www.kynativeplants.com/post/ecological-regions-of-kentucky |url-status=live }}</ref>

The Bluegrass region is commonly divided into two regions, the Inner Bluegrass encircling {{convert|90|mi|km}} around [[Lexington, Kentucky|Lexington]], and the Outer Bluegrass that contains most of the northern portion of the state, above the [[Knobs region|Knobs]]. Much of the outer Bluegrass is in the [[Eden Shale Hills]] sub-region, made up of short, steep, and very narrow hills. The alluvial plain of the [[Ohio River]] is another geological region, as is the area south and east of Pine Mountain, part of the [[Ridge-and-Valley Appalachians|Ridge and Valley Belt]] of Appalachia.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://gaftp.epa.gov/EPADataCommons/ORD/Ecoregions/ky/ky_eco_lg.pdf |title=Ecoregions of Kentucky |access-date=January 5, 2023 |archive-date=August 17, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220817131839/https://gaftp.epa.gov/EPADataCommons/ORD/Ecoregions/ky/ky_eco_lg.pdf |url-status=dead }}</ref>

===Climate===
[[File:Köppen Climate Types Kentucky.png|thumb|upright=1.3|[[Köppen climate classification|Köppen climate types]] of Kentucky, using 1991–2020 [[Climatological normal|climate normals]].]]
Most of Kentucky has a [[humid subtropical climate]] (Köppen: ''Cfa''), with small [[Appalachian Mountains|Appalachian]] highland areas of the southeast of the state having an [[oceanic climate]] (''Cfb'').<ref>[[:commons:File:US_50_states_K%C3%B6ppen.svg, August 18, 2016]]{{Circular reference|date=March 2024}}</ref> Temperatures in Kentucky usually range from daytime summer highs of {{convert|87|°F}} to the winter low of {{convert|23|°F}}. The average precipitation is {{convert|46|in}} a year.<ref>{{cite web | title=The Geography of Kentucky – Climate | date=June 15, 2006 | publisher=NetState.com | url=http://www.netstate.com/states/geography/ky_geography.htm | access-date=November 29, 2006 | archive-date=November 14, 2006 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20061114204234/http://www.netstate.com/states/geography/ky_geography.htm | url-status=live }}</ref> Kentucky has four distinct seasons, with substantial variations in the severity of summer and winter.<ref>{{cite book |title=''Encyclopedia of Kentucky'' |chapter=Geographical Configuration |publisher=Somerset Publishers |location=New York |year=1987 |isbn=978-0-403-09981-8 }}</ref> The state's highest recorded temperature was {{convert|114|F|C}} in [[Greensburg, Kentucky|Greensburg]] on July 28, 1930, while its lowest recorded temperature was {{convert|-37|F|C}} in [[Shelbyville, Kentucky|Shelbyville]] on [[1994 North American cold wave|January 19, 1994]]. The state seldom experiences the extreme cold of far northern states or the high heat of the states in the [[Deep South]]; temperatures rarely drop below zero degrees Fahrenheit or rise above 100 degrees. Rain and snowfall averages about 45 inches per year.

The climate varies markedly within the state. The northern parts tend to be about five degrees cooler than those in the western parts of the state. [[Somerset, Kentucky|Somerset]] in the south-central part receives ten more inches of rain per year than [[Covington, Kentucky|Covington]] to the north. Average temperatures for the entire state range from the low 30s in January to the high 80s in mid-July. The annual average temperature varies from {{convert|55|to|60|°F}}: of {{convert|55|°F}} in the far north as an average annual temperature and of {{convert|60|°F}} in the extreme southwest.<ref>Klotter, James C. and Freda C. (2015). ''Faces of Kentucky''. University Press of Kentucky. Page 53. {{ISBN|9780813160528}}.</ref><ref>[[AV2 by Weigl]]. (2008). ''Discover America: Kentucky: The Bluegrass State''. Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc. Page 8. {{ISBN|9781593397630}}.</ref>

In general, Kentucky has relatively hot, [[humid]], rainy summers, and moderately cold and rainy winters. Mean maximum temperatures in July vary from {{convert|83|to|90|°F}}; the mean minimum July temperatures are {{convert|61|to|69|°F}}. In January the mean maximum temperatures range from {{convert|36|to|44|°F}}; the mean minimum temperatures range from {{convert|19|to|26|°F}}. Temperature means vary with northern and far-eastern mountain regions averaging five degrees cooler year-round, compared to the relatively warmer areas of the southern and western regions of the state. Precipitation varies north to south with the north averaging of {{convert|38|to|40|in}}, and the south averaging of {{convert|50|in}}. Days per year below the freezing point vary from about sixty days in the southwest to more than a hundred days in the far-north and far-east.<ref>Jones, Ronald (2005). ''Plant Life of Kentucky: An Illustrated Guide to the Vascular Flora''. University Press of Kentucky. Page 11. {{ISBN|9780813123318}}.</ref>

{| class="wikitable" "text-align:center;font-size:90%;"|
| colspan="13" style="text-align:center; font-size:120%; background:#e8eafa;"|Monthly average high and low temperatures for various Kentucky cities ( °F)
|-
! style="background:#e5afaa; color:Black; height:17px;"| City
! style="background:#e5afaa; color:Black;"| Jan
! style="background:#e5afaa; color:Black;"| Feb
! style="background:#e5afaa; color:Black;"| Mar
! style="background:#e5afaa; color:Black;"| Apr
! style="background:#e5afaa; color:Black;"| May
! style="background:#e5afaa; color:Black;"| Jun
! style="background:#e5afaa; color:Black;"| Jul
! style="background:#e5afaa; color:Black;"| Aug
! style="background:#e5afaa; color:Black;"| Sep
! style="background:#e5afaa; color:Black;"| Oct
! style="background:#e5afaa; color:Black;"| Nov
! style="background:#e5afaa; color:Black;"| Dec
|-<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.weather-us.com/en/kentucky-usa/lexington-climate|title=Lexington, KY – Detailed climate information and monthly weather forecast|publisher=Yu Media Group|website=Weather Atlas|access-date=May 19, 2020|archive-date=August 8, 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200808201402/https://www.weather-us.com/en/kentucky-usa/lexington-climate|url-status=live}}</ref>
! style="background:#f8f3ca; color:Black; height:16px;"| Lexington
| style="text-align:center; background:#f8f3ca; color:Black;"| 40.9/24.8
| style="text-align:center; background:#f8f3ca; color:Black;"| 45.5/27.9
| style="text-align:center; background:#f8f3ca; color:Black;"| 55.3/35.4
| style="text-align:center; background:#f8f3ca; color:Black;"| 65.7/44.7
| style="text-align:center; background:#f8f3ca; color:Black;"| 74.3/54.2
| style="text-align:center; background:#f8f3ca; color:Black;"| 82.8/62.7
| style="text-align:center; background:#f8f3ca; color:Black;"| 86.1/66.5
| style="text-align:center; background:#f8f3ca; color:Black;"| 85.6/65.2
| style="text-align:center; background:#f8f3ca; color:Black;"| 78.8/57.6
| style="text-align:center; background:#f8f3ca; color:Black;"| 67.5/46.6
| style="text-align:center; background:#f8f3ca; color:Black;"| 55.4/37.2
| style="text-align:center; background:#f8f3ca; color:Black;"| 43.9/28
|-<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.weather-us.com/en/kentucky-usa/louisville-climate|title=Louisville, KY – Detailed climate information and monthly weather forecast|publisher=Yu Media Group|website=Weather Atlas|access-date=May 19, 2020|archive-date=August 11, 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200811211458/https://www.weather-us.com/en/kentucky-usa/louisville-climate|url-status=live}}</ref>
! style="background:#c5dfe1; color:Black; height:16px;"| Louisville
| style="text-align:center; background:#c5dfe1; color:Black;"| 43/26.8
| style="text-align:center; background:#c5dfe1; color:Black;"| 47.8/29.9
| style="text-align:center; background:#c5dfe1; color:Black;"| 57.9/37.8
| style="text-align:center; background:#c5dfe1; color:Black;"| 68.8/47.3
| style="text-align:center; background:#c5dfe1; color:Black;"| 77.1/57
| style="text-align:center; background:#c5dfe1; color:Black;"| 85.3/66
| style="text-align:center; background:#c5dfe1; color:Black;"| 88.7/69.9
| style="text-align:center; background:#c5dfe1; color:Black;"| 88.3/68.5
| style="text-align:center; background:#c5dfe1; color:Black;"| 81.5/60.5
| style="text-align:center; background:#c5dfe1; color:Black;"| 70.1/48.9
| style="text-align:center; background:#c5dfe1; color:Black;"| 57.9/39.5
| style="text-align:center; background:#c5dfe1; color:Black;"| 45.8/30
|-<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.weather-us.com/en/kentucky-usa/owensboro-climate|title=Owensboro, KY – Detailed climate information and monthly weather forecast|publisher=Yu Media Group|website=Weather Atlas|access-date=May 19, 2020|archive-date=August 2, 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200802205905/https://www.weather-us.com/en/kentucky-usa/owensboro-climate|url-status=live}}</ref>
! style="background:#f8f3ca; color:Black; height:16px;"| Owensboro
| style="text-align:center; background:#f8f3ca; color:Black;"| 41.2/23.2
| style="text-align:center; background:#f8f3ca; color:Black;"| 46.6/26.8
| style="text-align:center; background:#f8f3ca; color:Black;"| 58.3/36.7
| style="text-align:center; background:#f8f3ca; color:Black;"| 69.3/45.9
| style="text-align:center; background:#f8f3ca; color:Black;"| 78.1/54.5
| style="text-align:center; background:#f8f3ca; color:Black;"| 86.4/62.8
| style="text-align:center; background:#f8f3ca; color:Black;"| 89.2/66.6
| style="text-align:center; background:#f8f3ca; color:Black;"| 88.2/64.4
| style="text-align:center; background:#f8f3ca; color:Black;"| 82.4/58.3
| style="text-align:center; background:#f8f3ca; color:Black;"| 71.6/45.7
| style="text-align:center; background:#f8f3ca; color:Black;"| 58.1/37.4
| style="text-align:center; background:#f8f3ca; color:Black;"| 45.9/28.2
|-<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.weather-us.com/en/kentucky-usa/paducah-climate|title=Paducah, KY – Detailed climate information and monthly weather forecast|publisher=Yu Media Group|website=Weather Atlas|access-date=May 19, 2020|archive-date=August 2, 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200802212926/https://www.weather-us.com/en/kentucky-usa/paducah-climate|url-status=live}}</ref>
! style="background:#c5dfe1; color:Black; height:16px;"| Paducah
| style="text-align:center; background:#c5dfe1; color:Black;"| 43.4/25.8
| style="text-align:center; background:#c5dfe1; color:Black;"| 48.9/29.5
| style="text-align:center; background:#c5dfe1; color:Black;"| 59/37.7
| style="text-align:center; background:#c5dfe1; color:Black;"| 69.4/46.6
| style="text-align:center; background:#c5dfe1; color:Black;"| 78/56.3
| style="text-align:center; background:#c5dfe1; color:Black;"| 86.2/64.9
| style="text-align:center; background:#c5dfe1; color:Black;"| 89.3/68.5
| style="text-align:center; background:#c5dfe1; color:Black;"| 89/66.1
| style="text-align:center; background:#c5dfe1; color:Black;"| 82.1/57.8
| style="text-align:center; background:#c5dfe1; color:Black;"| 71/46.7
| style="text-align:center; background:#c5dfe1; color:Black;"| 58.4/37.9
| style="text-align:center; background:#c5dfe1; color:Black;"| 46.3/28.6
|-<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.weather-us.com/en/kentucky-usa/pikeville-climate|title=Pikeville, KY – Detailed climate information and monthly weather forecast|publisher=Yu Media Group|website=Weather Atlas|access-date=May 19, 2020|archive-date=August 2, 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200802200351/https://www.weather-us.com/en/kentucky-usa/pikeville-climate|url-status=live}}</ref>
! style="background:#f8f3ca; color:Black; height:16px;"| Pikeville
| style="text-align:center; background:#f8f3ca; color:Black;"| 44/23
| style="text-align:center; background:#f8f3ca; color:Black;"| 50/25
| style="text-align:center; background:#f8f3ca; color:Black;"| 60/32
| style="text-align:center; background:#f8f3ca; color:Black;"| 69/39
| style="text-align:center; background:#f8f3ca; color:Black;"| 77/49
| style="text-align:center; background:#f8f3ca; color:Black;"| 84/58
| style="text-align:center; background:#f8f3ca; color:Black;"| 87/63
| style="text-align:center; background:#f8f3ca; color:Black;"| 86/62
| style="text-align:center; background:#f8f3ca; color:Black;"| 80/56
| style="text-align:center; background:#f8f3ca; color:Black;"| 71/42
| style="text-align:center; background:#f8f3ca; color:Black;"| 60/33
| style="text-align:center; background:#f8f3ca; color:Black;"| 49/26
|-<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.weather-us.com/en/kentucky-usa/ashland-climate|title=Ashland, KY – Detailed climate information and monthly weather forecast|publisher=Yu Media Group|website=Weather Atlas|access-date=May 19, 2020|archive-date=August 2, 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200802205355/https://www.weather-us.com/en/kentucky-usa/ashland-climate|url-status=live}}</ref>
! style="background:#c5dfe1; color:Black; height:16px;"| Ashland
| style="text-align:center; background:#c5dfe1; color:Black;"| 42/19
| style="text-align:center; background:#c5dfe1; color:Black;"| 47/21
| style="text-align:center; background:#c5dfe1; color:Black;"| 57/29
| style="text-align:center; background:#c5dfe1; color:Black;"| 68/37
| style="text-align:center; background:#c5dfe1; color:Black;"| 77/47
| style="text-align:center; background:#c5dfe1; color:Black;"| 84/56
| style="text-align:center; background:#c5dfe1; color:Black;"| 88/61
| style="text-align:center; background:#c5dfe1; color:Black;"| 87/59
| style="text-align:center; background:#c5dfe1; color:Black;"| 80/52
| style="text-align:center; background:#c5dfe1; color:Black;"| 69/40
| style="text-align:center; background:#c5dfe1; color:Black;"| 57/31
| style="text-align:center; background:#c5dfe1; color:Black;"| 46/23
|-<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.weather-us.com/en/kentucky-usa/bowling-green-climate|title=Bowling Green, KY – Detailed climate information and monthly weather forecast|publisher=Yu Media Group|website=Weather Atlas|access-date=May 19, 2020|archive-date=August 2, 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200802200012/https://www.weather-us.com/en/kentucky-usa/bowling-green-climate|url-status=live}}</ref>
! style="background:#c5dfe1; color:Black; height:16px;"| Bowling Green
| style="text-align:center; background:#c5dfe1; color:Black;"| 45/26.4
| style="text-align:center; background:#c5dfe1; color:Black;"| 50/29.6
| style="text-align:center; background:#c5dfe1; color:Black;"| 59.8/37
| style="text-align:center; background:#c5dfe1; color:Black;"| 69.7/45.6
| style="text-align:center; background:#c5dfe1; color:Black;"| 77.8/55
| style="text-align:center; background:#c5dfe1; color:Black;"| 86.1/63.9
| style="text-align:center; background:#c5dfe1; color:Black;"| 89.4/67.9
| style="text-align:center; background:#c5dfe1; color:Black;"| 88.9/66.1
| style="text-align:center; background:#c5dfe1; color:Black;"| 82.1/58
| style="text-align:center; background:#c5dfe1; color:Black;"| 71.2/46.3
| style="text-align:center; background:#c5dfe1; color:Black;"| 59.4/37.5
| style="text-align:center; background:#c5dfe1; color:Black;"| 47.9/29.2
|}

====Natural disasters====
{| class="wikitable"
|-
! Deadliest weather events in Kentucky history
! Date
! Death Toll
! Affected Regions
|-
| [[March 1890 middle Mississippi Valley tornado outbreak]] || March 27, 1890 || 200+ || Louisville, W KY
|-
| [[Gradyville flood]] || June 7, 1907 || 20 || Gradyville
|-
| [[May–June 1917 tornado outbreak sequence]] || May 27, 1917 || 66 || Fulton area
|-
| [[Early-May 1933 tornado outbreak sequence]] || May 9, 1933, Tornado || 38 || South Central KY
|-
| [[Ohio River flood of 1937]] || Early 1937 || unknown || Statewide
|-
| [[1974 Super Outbreak|April 3, 1974, tornado outbreak]] || April 3, 1974 || 72 || Statewide
|-
| March 1, 1997, Flooding || Early March 1997 || 18 || Statewide
|-
| [[Tornado outbreak sequence of May 2004]]<ref>{{cite web |author=John Denman |url=https://www.weather.gov/media/lmk/climate/2004_review.pdf |title=2004 in Review for Central Kentucky and South-Central Indiana |publisher=weather.gov |access-date=July 16, 2018 |archive-date=April 12, 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190412030426/https://www.weather.gov/media/lmk/climate/2004_review.pdf |url-status=live }}</ref>|| May 30, 2004 || 0 || [[Jefferson County, KY]]
|-
| [[December 21–24, 2004 North American winter storm]]<ref>{{cite web |author=((US Dept of Commerce, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, National Weather Service)) |url=https://www.weather.gov/lmk/22dec2004_winterstorm |title=December 22, 2004 Snow Storm |publisher=weather.gov |access-date=July 16, 2018 |archive-date=July 16, 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180716194624/https://www.weather.gov/lmk/22dec2004_winterstorm |url-status=live }}</ref>|| December 21–24, 2004 || unknown || Statewide
|-
| Widespread Flash Flooding<ref>{{cite web |author=((US Dept of Commerce, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, National Weather Service)) |url=https://www.weather.gov/media/pah/Top10Events/2006/September22Flood.pdf |title=September 2006 was the wettest September on record at some locations |publisher=weather.gov |access-date=July 16, 2018 |archive-date=April 12, 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190412030428/https://www.weather.gov/media/pah/Top10Events/2006/September22Flood.pdf |url-status=live }}</ref>|| September 22–23, 2006 || 6 || Statewide
|-
| [[January 2009 North American ice storm]]<ref>{{cite web |author=((US Dept of Commerce, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, National Weather Service)) |url=https://www.weather.gov/lmk/jan_2009_ice_and_snow |title=Ice and Snow Storm of January 28–29, 2009 |publisher=weather.gov |access-date=July 16, 2018 |archive-date=July 16, 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180716170132/https://www.weather.gov/lmk/jan_2009_ice_and_snow |url-status=live }}</ref>|| January 26–28, 2009 || 35 || Statewide
|-
| [[2009 Kentuckiana Flash Flood]]<ref>{{cite web |author=((US Dept of Commerce, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, National Weather Service)) |url=https://www.weather.gov/lmk/august_4_2009_flash_flood |title=Flash Flood of August 4, 2009 |publisher=weather.gov |access-date=July 16, 2018 |archive-date=July 16, 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180716165729/https://www.weather.gov/lmk/august_4_2009_flash_flood |url-status=live }}</ref>|| August 4, 2009 || 36 || [[Kentuckiana]]
|-
| [[Tornado outbreak of March 2–3, 2012]] || March 2, 2012 || 22 || Statewide
|-
|[[Tornado outbreak of December 10–11, 2021]]
|December 10–11, 2021
|74
|Kentucky, 5 other states
|-
|[[July–August 2022 United States floods]] || July 24 – August 2, 2022 || 37 || Kentucky, 5 other states
|-
|[[Tornado outbreak sequence of May 15–16, 2025]]
|May 15–16, 2025
|19
|Kentucky, 6 other states
|}

===Lakes and rivers===
{{See also|List of lakes in Kentucky|List of rivers of Kentucky|List of dams and reservoirs in Kentucky}}
[[File:Wolf Creek Dam and Lake Cumberland, KY.jpg|thumb|[[Lake Cumberland]] is the largest artificial American lake east of the [[Mississippi River]] by volume.]]

Kentucky has the second-most navigable miles of water among U.S. states, second to [[Alaska]].<ref>{{cite web|title=Corbin, Kentucky: A Fisherman's Paradise |publisher=Corbin, Kentucky Economic Development |url=http://www.corbinkentucky.us/fishing.htm |access-date=November 29, 2006 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060626140323/http://corbinkentucky.us/fishing.htm |archive-date=June 26, 2006 }}</ref>

Kentucky is the only state to have a continuous border of rivers running along three of its sides{{snd}}the [[Mississippi River]] to the west, the [[Ohio River]] to the north, and the [[Big Sandy River (Ohio River)|Big Sandy River]] and [[Tug Fork]] to the east.<ref name="kye-rivers">{{cite book |editor=Kleber, John E. |others=Associate editors: [[Thomas D. Clark]], [[Lowell H. Harrison]], and [[James C. Klotter]] |title=''The Kentucky Encyclopedia'' |year=1992 |publisher=The University Press of Kentucky |location=[[Lexington, Kentucky]] |isbn=978-0-8131-1772-0 |chapter=Rivers |page=774 |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=CcceBgAAQBAJ&pg=PA774 |access-date=February 18, 2015}}</ref> Its major internal rivers include the [[Kentucky River]], [[Tennessee River]], [[Cumberland River]], [[Green River (Kentucky)|Green River]], and [[Licking River (Kentucky)|Licking River]].

Though it has only three major natural lakes,<ref name="kye-lakes">{{cite book |editor=Kleber, John E. |others=Associate editors: [[Thomas D. Clark]], [[Lowell H. Harrison]], and [[James C. Klotter]] |title=''The Kentucky Encyclopedia'' |year=1992 |publisher=The University Press of Kentucky |location=[[Lexington, Kentucky]] |isbn=978-0-8131-1772-0 |chapter=Lakes|page=531|chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=CcceBgAAQBAJ&pg=PA531|access-date=February 18, 2015}}</ref> Kentucky is home to many [[artificial lake]]s. It has the largest artificial lakes east of the Mississippi in both water volume ([[Lake Cumberland]]) and surface area ([[Kentucky Lake]]). Kentucky Lake's {{convert|2064|mi|km}} of shoreline, {{convert|160300|acre|ha|abbr=off}} of water surface, and {{convert|4,008,000|acre-ft|e9m3|lk=on|sigfig=2|abbr=off|sp=us}} of flood storage are the most of any lake in the [[Tennessee Valley Authority]] system.<ref>Tennessee Valley Authority, ''The Kentucky Project: A Comprehensive Report on the Planning, Design, Construction, and Initial Operations of the Kentucky Project'', Technical Report No. 13 (Washington, D.C.: U.S. Government Printing Office, 1951), pp. 1–12, 68, 115–116, 509.</ref>

Kentucky's {{convert|90000|mi|km|-4}} of streams provides one of the most expansive and complex stream systems in the nation.

===Natural environment and conservation===
[[File:WaterfrontPkDwnt.jpg|thumb|Once an industrial area, Louisville's waterfront has thousands of trees and miles of walking trails.]]

Kentucky hosts multiple habitats with a high number of [[endemic]] species, including some of the most extensive cave systems in the world. 102 known species are endemic to the state.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Abernathy |first1=Greg |last2=White |first2=Deborah |last3=Laudermilk |first3=Ellis L. |last4=Evans |first4=Marc |title=Kentucky's Natural Heritage: An Illustrated Guide to Biodiversity |date=2010 |publisher=University Press of Kentucky |pages=42–43}}</ref> The Bluegrass region, which is believed to have once been a lush open woodland environment similar to [[oak savanna]] with abundant thickets of [[Arundinaria gigantea|river cane]], a species of [[bamboo]], was once described by [[E. Lucy Braun]] as having the most "anomalous" plant life of the whole Eastern United States.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Kimmerer |first1=Tom |title=Venerable Trees: History, Biology, and Conservation in the Bluegrass |date=2015 |publisher=University Press of Kentucky |location=Lexington, Kentucky |isbn=978-0-8131-6566-0 |page=73}}</ref> Kentucky's natural environment has suffered greatly from destructive human activities that began after European colonization, particularly the conversion of natural habitat to farmland and [[Coal mining in Appalachia|coal mining]].

Kentucky has an expansive park system, which includes one national park, two National Recreation Areas, two National Historic Parks, two [[United States National Forest|national forests]], two National Wildlife Refuges, 45 [[state park]]s, {{convert|37896|acre|km2|0}} of state forest, and 82 [[wildlife management area]]s.

Kentucky has been part of two of the most successful wildlife reintroduction projects in United States history. In the winter of 1997, the [[Kentucky Department of Fish and Wildlife Resources]] began to re-stock [[elk]] in the state's eastern counties, which had been extirpated from the area for over 150 years. {{as of|2009}}, the herd had reached the project goal of 10,000 animals, making it the largest herd east of the [[Mississippi River]].<ref>{{cite web |url = http://fw.ky.gov/elkinfo.asp?lid=1653&NavPath=C117C147C301C547 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060926064155/http://fw.ky.gov/elkinfo.asp?lid=1653&NavPath=C117C147C301C547 |archive-date=September 26, 2006 |title=Elk Restoration Update and Hunting Information |publisher=Kentucky Department of Fish and Wildlife Resources |access-date=December 9, 2006 }}</ref>

The state stocked [[wild turkey]]s in the 1950s, after reportedly having fewer than 900. Once nearly extinct, wild turkeys thrive throughout Kentucky.<ref>{{cite news|last=Pearce|first=Tom|title=Once nearly extinct, turkeys gobbling throughout state|url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1696&dat=19940327&id=T_4aAAAAIBAJ&pg=6989,2846713&hl=en|access-date=May 15, 2016|work=Bowling Green Daily News|date=March 27, 1994|archive-date=February 20, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210220153301/https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1696&dat=19940327&id=T_4aAAAAIBAJ&pg=6989%2C2846713&hl=en|url-status=live}}</ref> Hunters reported a record 29,006 birds taken during the 23-day season in spring 2009.<ref>{{cite web |url = http://fw.ky.gov/app/news/newsdetail.aspx?id=542 |title=Hunters Take Record Number of Spring Turkey |website=Kentucky Department of Fish and Wildlife Service |access-date=January 17, 2013 |url-status=dead |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20130117104812/http://fw.ky.gov/app/news/newsdetail.aspx?id=542 |archive-date=January 17, 2013 }}</ref>

In 1991 the Land Between the Lakes partnered with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service for the Red Wolf Recovery Program, a captive breeding program.<ref>{{cite web|date=October 6, 2015|title=Wolf Week Spotlight: The Endangered Red Wolf|url=https://www.landbetweenthelakes.us/wolf-week-spotlight-the-endangered-red-wolf/|access-date=November 30, 2020|website=Land Between the Lakes|archive-date=December 11, 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201211185359/https://www.landbetweenthelakes.us/wolf-week-spotlight-the-endangered-red-wolf/|url-status=live}}</ref>

===Natural attractions===
[[File:Half Moon, Kentucky.JPG|thumb|[[Red River Gorge]] is one of Kentucky's most visited places.]]
[[File:Otter Creek Park 2.jpg|thumb|Forest at [[Otter Creek Outdoor Recreation Area]], Meade County, Kentucky]]
* [[Cumberland Gap]], chief passageway through the [[Appalachian Mountains]] in early American history.
* [[Cumberland Falls]], the only place in the Western Hemisphere where a "[[moonbow]]" may be regularly seen, due to the spray of the falls.<ref>{{cite web |title=Cumberland Falls State Resort Park |date=October 19, 2005 |
publisher=Kentucky Department of Parks |url = http://parks.ky.gov/findparks/resortparks/cf/ |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20061005015537/http://parks.ky.gov/resortparks/cf/ |archive-date=October 5, 2006 |access-date=November 29, 2006 }}</ref>
* [[Mammoth Cave National Park]], featuring the world's longest known cave system.<ref>{{cite web | title=Mammoth Cave National Park | date=October 12, 2006 | publisher=National Park Service | url=https://www.nps.gov/maca/index.htm | access-date=November 29, 2006 | archive-date=June 28, 2015 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150628130736/http://www.nps.gov/maca/index.htm | url-status=live }}</ref>
* [[Red River Gorge]] Geological Area, part of the [[Daniel Boone National Forest]].
* [[Land Between the Lakes]], a [[National Recreation Area]] managed by the [[United States Forest Service]].
* [[Big South Fork National River and Recreation Area]] near [[Whitley City, Kentucky|Whitley City]].
* [[Black Mountain (Kentucky)|Black Mountain]], state's highest point of elevation.<ref name="usgs">{{cite web | title=Science in Your Backyard: Kentucky | publisher=United States Geological Survey |date=July 3, 2006 | url=https://www.usgs.gov/state/state.asp?State=KY | access-date=November 29, 2006 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070219020614/http://www.usgs.gov/state/state.asp?State=KY |archive-date= February 19, 2007 }}</ref> Runs along the south ridge of Pine Mountain in Letcher County, Kentucky. The highest point located in Harlan County.
* [[Bad Branch Falls State Nature Preserve]], {{convert|2639|acre|km2|0|adj=on}} state nature preserve on southern slope of Pine Mountain in [[Letcher County, Kentucky|Letcher County]]. Includes one of the largest concentrations of rare and endangered species in the state,<ref>{{cite web| title=Bad Branch State Nature Preserve | publisher=Kentucky State Nature Preserves Commission | url=http://www.naturepreserves.ky.gov/stewardship/badbranch.htm |date=August 14, 2006 | access-date=November 29, 2006 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20061024022402/http://www.naturepreserves.ky.gov/stewardship/badbranch.htm| archive-date = October 24, 2006}}</ref> as well as a {{convert|60|ft|m|0|adj=on}} waterfall and a Kentucky Wild River.{{clarify|reason=What does 'a Kentucky Wild River' mean?|date=June 2014}}
* [[Jefferson Memorial Forest]], located in the southern fringes of [[Louisville, Kentucky|Louisville]] in the [[Knobs region]], the largest municipally run forest in the United States.<ref>{{cite web | title=Jefferson Memorial Forest | url=http://www.louisvilleky.gov/metroparks/parks/jeffersonmemorialforest/ |website=City of Louisville, Kentucky | access-date=November 29, 2006 | archive-date=October 1, 2006 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20061001025352/http://www.louisvilleky.gov/MetroParks/parks/jeffersonmemorialforest/ | url-status=dead }}</ref>
* [[Lake Cumberland]], {{convert|1255|mi|km|0}} of shoreline located in South Central Kentucky.
* [[Natural Bridge State Resort Park|Natural Bridge]], located in [[Slade, Kentucky]] Powell County.
* [[Breaks Interstate Park]], located in southeastern [[Pike County, Kentucky]] and Southwestern [[Virginia]]. The Breaks is commonly known as the "Grand Canyon of the South".<ref>{{Cite news |url=http://www.onlyinyourstate.com/virginia/grand-canyon-of-virginia/ |author1=Beth |date=April 25, 2022 |title=The Grand Canyon of the South Is Right Here in Virginia And It's Breathtaking |newspaper=OnlyInYourState |access-date=February 16, 2017 |archive-date=February 16, 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170216215358/http://www.onlyinyourstate.com/virginia/grand-canyon-of-virginia/ |url-status=live }}</ref>
* Blanton Forest, located in [[Harlan County, Kentucky|Harlan County]], the state's largest [[old-growth forest]] and one of only 13 remaining large tracts of old-growth forest in the eastern USA.<ref>{{cite web |title=Blanton Forest State Nature Preserve |url=https://eec.ky.gov/Nature-Preserves/Locations/Pages/Blanton-Forest.aspx |website=Kentucky Energy and Environment Cabinet |url-status=live |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20231206182422/https://eec.ky.gov/Nature-Preserves/Locations/Pages/Blanton-Forest.aspx |archive-date= December 6, 2023 }}</ref>

==Administrative divisions==

===Counties===

{{See also|List of counties in Kentucky|Fiscal Court}}

Kentucky is subdivided into 120 [[county (United States)|counties]], the largest being [[Pike County, Kentucky|Pike County]] at {{convert|787.6|sqmi|km2}}, and the most populous being [[Jefferson County, Kentucky|Jefferson County]] (which [[Consolidated city–county|coincides with]] the [[Louisville Metro Council|Louisville Metro governmental area]]) with 772,144 residents {{as of|2023|lc=y}}.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Kentucky Counties |url=http://www.uky.edu/KentuckyAtlas/kentucky-counties.html |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130706080928/http://www.uky.edu/KentuckyAtlas/kentucky-counties.html |archive-date=July 6, 2013 |website=Kentucky Atlas & Gazetteer |publisher=University of Kentucky}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.census.gov/data/tables/time-series/demo/popest/2020s-counties-total.html#v2023|title=Annual Estimates of the Resident Population for Counties: April 1, 2020 to July 1, 2023|publisher=United States Census Bureau|access-date=March 14, 2024|archive-date=March 18, 2024|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240318232436/https://www.census.gov/data/tables/time-series/demo/popest/2020s-counties-total.html#v2023|url-status=live}}</ref>

County government, under the [[Constitution of Kentucky|Kentucky Constitution]] of 1891, is vested in the [[County Judge/Executive]], (formerly called the County Judge) who serves as the [[Executive (government)|executive]] head of the county, and a [[legislature]] called a [[Fiscal Court]]. Despite the unusual name, the Fiscal Court no longer has [[judiciary|judicial]] functions.

===Consolidated city-county governments===

Kentucky's two most populous counties, Jefferson and Fayette, have their [[Consolidated city-county|governments consolidated with the governments of their largest cities]]. ''Louisville-Jefferson County Government'' ([[Louisville, Kentucky|Louisville Metro]]) and ''Lexington-Fayette Urban County Government'' ([[Lexington, Kentucky|Lexington Metro]]) are unique in that their city councils and county Fiscal Court structures have been merged into a single entity with a single [[mayor|chief executive]], the [[Louisville Metro Mayor|Metro Mayor]] and Urban County Mayor, respectively. Although the counties still exist as subdivisions of the state, in reference the names Louisville and Lexington are used to refer to the entire area coextensive with the former cities and counties.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.cgr.org/consensuscny/docs/CaseStudies_cd-louisvillemerger1013.pdf |title=A 10-Year Perspective of the Merger of Louisville and Jefferson County, KY: Louisville Metro Vaults From 65th to 18th Largest City in the Nation |last=Wachter |first=Jeff |publisher=CGR |date=September 2013 |access-date=January 5, 2024 |archive-date=February 14, 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240214082623/https://www.cgr.org/consensuscny/docs/CaseStudies_cd-louisvillemerger1013.pdf |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=https://louisvilleky.gov/government/metro-council-district-17/what-metro-council |title=What is Metro Council? |publisher=Louisville-Jefferson County Metro Government |access-date=January 5, 2024 |archive-date=December 17, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231217185605/https://louisvilleky.gov/government/metro-council-district-17/what-metro-council |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=Organizational structure, system and positions |url=https://www.lexingtonky.gov/organizational-structure-system-and-positions |access-date=December 17, 2023 |publisher=Lexington-Fayette Urban County Government |archive-date=December 17, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231217185604/https://www.lexingtonky.gov/organizational-structure-system-and-positions |url-status=live }}</ref>

===Major cities===

{{See also|List of cities in Kentucky}}
{{Largest cities
| country = Kentucky
| stat_ref = Source:<ref name="USCensusEst2022">{{cite web|url=https://www.census.gov/data/tables/time-series/demo/popest/2020s-total-cities-and-towns.html|date=May 18, 2023|title=City and Town Population Totals: 2020–2022|publisher=United States Census Bureau|accessdate=June 23, 2023|archive-date=July 11, 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220711040810/https://www.census.gov/data/tables/time-series/demo/popest/2020s-total-cities-and-towns.html|url-status=live}}</ref>
| list_by_pop =
| div_name =
| div_link = Counties of Kentucky{{!}}County
| city_1 = Louisville, Kentucky{{!}}Louisville
| div_1 = Jefferson County, Kentucky{{!}}Jefferson
| pop_1 = 633,045
| city_2 = Lexington, Kentucky{{!}}Lexington
| div_2 = Fayette County, Kentucky{{!}}Fayette
| pop_2 = 322,570
| city_3 = Bowling Green, Kentucky{{!}}Bowling Green
| div_3 = Warren County, Kentucky{{!}}Warren
| pop_3 = 72,294
| city_4 = Owensboro, Kentucky{{!}}Owensboro
| div_4 = Daviess County, Kentucky{{!}}Daviess
| pop_4 = 60,183
| city_5 = Covington, Kentucky{{!}}Covington
| div_5 = Kenton County, Kentucky{{!}}Kenton
| pop_5 = 40,961
| city_6 = Georgetown, Kentucky{{!}}Georgetown
| div_6 = Scott County, Kentucky{{!}}Scott
| pop_6 = 37,086
| city_7 = Richmond, Kentucky{{!}}Richmond
| div_7 = Madison County, Kentucky{{!}}Madison
| pop_7 = 34,585
| city_8 = Florence, Kentucky{{!}}Florence
| div_8 = Boone County, Kentucky{{!}}Boone
| pop_8 = 31,946
| city_9 = Elizabethtown, Kentucky{{!}}Elizabethtown
| div_9 = Hardin County, Kentucky{{!}}Hardin
| pop_9 = 31,394
| city_10 = Hopkinsville, Kentucky{{!}}Hopkinsville
| div_10 = Christian County, Kentucky{{!}}Christian
| pop_10 = 31,180
| city_11 = Nicholasville, Kentucky{{!}}Nicholasville
| div_11 = Jessamine County, Kentucky{{!}}Jessamine
| pop_11 = 31,093
| city_12 = Independence, Kentucky{{!}}Independence
| div_12 = Kenton County, Kentucky{{!}}Kenton
| pop_12 = 28,676
| city_13 = Frankfort, Kentucky{{!}}Frankfort
| div_13 = Franklin County, Kentucky{{!}}Franklin
| pop_13 = 28,602
| city_14 = Jeffersontown, Kentucky{{!}}Jeffersontown
| div_14 = Jefferson County, Kentucky{{!}}Jefferson
| pop_14 = 28,474
| city_15 = Henderson, Kentucky{{!}}Henderson
| div_15 = Henderson County, Kentucky{{!}}Henderson
| pop_15 = 27,981
| city_16 = Paducah, Kentucky{{!}}Paducah
| div_16 = McCracken County, Kentucky{{!}}McCracken
| pop_16 = 27,137
| city_17 = Radcliff, Kentucky{{!}}Radcliff
| div_17 = Hardin County, Kentucky{{!}}Hardin
| pop_17 = 23,042
| city_18 = Ashland, Kentucky{{!}}Ashland
| div_18 = Boyd County, Kentucky{{!}}Boyd
| pop_18 = 21,625
| city_19 = Erlanger, Kentucky{{!}}Erlanger
| div_19 = Kenton County, Kentucky{{!}}Kenton
| pop_19 = 19,611
| city_20 = Madisonville, Kentucky{{!}}Madisonville
| div_20 = Hopkins County, Kentucky{{!}}Hopkins
| pop_20 = 19,542
}}

The [[Louisville metropolitan area|Metro Louisville]] government area has a 2018 population of 1,298,990. Under [[United States Census Bureau]] methodology, the population of Louisville was 623,867. The latter figure is the population of the so-called [[Louisville/Jefferson County metro government (balance), Kentucky|"balance"]]{{snd}}the parts of Jefferson County that were either unincorporated or within the City of Louisville before the formation of the merged government in 2003. In 2018 the [[Louisville metropolitan area|Louisville Combined Statistical Area]] (CSA) had a population of 1,569,112; including 1,209,191 in Kentucky, which means more than 25% of the state's population now lives in the Louisville CSA. Since 2000, over one-third of the state's population growth has occurred in the Louisville CSA. In addition, the top 28 wealthiest places in Kentucky are in Jefferson County and seven of the 15 wealthiest counties in the state are located in the Louisville CSA.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://ksdc.louisville.edu/|title=Kentucky State Data Center|publisher=Ksdc.louisville.edu|access-date=August 4, 2009|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080828171408/http://www.ksdc.louisville.edu/|archive-date=August 28, 2008|url-status=dead}}</ref>{{Nonspecific|date=March 2017}}

The state's second-largest city is Lexington with a 2018 census population of 323,780, its metro had a population of 516,697, and its [[Lexington–Fayette–Frankfort–Richmond, KY Combined Statistical Area|CSA]], which includes the [[Frankfort, Kentucky micropolitan area|Frankfort]] and [[Richmond–Berea micropolitan area|Richmond]] statistical areas, having a population of 746,310. The [[Northern Kentucky]] area, which comprises the seven Kentucky counties in the [[Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky metropolitan area]], had a population of 447,457 in 2018. The metropolitan areas of Louisville, Lexington, and Northern Kentucky have a combined population of 2,402,958 {{as of|2018|lc=y}}, which is 54% of the state's total population on only about 19% of the state's land. This area is often referred to as the Golden triangle as it contains a majority of the state's wealth, population, population growth, and economic growth, it is where most of the state's largest cities by population are located. It is referred to as the Golden triangle as the metro areas of Lexington, Louisville, and Northern Kentucky/Cincinnati outline a triangle shape. Interstates I-71, I-75, and I-64 form the triangle shape. Additionally, all counties in Kentucky that are part of an MSA or CSA have a total population of 2,970,694, which is 67% of the state's population.

{{as of|2017}} [[Bowling Green, Kentucky|Bowling Green]] had a population of 67,067, making it the third most populous city in the state. The [[Bowling Green metropolitan area]] had an estimated population of 174,835; and the [[combined statistical area]] it shares with [[Glasgow, Kentucky|Glasgow]] has an estimated population of 228,743.

The two other fast-growing urban areas in Kentucky are the [[Bowling Green, Kentucky|Bowling Green]] area and the "Tri-Cities Region" of southeastern Kentucky, comprising [[Somerset, Kentucky|Somerset]], [[London, Kentucky|London]] and [[Corbin, Kentucky|Corbin]].

Although only one town in the "Tri-Cities" (Somerset) currently has more than 12,000 people, the area has been experiencing heightened population and job growth since the 1990s. Growth has been especially rapid in Laurel County, which outgrew areas such as Scott and Jessamine counties around Lexington or Shelby and Nelson Counties around Louisville. London significantly grew in population in the 2000s, from 5,692 in 2000 to 7,993 in 2010. London landed a [[Walmart|Wal-Mart]] distribution center in 1997, bringing thousands of jobs to the community.

In northeast Kentucky, the greater [[Ashland, Kentucky|Ashland]] area is an important transportation, manufacturing, and medical center. [[Iron and steel industry|Iron]] and [[petroleum]] production, as well as the transport of coal by rail and [[barge]], have been historical pillars of the region's economy. Due to a decline in the area's industrial base, Ashland has seen a sizable reduction in its population since 1990; however, the population of the area has since stabilized with the medical service industry taking a greater role in the local economy. The Ashland area, including the counties of [[Boyd County, Kentucky|Boyd]] and [[Greenup County, Kentucky|Greenup]], is part of the [[Huntington-Ashland, WV-KY-OH, Metropolitan Statistical Area]] (MSA). As of the 2000 census, the MSA had a population of 288,649. More than 21,000 of those people ({{as of|2010|lc=y}}) reside within the city limits of Ashland.

The largest county in Kentucky by area is [[Pike County, Kentucky|Pike]], which contains [[Pikeville, Kentucky|Pikeville]] and suburb [[Coal Run Village, Kentucky|Coal Run Village]]. The county and surrounding area is the most populated region in the state that is not part of a [[United States Micropolitan Statistical Area|Micropolitan Statistical Area]] or a [[Metropolitan Statistical Area]] containing nearly 200,000 people in five counties: [[Floyd County, Kentucky|Floyd County]], [[Martin County, Kentucky|Martin County]], [[Letcher County, Kentucky|Letcher County]], and neighboring [[Mingo County, West Virginia]]. Pike County contains slightly more than 68,000 people.

Only three U.S. states have capitals with smaller populations than Kentucky's [[Frankfort, Kentucky|Frankfort]] (pop. 25,527): [[Augusta, Maine]] (pop. 18,560), [[Pierre, South Dakota]] (pop. 13,876), and [[Montpelier, Vermont]] (pop. 8,035).

==Demographics==

{{Main|Demographics of Kentucky}}
[[File:Kentucky population density 2020.png|thumb|upright=1.6|Kentucky population density map]]
{{US Census population
| 1790 = 73677
| 1800 = 220955
| 1810 = 406511
| 1820 = 564317
| 1830 = 687917
| 1840 = 779828
| 1850 = 982405
| 1860 = 1155684
| 1870 = 1321011
| 1880 = 1648690
| 1890 = 1858635
| 1900 = 2147174
| 1910 = 2289905
| 1920 = 2416630
| 1930 = 2614589
| 1940 = 2845627
| 1950 = 2944806
| 1960 = 3038156
| 1970 = 3218706
| 1980 = 3660777
| 1990 = 3685295
| 2000 = 4041770
| 2010 = 4339367
| 2020 = 4505836
| estyear = 2024
| estimate = 4588372
| estref = <ref name="QuickFacts"/>
| align-fn = center
| footnote = Sources: 1790–2000<ref>{{cite web |url=http://ukcc.uky.edu/census/21.txt |title=Kentucky population |access-date= |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20120122005311/http://ukcc.uky.edu/census/21.txt |archivedate=January 22, 2012 |url-status=live }}</ref><br />1910–2020<ref>{{cite web |title=Historical Population Change Data (1910–2020) |url=https://www.census.gov/data/tables/time-series/dec/popchange-data-text.html |website=Census.gov |publisher=United States Census Bureau |access-date=May 1, 2021 |archive-date=April 29, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210429012609/https://www.census.gov/data/tables/time-series/dec/popchange-data-text.html |url-status=dead }}</ref>
}}

The [[United States Census Bureau]] determined that the population of Kentucky was 4,505,836 in 2020, increasing since the [[2010 United States Census|2010 United States census]].<ref name="PopEstUS">{{cite web|url=https://www.census.gov/quickfacts/fact/table/ky,US/PST045218|title=QuickFacts Kentucky; UNITED STATES|website=2018 Population Estimates|publisher=[[United States Census Bureau]], Population Division|date=February 21, 2019|access-date=February 21, 2019|archive-date=January 16, 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190116200810/https://www.census.gov/quickfacts/fact/table/ky,US/PST045218|url-status=live}}</ref>
[[File:Ethnic Origins in Kentucky.png|thumb|Ethnic origins in Kentucky]]
[[File:Kentucky Counties by race (2020 census).svg|thumb|upright=1.1|Racial plurality in Kentucky by county, per the 2020 U.S. census{{Collapsible list
| title = Legend|{{col-begin}}{{col-2}}

'''Non-Hispanic White'''

{{legend|#a61c00|60–70%}}

{{legend|#85200c|70–80%}}

{{legend|#5b0f00|80–90%}}

{{legend|#410b00|90%+}}
{{col-end}}
}}]]
As of July 1, 2016, Kentucky had an estimated population of 4,436,974, which is an increase of 12,363 from the prior year and an increase of 97,607, or 2.2%, since the year 2010. This includes a natural increase since the last census of 73,541 people (that is 346,968 births minus 273,427 deaths) and an increase due to net migration of 26,135 people into the state. [[Immigration to the United States|Immigration]] from outside the United States resulted in a net increase of 40,051 people, and migration within the country produced a net decrease of 13,916 people. {{as of|2015}}, Kentucky's population included about 149,016 foreign-born persons (3.4%). In 2016 the population density of the state was {{convert|110|/sqmi|/km2|disp=preunit|people&nbsp;|people|abbr=out}}.<ref name="PopEstUS" /> [[Mexico]], [[India]], [[Cuba]], [[China]], and [[Guatemala]] are the top five countries of origin for Kentucky's immigrants.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.immigrationresearch.org/system/files/immigrants_in_kentucky.pdf|title=Immigrants in Kentucky|access-date=August 11, 2023|archive-date=August 11, 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230811215402/https://www.immigrationresearch.org/system/files/immigrants_in_kentucky.pdf|url-status=live}}</ref>

Kentucky's population has grown every decade since records began, though during most decades of the 20th century there was net out-migration from the state. Since 1900, rural Kentucky counties have suffered a net loss of more than a million people to migration, while urban areas have experienced a slight net gain.<ref>{{cite web| url = http://www.kltprc.net/books/exploring/Chpt_3.htm| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20090327130302/http://www.kltprc.net/books/exploring/Chpt_3.htm| archive-date = March 27, 2009 | title = Migration in Kentucky: Will the Circle Be Unbroken?| access-date = April 30, 2007| last = Price| first = Michael| website = Exploring the Frontier of the Future: How Kentucky Will Live, Learn and Work| publisher = University of Louisville| pages = 5–10}}</ref>

Kentucky's [[center of population]] is in [[Washington County, Kentucky|Washington County]], in the city of [[Willisburg, Kentucky|Willisburg]].<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.census.gov/geo/www/cenpop/statecenters.txt |format=TXT |title=Population and Population Centers by State: 2000 |publisher=U.S. Census Bureau |access-date=December 27, 2006 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100223204810/http://www.census.gov/geo/www/cenpop/statecenters.txt |archive-date=February 23, 2010 }}</ref>

According to [[United States Department of Housing and Urban Development|HUD]]'s 2022 [[Annual Homeless Assessment Report to Congress|Annual Homeless Assessment Report]], there were an estimated 3,984 [[Homelessness|homeless]] people in Kentucky.<ref>{{Cite web |title=2007–2022 PIT Counts by State |url=https://view.officeapps.live.com/op/view.aspx?src=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.huduser.gov%2Fportal%2Fsites%2Fdefault%2Ffiles%2Fxls%2F2007-2022-PIT-Counts-by-State.xlsx&wdOrigin=BROWSELINK |access-date=March 11, 2023 |archive-date=March 14, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230314020239/https://view.officeapps.live.com/op/view.aspx?src=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.huduser.gov%2Fportal%2Fsites%2Fdefault%2Ffiles%2Fxls%2F2007-2022-PIT-Counts-by-State.xlsx&wdOrigin=BROWSELINK |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.huduser.gov/portal/sites/default/files/pdf/2022-AHAR-Part-1.pdf|title=The 2022 Annual Homelessness Assessment Report (AHAR) to Congress|access-date=March 11, 2023|archive-date=March 11, 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230311234217/https://www.huduser.gov/portal/sites/default/files/pdf/2022-AHAR-Part-1.pdf|url-status=live}}</ref>

[[Life expectancy]] in Kentucky was 72.5 years in 2021.<ref>{{cite web | url=https://eu.courier-journal.com/story/news/local/2022/09/06/life-expectancy-kentucky-dropped-why-what-to-know/65466402007/ | title=Life expectancy for Kentuckians just dropped. Here's why and what to know | access-date=March 31, 2023 | archive-date=April 1, 2024 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240401192234/https://www.courier-journal.com/story/news/local/2022/09/06/life-expectancy-kentucky-dropped-why-what-to-know/65466402007/ | url-status=live }}</ref>

===Race and ancestry===
{| font-size:80%;"
|+ style="font-size:90%" |Ethnic composition as of the [[2020 United States census|2020 census]]
|-
! Race and ethnicity<ref name="Race and Ethnicity in the United States: 2010 Census and 2020 Census" />
! colspan="2" data-sort-type=number |Alone
! colspan="2" data-sort-type=number |Total
|-
| [[Non-Hispanic or Latino whites|White (non-Hispanic)]]
|align=right| {{bartable|81.3|%|2||background:gray}}
|align=right| {{bartable|85.0|%|2||background:gray}}
|-
| [[African Americans|African American (non-Hispanic)]]
|align=right| {{bartable|7.9|%|2||background:mediumblue}}
|align=right| {{bartable|9.4|%|2||background:mediumblue}}
|-
| [[Hispanic and Latino Americans|Hispanic or Latino]]{{efn|Persons of Hispanic or Latino origin are not distinguished between total and partial ancestry.}}
|align=right| {{bartable}}
|align=right| {{bartable|4.6|%|2||background:green}}
|-
| [[Asian Americans|Asian]]
|align=right| {{bartable|1.6|%|2||background:purple}}
|align=right| {{bartable|2.1|%|2||background:purple}}
|-
| [[Native Americans in the United States|Native American]]
|align=right| {{bartable|0.2|%|2||background:gold}}
|align=right| {{bartable|1.8|%|2||background:gold}}
|-
| [[Pacific Islander Americans|Pacific Islander]]
|align=right| {{bartable|0.1|%|2||background:pink}}
|align=right| {{bartable|0.2|%|2||background:pink}}
|-
| Other
|align=right| {{bartable|0.3|%|2||background:brown}}
|align=right| {{bartable|0.9|%|2||background:brown}}
|}

{| class="wikitable sortable collapsible"
|+ '''Historical racial demographics'''
|-
! Racial composition !! 1990<ref>{{cite web|author1=Campbell Gibson and Kay Jung |title=Historical Census Statistics on Population Totals By Race, 1790 to 1990, and By Hispanic Origin, 1970 to 1990, For The United States, Regions, Divisions, and States |url=https://www.census.gov/population/www/documentation/twps0056/twps0056.html |website=census.gov |archive-url=https://archive.today/20141224151538/http://www.census.gov/population/www/documentation/twps0056/twps0056.html |archive-date=December 24, 2014 |date=September 2002 |url-status=dead }}</ref>!! 2000<ref>{{cite web|last1=Office Bureau Public Information|title=Census 2000 data for Kentucky|url=https://www.census.gov/census2000/states/ky.html|website=www.census.gov|access-date=January 14, 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170118074958/http://www.census.gov/census2000/states/ky.html|archive-date=January 18, 2017|url-status=dead}}</ref>
|-
| [[White American|White]] || 92.0% || 90.1% || 87.8% || 82.4%
|-
| [[African American|Black]] || 7.1% || 7.3% || 7.8% || 8.0%
|-
| [[Asian American|Asian]] || 0.5% || 0.7% || 1.1% || 1.7%
|-
| [[Native Americans in the United States|Native American]] and<br />[[Alaska Natives|Alaska Native]] || 0.2% || 0.2% || 0.2% || 0.3%
|-
| [[Native Hawaiian]] and<br />[[Pacific Islands American|other Pacific Islander]] || – || – || 0.1% || 0.1%
|-
| [[Race and ethnicity in the United States Census|Other race]] || 0.2% || 0.6% || 1.3% || 2.1%
|-
| [[Multiracial American|Two or more races]] || – || 1.0% || 1.7% || 5.4%
|}

According to U.S. Census Bureau official statistics, the state's largest ancestry in 2013 was [[American ancestry|American]], totalling 20.2%.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.census.gov/ |title=U.S. Census website |author=Data Access and Dissemination Systems (DADS) |website=census.gov |access-date=June 25, 2016 |archive-date=July 9, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210709054630/https://www.census.gov/ |url-status=live }}</ref> In 1980, before the status of ethnic American was an available option on the official census, the largest claimed ancestries in the commonwealth were [[English American|English]] (49.6%), [[Irish American|Irish]] (26.3%), and [[German American|German]] (24.2%).<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.census.gov/population/www/censusdata/files/pc80-s1-10/tab03.pdf|title=Ancestry of the Population by State: 1980 – Table 3|publisher=Census.gov|access-date=October 9, 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200715201633/http://www.census.gov/population/www/censusdata/files/pc80-s1-10/tab03.pdf|archive-date=July 15, 2020|url-status=dead}}</ref><ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=SVoAXh-dNuYC&dq=Sharing+the+dream:+white+males+in+multicultural+America++english+ancestry&pg=PA57 Sharing the Dream: White Males in a Multicultural America] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151016002633/https://books.google.com/books?id=SVoAXh-dNuYC&pg=PA57&dq=Sharing+the+dream:+white+males+in+multicultural+America++english+ancestry&cd=1 |date=October 16, 2015 }} By Dominic J. Pulera.</ref><ref>Reynolds Farley, 'The New Census Question about Ancestry: What Did It Tell Us?', ''Demography'', Vol. 28, No. 3 (August 1991), pp. 414, 421.</ref><ref>[[Stanley Lieberson]] and Lawrence Santi, 'The Use of Nativity Data to Estimate Ethnic Characteristics and Patterns', ''Social Science Research'', Vol. 14, No. 1 (1985), pp. 44–6.</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |first1=Stanley |last1=Lieberson |name-list-style=amp |first2=Mary C. |last2=Waters |author2-link=Mary C. Waters |title=Ethnic Groups in Flux: The Changing Ethnic Responses of American Whites |journal=Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science |volume=487 |issue=79 |year=1986 |pages=82–86 |doi=10.1177/0002716286487001004 |s2cid=60711423 |url=http://nrs.harvard.edu/urn-3:HUL.InstRepos:33439196 }}</ref> In the urban counties of [[Jefferson County, Kentucky|Jefferson]], [[Oldham County, Kentucky|Oldham]], [[Lexington, Kentucky|Fayette]], [[Boone County, Kentucky|Boone]], [[Kenton County, Kentucky|Kenton]], and [[Campbell County, Kentucky|Campbell]], German is the largest reported ancestry.{{citation needed|date=October 2023}} Americans of [[Scotch-Irish Americans|Scotch-Irish]] and [[English American|English]] ancestry are present throughout the entire state. Many residents claim Irish ancestry on account of Scotch-Irish ([[Ulster Scots people|Ulster Scots]]) descent. In the 1980s, the only counties in the United States where over half of the population cited "English" as their only ancestry group were in eastern Kentucky.<ref name="Eugene James Turner 1988">James Paul Allen and Eugene James Turner, ''We the People: An Atlas of America's Ethnic Diversity'' (Macmillan, 1988), 41.</ref>

In the 2000 census, some 20,000 people (0.49%) in the state self-identified as Native American. The state has no [[federally recognized tribes]] or [[state-recognized tribes]].<ref>{{cite web |title=State Recognized Tribes |url=http://www.ncsl.org/research/state-tribal-institute/list-of-federal-and-state-recognized-tribes.aspx |publisher=National Conference of State Legislatures |access-date=April 6, 2017 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220901061023/https://www.ncsl.org/legislators-staff/legislators/quad-caucus/list-of-federal-and-state-recognized-tribes.aspx |archive-date=September 1, 2022}}</ref>

African-Americans, who were mostly enslaved at the time, made up 25% of Kentucky's population before the [[American Civil War|Civil War]]; they were held and worked primarily in the central [[Bluegrass region]], an area of hemp and tobacco cultivation, as well as raising blooded livestock. The number of African Americans living in Kentucky declined during the 20th century amid the [[Great Migration (African American)|Great Migration]]; today, 8% of the state's total population is African-American.<ref name="Race and Ethnicity in the United States: 2010 Census and 2020 Census">{{cite web |title=Race and Ethnicity in the United States: 2010 Census and 2020 Census |url=https://www.census.gov/library/visualizations/interactive/race-and-ethnicity-in-the-united-state-2010-and-2020-census.html |website=Census.gov |publisher=U.S. Census Bureau |access-date=September 23, 2022 |archive-date=August 15, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210815165418/https://www.census.gov/library/visualizations/interactive/race-and-ethnicity-in-the-united-state-2010-and-2020-census.html |url-status=live }}</ref> The state's African-American population is highly urbanized, with 44.2% living in [[Jefferson County, Kentucky|Jefferson County]] and 52% living in the broader Louisville metropolitan area. Other areas with high concentrations include [[Christian County, Kentucky|Christian]] and [[Fulton County, Kentucky|Fulton]] counties and the cities of [[Paducah, Kentucky|Paducah]] and [[Lexington, Kentucky|Lexington]].

The Hispanic and Asian populations in Kentucky are small but have grown significantly since the late 20th century. Most of Kentucky's Hispanic residents are of [[Mexican Americans|Mexican]] ancestry, while most of Kentucky's Asian residents are of Chinese and Indian heritage.<ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.britannica.com/place/Kentucky/Plant-and-animal-life#ref279943 | title=Kentucky – Forests, Mammals, Birds &#124; Britannica | access-date=November 19, 2023 | archive-date=November 19, 2023 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231119145244/https://www.britannica.com/place/Kentucky/Plant-and-animal-life#ref279943 | url-status=live }}</ref> There is also a Vietnamese community in Lexington and Louisville, and Vietnamese, Cambodian, and Lao populations in Bowling Green.{{citation needed|date=March 2024}}

===Language===
In 2000, 96% of all residents of the state five years old and older spoke only [[American English|English]] at home, a small decrease from 98% in 1990. Speech patterns in the state generally reflect the first settlers' Virginia backgrounds. South Midland features are best preserved in the mountains, with [[Southern American English|Southern]] in most other areas of Kentucky, but some common to Midland and Southern are widespread. After a vowel, the /r/ may be weak or missing. For instance, ''Coop'' has the vowel of ''put'', but the root rhymes with ''boot''. In southern Kentucky, earthworms are called ''redworms'', a burlap bag is known as a ''tow sack'' or the ''Southern grass sack'', and green beans are called ''snap beans''. In Kentucky English, a young man may ''carry'', not escort, his girlfriend to a party.{{Citation needed|date=January 2024}}

[[Spanish language|Spanish]] is the second-most-spoken language in Kentucky, after English.{{Citation needed|date=January 2024}}

===Religion===
{{See also|Religion in Louisville, Kentucky}}

[[File:CollegeoftheBible-LexKY.JPG|thumb|[[Lexington Theological Seminary]] (then College of the Bible), 1904]]
{{bar box
|title=Religion in Kentucky (2014)<ref name="pew2014">{{cite web|url=http://www.pewforum.org/religious-landscape-study/|title=Religion in America: U.S. Religious Data, Demographics and Statistics|work=Pew Research Center|access-date=December 3, 2017|archive-date=March 29, 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160329123045/http://www.pewforum.org/religious-landscape-study/|url-status=live}}</ref>
|titlebar=
|left1=Religion
|right1=Percent
|float=right
|bars=
{{bar percent|Protestant|DarkViolet|65}}
{{bar percent|[[Irreligion|No religion]]|black|22}}
{{bar percent|Catholic|DodgerBlue|10}}
{{bar percent|Other faith|green|2}}
}}
{{as of|2010}}, the [[Association of Religion Data Archives]] (ARDA)<ref name="www.thearda.com">{{cite web |url=http://www.thearda.com/rcms2010/r/s/21/rcms2010_21_state_adh_2010.asp |title=The Association of Religion Data Archives &#124; State Membership Report |publisher=www.thearda.com |access-date=November 15, 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140113203617/http://www.thearda.com/rcms2010/r/s/21/rcms2010_21_state_adh_2010.asp |archive-date=January 13, 2014 |url-status=dead }}</ref> reported the following groupings of Kentucky's 4,339,367 residents:
* 48% not affiliated with any religious group, 2,101,653 persons
* 42% [[Protestant Christian]], 1,819,860 adherents
** 33% [[Evangelicalism|Evangelical Protestant]], 1,448,947 adherents (23% within the [[Southern Baptist Convention]], 1,004,407 adherents)
** 7.1% [[Mainline Protestant]], 305,955 adherents (4.4% in the [[United Methodist Church]], 189,596 adherents)
** 1.5% [[Black church|Black Protestant]], 64,958 adherents
* 8.3% [[Catholic Church in the United States|Catholic]], 359,783 adherents
* 0.74% [[Latter Day Saint movement|Latter-day Saints]], 31,991 adherents
* 0.60% other religions, 26,080 adherents (0.26% [[Muslim]], 0.16% [[Judaism|Jewish]], 0.06% [[Buddhism|Buddhist]], 0.01% other)

Being a Southern state in the [[Bible Belt]], Kentucky is predominantly Christian and is home to several seminaries. [[Southern Baptist Theological Seminary]] in [[Louisville, Kentucky|Louisville]] is the principal seminary for the [[Southern Baptist Convention]]. Louisville is the home of the [[Louisville Presbyterian Theological Seminary]], an institution of the [[Presbyterian Church (USA)]]. Lexington has one seminary, [[Lexington Theological Seminary]] (affiliated with the [[Christian Church (Disciples of Christ)|Disciples of Christ]]). The Baptist Seminary of Kentucky is located on the campus of [[Georgetown College]] in Georgetown. [[Asbury Theological Seminary]], a multi-denominational seminary in the [[Methodism|Methodist]] tradition, is located in nearby [[Wilmore, Kentucky|Wilmore]].

In addition to seminaries, there are several colleges affiliated with denominations:
* In Louisville, [[Bellarmine University]] and [[Spalding University]] are affiliated with the [[Catholic Church in the United States|Roman Catholic Church]].
* In [[Lexington, Kentucky|Lexington]], [[Transylvania University]] is affiliated with the [[Disciples of Christ]].
* In [[Owensboro, Kentucky|Owensboro]], [[Kentucky Wesleyan College]] is associated with the [[United Methodist Church]], and [[Brescia University]] is associated with the Roman Catholic Church.
* In Pikeville, the [[University of Pikeville]] is affiliated with the [[Presbyterian Church (USA)]].
* In Wilmore, [[Asbury University]] (a separate institution from the seminary) is associated with the [[Christian College Consortium]].
* The [[Baptist]] denomination is associated with several colleges:
** [[University of the Cumberlands]], in [[Williamsburg, Kentucky|Williamsburg]]
** [[Campbellsville University]], in [[Campbellsville, Kentucky|Campbellsville]]
** [[Georgetown College (Kentucky)|Georgetown College]], in [[Georgetown, Kentucky|Georgetown]]
** [[Clear Creek Baptist Bible College]], in [[Pineville, Kentucky]]
* [[Grayson, Kentucky|Grayson]] in [[Carter County, Kentucky|Carter County]] is home to [[Kentucky Christian University]] which is affiliated with the Christian Churches and Churches of Christ.
*The [[Abbey of Our Lady of Gethsemani]] is located in [[Bardstown, Kentucky]]. Author [[Thomas Merton]], known as a social activist, worked to reconcile Christianity with other major religions, had converted to Catholicism as a young man, and became a Trappist monk; he lived and worked here from 1941 until his death in 1968.

Louisville is home to the [[Cathedral of the Assumption (Louisville, Kentucky)|Cathedral of the Assumption]], the third-oldest Catholic cathedral in continuous use in the United States. The city holds the headquarters of the [[Presbyterian Church (USA)]] and their printing press. Reflecting late 19th, 20th and 21st-century immigration from different countries, Louisville also has [[Jew]]ish, [[Muslim]],<ref>{{cite web|title=Muslims in Louisville|url=http://www.irfi.org/articles/articles_101_150/muslims_in_louisville.htm|access-date=December 7, 2011|publisher=Irfi.org|archive-date=January 20, 2012|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120120155254/http://www.irfi.org/articles/articles_101_150/muslims_in_louisville.htm|url-status=live}}</ref> and [[Hindu]] communities.

In 1996 the Center for Interfaith Relations established the Festival of Faiths, the first and oldest annual interfaith festival to be held in the United States.<ref>Scanlon, Leslie. “Festival to Showcase Religious Diversity.” ''The Courier-Journal'', November 14, 1996, p. 1</ref>

The Christian creationist apologetics group, [[Answers in Genesis]], along with its [[Creation Museum]], is headquartered in [[Petersburg, Boone County, Kentucky|Petersburg, Kentucky]].

==Economy==
{{Update|part=section|date=April 2025}}{{See also|Economy of Louisville, Kentucky|Economy of Lexington, Kentucky|Kentucky locations by per capita income}}
[[File:2012 Toyota Camry SE -- 02-29-2012.JPG|thumb|The best selling car in the United States, the [[Toyota Camry]], is manufactured in [[Georgetown, Kentucky]].]]

Early in its history, Kentucky gained recognition for its excellent farming conditions. It was the site of the first commercial [[winery]] in the United States (started in present-day [[Jessamine County, Kentucky|Jessamine County]] in 1799) and due to the high calcium content of the soil in the Bluegrass region quickly became a major horse breeding (and later racing) area.{{Citation needed|date=April 2025}}

In 2006, Kentucky ranked 5th nationally in goat farming, 8th in [[beef cattle]] production,<ref name="bamabeef2007" /> and 14th in corn production.<ref name="econedlink2007" /> Kentucky has been a long-standing major center of the tobacco industry{{snd}}both as a center of business and tobacco farming.{{Citation needed|date=April 2025}}

Kentucky's economy has expanded to in non-agricultural terms as well, especially auto manufacturing, energy fuel production, and medical facilities.<ref name="Hunt 2019 9–14"/>

Kentucky ranked 4th among U.S. states in the number of automobiles and trucks assembled in 2003.<ref name="Tradeandindustrydev.com"/>

[[File:Ford F-150 XL SuperCrew -- 03-10-2010.jpg|thumb|left|The best selling truck in the United States, the [[Ford F-Series]], is manufactured in [[Louisville, Kentucky]].]]
Kentucky has historically been a major coal producer, but the industry has been in decline since the 1980s, and the number employed dropped by more than half between 2011 and 2015.<ref name="YearInKyBusiness" />

{{as of|2010}}, 24% of electricity produced in the U.S. depended on either enriched uranium rods coming from the [[Paducah Gaseous Diffusion Plant]] (the only domestic site of low-grade uranium enrichment),{{Update inline|date=May 2021|reason=closed in 2013}} or from the 107,000 tons of coal extracted from the state's two coal fields (which combined produce 4% percent of the electricity in the US).<ref>{{cite web |url=http://geology.utah.gov/emp/energydata/statistics/coal2.0/pdf/T2.7.pdf |title= U.S. Coal Production by State, 1994–2009 |website=Utah Geological Survey |access-date=December 7, 2011 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101103115412/http://geology.utah.gov/emp/energydata/statistics/coal2.0/pdf/T2.7.pdf |archive-date=November 3, 2010 }}</ref>

Kentucky produces 95% of the world's supply of [[bourbon whiskey]], and the number of barrels of bourbon being aged in Kentucky (more than 5.7{{spaces}}million) exceeds the state's population.<ref name="YearInKyBusiness">{{cite news |first=Tom |last=Eblin |url=http://www.kentucky.com/news/local/news-columns-blogs/tom-eblen/article51795000.html |title=Year in Kentucky business saw Toyota expand, bourbon boom, coal decline |newspaper=[[Lexington Herald-Leader]] |date=December 27, 2015 |access-date=January 3, 2016 |archive-date=December 31, 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151231033339/http://www.kentucky.com/news/local/news-columns-blogs/tom-eblen/article51795000.html |url-status=live }}</ref><ref name="APBourbon">{{Cite web |date=February 3, 2015 |title=Bourbon, Tennessee whiskey sales soar in U.S.; exports top $1B |url=https://www.seattletimes.com/business/bourbon-tennessee-whiskey-sales-soar-in-us-exports-top-1b/ |agency=Associated Press |first1=Bruce |last1=Schreiner |website=The Seattle Times |language=en-US |url-status=live |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20230522200347/https://www.seattletimes.com/business/bourbon-tennessee-whiskey-sales-soar-in-us-exports-top-1b/ |archive-date= May 22, 2023 }}</ref> Bourbon has been a growing market{{snd}}with production of Kentucky bourbon rising 170 percent between 1999 and 2015.<ref name="YearInKyBusiness" /> In 2019 the state had more than fifty distilleries for bourbon production.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.columbusmonthly.com/entertainmentlife/20190319/best-driving-vacations-kentucky-bourbon-trail?template=ampart|title=Best Driving Vacations: Kentucky Bourbon Trail|date=March 19, 2019 |website=Columbus Monthly |first1=Sara |last1=Havens |url-status=dead |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20210428220903/https://www.columbusmonthly.com/entertainmentlife/20190319/best-driving-vacations-kentucky-bourbon-trail?template=ampart |archive-date= April 28, 2021 }}</ref>

Kentucky exports reached $22.1{{spaces}}billion in 2012, with products and services going to 199 countries.<ref>{{cite web|last=Snchez |first=Francisco J. |url=http://www.kentucky.com/2013/03/15/2558257/ky-one-of-fastest-growing-states.html |title=Ky. one of fastest-growing states in exporting products &#124; Op-Ed |publisher=Lexington Herald Leader |date=March 15, 2013 |access-date=July 10, 2013 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160308122022/http://www.kentucky.com/opinion/op-ed/article44410905.html |archive-date= March 8, 2016 }}</ref>

[[Fort Knox]], a [[United States Army]] post best known as the site of the [[United States Bullion Depository]], which is used to house a large portion of the United States official [[gold reserves]], is located in Kentucky between Louisville and [[Elizabethtown, Kentucky|Elizabethtown]]. In May 2010, the [[United States Army Human Resources Command|Army Human Resource Center of Excellence]], the largest office building in the state at nearly {{convert|900000|sqft}} opened at Fort Knox. The complex employs nearly 4,300 soldiers and civilians.<ref>{{cite news |website=Louisville Business First |url=http://www.bizjournals.com/louisville/stories/2010/05/24/daily42.html |title=Human resource center opens at Fort Knox |date=May 27, 2010 |access-date=November 28, 2012 |archive-date=October 10, 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121010163955/http://www.bizjournals.com/louisville/stories/2010/05/24/daily42.html |url-status=live }}</ref>

Kentucky contains two of the twenty [[List of U.S. federal prisons|U.S. Federal Penitentiaries]]: [[USP Big Sandy]] (in the east in [[Martin County, Kentucky|Martin County]] near [[Inez, Kentucky|Inez]]) and [[USP McCreary]] (in the south in [[McCreary County, Kentucky|McCreary County]] in the [[Daniel Boone National Forest]]).{{Citation needed|date=April 2025}}

The total gross state product for 2020 was $213{{spaces}}billion.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/KYNGSP |title=Gross Domestic Product: All Industry Total in Kentucky (KYNGSP) |publisher=FRED &#124; St. Louis Fed |date= |accessdate=January 27, 2022 |archive-date=January 20, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220120223427/https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/KYNGSP |url-status=live }}</ref> In 2023, the per capita personal income in Kentucky was 55,360 U.S. dollars.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Per capita income Kentucky U.S. 2023 |url=https://www.statista.com/statistics/205414/per-capita-personal-income-in-kentucky/ |access-date=April 28, 2025 |website=Statista |language=en}}</ref> As of March 2024, the state's unemployment rate is 4.5%.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://kystats.ky.gov/KYLMI/PressRelease/b6324192-88d1-431f-ad51-89d98bfc766f |title=Kentucky Education and Labor Cabinet Releases March 2024 Unemployment Report |date=April 18, 2024 |website=Kentucky Center for Statistics |access-date=April 30, 2024 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240430193723/https://kystats.ky.gov/KYLMI/PressRelease/b6324192-88d1-431f-ad51-89d98bfc766f |archive-date=April 30, 2024}}</ref>

===Taxation===
Tax is collected by the Kentucky Department of Revenue.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://revenue.ky.gov/Pages/index.aspx|title=Welcome – Department of Revenue|website=revenue.ky.gov|access-date=January 3, 2020|archive-date=February 2, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210202163714/https://revenue.ky.gov/Pages/index.aspx|url-status=live}}</ref> Kentucky has a flat 4% individual [[income tax]] rate. The sales tax rate in Kentucky is 6%.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://revenue.ky.gov/business/salesanduse.htm
 |title=Sales & Use Tax
 |access-date=May 1, 2007
|publisher=Kentucky Department of Revenue
 |url-status=dead
 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070420210040/http://www.revenue.ky.gov/business/salesanduse.htm
 |archive-date=April 20, 2007
}}</ref>

Kentucky has a broadly based classified [[property tax]] system. All classes of property, unless exempted by the Constitution, are taxed by the state, although at widely varying rates.<ref>{{cite web| url = http://revenue.ky.gov/business/proptax.htm| title = Property Tax| access-date = May 1, 2007| publisher = Kentucky Department of Revenue| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20070403180310/http://revenue.ky.gov/business/proptax.htm| archive-date = April 3, 2007}}</ref> Many of these classes are exempted from taxation by local government. Of the classes that are subject to local taxation, three have special rates set by the [[Kentucky General Assembly|General Assembly]], one by the [[Kentucky Supreme Court]] and the remaining classes are subject to the full local rate, which includes the tax rate set by the local taxing bodies plus all voted levies. Real property is assessed on 100% of the fair market value and property taxes are due by December 31. Once the primary source of state and local government revenue, property taxes now account for only about 6% of the Kentucky's annual General Fund revenues.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.bankrate.com/yho/itax/edit/state/profiles/state_tax_Ky.asp |title=State Taxes – Kentucky – Overview |access-date=May 1, 2007 |publisher=bankrate.com |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070408040707/http://www.bankrate.com/yho/itax/edit/state/profiles/state_tax_Ky.asp |archive-date=April 8, 2007 |url-status=dead }}
</ref>

Until January 1, 2006, Kentucky imposed a tax on intangible personal property held by a taxpayer on January{{spaces}}1 of each year. The Kentucky intangible tax was repealed under House Bill 272.<ref>{{cite web| url = http://www.lrc.ky.gov/record/05rs/HB272.htm| title = Text of the House Bill 272| access-date = August 10, 2007| publisher = State of Kentucky| archive-date = August 11, 2007| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20070811212831/http://www.lrc.ky.gov/record/05rs/hb272.htm| url-status = dead}}</ref> Intangible property consisted of any property or investment that represents evidence of value or the right to value. Some types of intangible property included: bonds, notes, retail [[repurchase agreement]]s, accounts receivable, trusts, enforceable contracts sale of real estate (land contracts), money in hand, money in [[safe deposit box]]es, annuities, interests in estates, loans to stockholders, and commercial paper.

In 2023, Kentucky launched a regulated local and online sports betting industry. Taxing sportsbooks at 9.75% (in person) and 14.25% (online), the first two months of action saw the state collect $7.94 million.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Rules in place, Kentucky sports betting will start in September |url=https://www.courier-journal.com/story/news/2023/07/10/kentucky-sports-betting-rules-regulations-approved-andy-beshear/70392840007/ |access-date=December 11, 2023 |website=The Courier-Journal |language=en-US |archive-date=April 1, 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240401192236/https://www.courier-journal.com/story/news/2023/07/10/kentucky-sports-betting-rules-regulations-approved-andy-beshear/70392840007/ |url-status=live }}</ref>

===Tourism===

{{See also|Kentucky Bourbon Trail|List of attractions and events in the Louisville metropolitan area}}
[[File:Ark Encounter 006.jpg|thumb|right|The [[Ark Encounter]] in [[Williamstown, Kentucky|Williamstown]]]]

Tourism has become an increasingly important part of the Kentucky economy. In 2019 tourism grew to $7.6{{spaces}}billion in economic impact. Key attractions include [[horse racing]] with events like the [[Kentucky Derby]] and the [[Keeneland]] Fall and Spring Meets, [[Kentucky Bourbon Trail|bourbon]] distillery tours, including along the [[Kentucky Bourbon Trail]] and Louisville Urban Bourbon Trail,<ref>{{Cite web |title=Louisville, KY's Urban Bourbon Trail (UBT) |url=https://www.bourboncountry.com/things-to-do/urban-bourbon-trail/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150219050143/http://www.bourboncountry.com/things-to-do/urban-bourbon-trail/index.aspx |archive-date=February 19, 2015 |access-date=July 2, 2022 |website=BourbonCounty.com}}</ref> and natural attractions such as the state's many lakes and parks to include [[Mammoth Cave]], [[Lake Cumberland State Resort Park|Lake Cumberland]] and [[Red River Gorge]].<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.lanereport.com/116031/2019/08/kentucky-tourism-announces-increased-visitor-growth-and-spending-in-2018/|title=Kentucky Tourism says visitor spending rose to $7.6 billion in 2018|date=August 14, 2019|access-date=August 26, 2020|archive-date=September 14, 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190914053739/https://www.lanereport.com/116031/2019/08/kentucky-tourism-announces-increased-visitor-growth-and-spending-in-2018/|url-status=live}}</ref>

The state also has several religious destinations such as the [[Creation Museum]] and [[Ark Encounter]] of [[Answers in Genesis]].<ref>{{cite web |title=Itinerary: Northern Kentucky Biblical Wonders |url=https://www.kentuckytourism.com/culture/spirituality/spiritual-itineraries/northern-kentucky-biblical-wonders |access-date=September 20, 2020 |archive-date=September 18, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200918144205/https://www.kentuckytourism.com/culture/spirituality/spiritual-itineraries/northern-kentucky-biblical-wonders |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{cite web|title=Answers in Genesis|url=https://answersingenesis.org/|access-date=September 20, 2020|archive-date=February 20, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210220152012/https://answersingenesis.org/|url-status=live}}</ref>

In December 2002, the Kentucky governor [[Paul E. Patton]] unveiled the state slogan "It's that friendly",<ref name="nbcnews.com">{{cite web |url=https://www.nbcnews.com/id/wbna8598104 |title=Kentucky frowns on smiley license plates |publisher=NBC News |date=July 16, 2005 |access-date=July 10, 2013 |archive-date=February 18, 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150218183645/http://www.nbcnews.com/id/8598104/ns/us_news-weird_news/t/kentucky-frowns-smiley-license-plates/#.UXW--KJwiIQ |url-status=live }}</ref> in the hope of drawing more people into the state based on the idea of [[southern hospitality]]. Though it was meant to embrace southern values, many Kentuckians rejected the slogan as cheesy and generic.<ref name="nbcnews.com" /> It was seen that the slogan did not encourage tourism as much as initially hoped for.

In 2004, then Governor [[Ernie Fletcher]] launched a comprehensive [[brand]]ing campaign with the hope of making the state's $12–14{{spaces}}million advertising budget more effective.<ref>{{cite web|title = Branding campaign puts Kentucky in step with national trend – Louisville – Louisville Business First|url = http://www.bizjournals.com/louisville/stories/2004/12/06/story3.html|website = Louisville Business First| date=December 6, 2004 |access-date = November 27, 2015|archive-date = January 1, 2016|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20160101052615/http://www.bizjournals.com/louisville/stories/2004/12/06/story3.html|url-status = live}}</ref> The resulting "Unbridled Spirit" brand was the result of a $500,000 contract with New West, a Kentucky-based public relations advertising and marketing firm, to develop a viable brand and tag line.<ref>{{cite news | url=https://www.nytimes.com/2004/12/02/business/02addes.html?_r=0 | work=The New York Times | title='Unbridled Spirit' Wins Kentucky Slogan Vote | date=December 2, 2004 | access-date=February 19, 2017 | archive-date=February 18, 2015 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150218191446/http://www.nytimes.com/2004/12/02/business/02addes.html?_r=0 | url-status=live }}</ref> The Fletcher administration aggressively marketed the brand in both the public and private sectors. Since that time, the "Welcome to Kentucky" signs at border areas have an "Unbridled Spirit" symbol on them.

====Horse industry====

{{See also|Horse racing in the United States}}
[[File:KL Spring Running.jpg|thumb|Spring running of [[Keeneland]] in Lexington]]

Horse racing has long been associated with Kentucky. [[Churchill Downs]], the home of the Derby, is a large venue with a capacity exceeding 165,000.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.bloodhorse.com/horse-racing/articles/211485/second-highest-derby-attendance-handle |title=Second-Highest Derby Attendance, Handle |website=bloodhorse.com |date=May 7, 2016 |access-date=August 9, 2021 |archive-date=June 24, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210624144615/https://www.bloodhorse.com/horse-racing/articles/211485/second-highest-derby-attendance-handle |url-status=live }}</ref> The track hosts multiple events throughout the year and is a significant draw to the city of Louisville. [[Keeneland Race Course]], in Lexington, hosts two major meets, the Spring and Fall running. Beyond hosting races Keeneland also hosts a significant horse auction drawing buyers from around the world. In 2019 $360{{spaces}}million was spent on the September Yearling sale.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.businessinsider.com/worlds-biggest-horse-sale-keeneland-kentucky-photos-2019-10|title=What it's like going to the 'Super Bowl of horse sales,' where royals and millionaires bid on horses they hope might be the next Kentucky Derby winner|first=Katie|last=Warren|website=Business Insider|access-date=August 27, 2020|archive-date=September 10, 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200910093425/https://www.businessinsider.com/worlds-biggest-horse-sale-keeneland-kentucky-photos-2019-10|url-status=live}}</ref> The [[Kentucky Horse Park]] in [[Georgetown, Kentucky|Georgetown]] hosts multiple events throughout the year, including international equestrian competitions and also offers horseback riding from April to October.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://kyhorsepark.com/|title=Home|website=Kentucky Horse Park|access-date=August 27, 2020|archive-date=February 11, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210211005859/https://kyhorsepark.com/|url-status=live}}</ref>

==Education==

{{Main| Education in Kentucky|History of education in Kentucky}}
{{See also|Education Reform in Kentucky|List of colleges and universities in Kentucky|List of high schools in Kentucky|List of school districts in Kentucky}}
[[File:William T. Young Library.jpg|thumb|[[William T. Young Library]] at the [[University of Kentucky]], Kentucky's [[Flagship university|flagship]] university]]
[[File:Speed Engineering School, Louisville, Kentucky (1067).jpg|thumb|The [[J. B. Speed School of Engineering|J.B. Speed School of Engineering]] at the [[University of Louisville]], Kentucky's urban research university]]

Kentucky maintains eight public four-year universities. There are two general tiers: major research institutions (the [[University of Kentucky]] and the [[University of Louisville]]) and regional universities, which encompass the remaining six schools. The regional schools have specific target counties that many of their programs are targeted towards (such as Forestry at [[Eastern Kentucky University]] or Cave Management at [[Western Kentucky University]]), however, most of their curriculum varies little from any other public university.

The University of Kentucky (UK) and the University of Louisville (UofL) have the highest academic rankings and admissions standards although the regional schools are not without their national recognized departments{{snd}}examples being Western Kentucky University's nationally ranked Journalism Department or [[Morehead State University]] offering one of the nation's only Space Science degrees. UK is the flagship and land grant of the system and has agriculture extension services in every county. The two research schools split duties related to the medical field, UK handles all medical outreach programs in the eastern half of the state while UofL does all medical outreach in the state's western half.

The state's sixteen public two-year colleges have been governed by the [[Kentucky Community and Technical College System]] since the passage of the Postsecondary Education Improvement Act of 1997, commonly referred to as House Bill 1.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.lrc.ky.gov/recarch/97ss/HB1/bill.doc |title=Postsecondary Education Improvement Act of 1997 |access-date=May 1, 2007 |publisher=State of Kentucky |archive-date=June 5, 2007 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070605025349/http://www.lrc.ky.gov/recarch/97ss/HB1/bill.doc |url-status=dead }}</ref> Before the passage of House Bill 1, most of these colleges were under the control of the [[University of Kentucky]].

[[Transylvania University]], a liberal arts university located in Lexington, was founded in 1780 as the oldest university west of the [[Allegheny Mountains]].

[[Berea College]], located at the extreme southern edge of the Bluegrass below the Cumberland Plateau, was the first coeducational college in the [[Southern United States|South]] to admit both Black and white students, doing so from its very establishment in 1855.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.diversityweb.org/digest/vol10no1/mendel.cfm |title=Berea College:Learning, Labor, and Service |access-date=May 1, 2007 |publisher=Diversity Web |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070705210337/http://www.diversityweb.org/digest/vol10no1/mendel.cfm |archive-date=July 5, 2007 |url-status=dead }}</ref> A state law in 1904 ended integration, and the law was upheld by the United States Supreme Court in the case of ''[[Berea College v. Kentucky]]'' in 1908.The state law was repealed in 1950 and Berea resumed integration.<ref>Shannon H. Wilson, ''Berea College: An Illustrated History'' (Lexington: University Press of Kentucky, 2006).</ref>

There are 173 school districts and 1,233 public schools in Kentucky.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.kde.state.ky.us/KDE/About+Schools+and+Districts/Kentuckys+Schools+and+Districts/ |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070302123424/http://www.kde.state.ky.us/KDE/About%2BSchools%2Band%2BDistricts/Kentuckys%2BSchools%2Band%2BDistricts/ |url-status=dead |archive-date=March 2, 2007 |title=Kentucky's Schools and Districts |publisher=Kentucky Department of Education |access-date=June 6, 2012 }}</ref> For the 2010 to 2011 school year, there were approximately 647,827 students enrolled in public school.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.kde.state.ky.us/KDE/HomePageRepository/News+Room/Kentucky+Education+Facts.htm |title=Kentucky Education Facts |publisher=Kentucky Department of Education |access-date=June 15, 2012 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120420022820/http://www.kde.state.ky.us/KDE/HomePageRepository/News%20Room/Kentucky%20Education%20Facts.htm |archive-date=April 20, 2012 }}</ref>

Kentucky has been the site of much educational reform over the past two decades. In 1989 the [[Kentucky Supreme Court]] ruled the state's education system was unconstitutional.<ref>{{citation | last1=Miller | first1=Mary Helen | last2=Noland | first2=Kevin | last3=Schaaf | first3=John | date=April 1990 | title=A Guide to the Kentucky Education Reform Act of 1990 | publication-place=Frankfort, Kentucky | publisher=Legislative Research Commission | s2cid=151134069 | oclc=21743013 | id={{ERIC|ED327352}}}}</ref> The response of the [[Kentucky General Assembly|General Assembly]] was passage of the [[Kentucky Education Reform Act]] (KERA) the following year. Years later, Kentucky has shown progress, but most agree that further reform is needed.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.kltprc.net/foresight/Chpt_37.htm |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081207091202/http://www.kltprc.net/foresight/Chpt_37.htm |archive-date=December 7, 2008 |title=Education Reform and Equitable Excellence: The Kentucky Experiment |access-date=May 1, 2007 |last=Roeder |first=Phillip}}</ref>

The [[2018 West Virginia teachers' strike|West Virginia]] teachers' strike in 2018 inspired [[2018–19 education workers' strikes in the United States|teachers in other states]], including Kentucky, to take similar action.<ref>{{cite news |title=At least 4 Kentucky school districts close amid protests |url=https://www.apnews.com/3622dc9b61204787a5b5f3da24e409e1 |work=Associated Press |date=March 7, 2019 |access-date=September 4, 2019 |archive-date=September 4, 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190904120515/https://www.apnews.com/3622dc9b61204787a5b5f3da24e409e1 |url-status=live }}</ref>

==Transportation==

{{Main|Transportation in Kentucky}}
[[File:Kentucky Route 80 in Pulaski County.jpg|thumb|At {{convert|484|mi|km}} long, [[Kentucky Route 80]] is the longest route in Kentucky, pictured here west of [[Somerset, Kentucky|Somerset]].]]

===Roads===

{{See also|List of Kentucky State Highways}}

Kentucky is served by six major [[Interstate Highway System|Interstate highways]] ([[Interstate 24 in Kentucky|I-24]], [[Interstate 64 in Kentucky|I-64]], [[Interstate 65 in Kentucky|I-65]], [[Interstate 69 in Kentucky|I-69]], [[Interstate 71 in Kentucky|I-71]], and [[Interstate 75 in Kentucky|I-75]]), seven [[:Category:Kentucky parkway system|parkways]], and six bypasses and spurs ([[Interstate 165 (Kentucky)|I-165]], [[Interstate 169 (Kentucky)|I-169]], [[Interstate 264 (Kentucky)|I-264]], [[Interstate 265|I-265]], [[Interstate 275 (Ohio–Indiana–Kentucky)|I-275]], and [[Interstate 471|I-471]]). The parkways were originally [[toll road]]s, but on November 22, 2006, Governor [[Ernie Fletcher]] ended the toll charges on the [[William H. Natcher Parkway]] and the [[Audubon Parkway]], the last two parkways in Kentucky to charge tolls for access.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.kctcs.net/todaysnews/index.cfm?tn_date=2006-09-28#6693 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20061008233115/http://www.kctcs.net/todaysnews/index.cfm?tn_date=2006-09-28#6693 |archive-date=October 8, 2006 |title=Fletcher:Tolls to end November 22 |access-date=May 1, 2007 |last=Stinnett |first=Chuck}}</ref> The related [[Toll house|toll booths]] have been demolished.<ref>{{cite web| url = http://www.courierpress.com/news/2006/nov/22/onlookers-cheer-booth-destruction-at-ceremony/| title = Onlookers Cheer Booth Destruction at Ceremony| access-date = August 10, 2007| last = Stinnett| first = Chuck| date = November 22, 2006| publisher = Courier Press| archive-date = September 1, 2007| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20070901145219/http://www.courierpress.com/news/2006/nov/22/onlookers-cheer-booth-destruction-at-ceremony/| url-status = live}}</ref>

Ending the tolls some seven months ahead of schedule was generally agreed to have been a positive economic development for transportation in Kentucky. In June 2007, a law went into effect raising the speed limit on rural portions of Kentucky Interstates and parkways from {{convert|65|to|70|mph}}.<ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.courier-journal.com/article/20070626/NEWS01/706260437|newspaper=[[Courier-Journal]]|title=Many new laws go on books today|author=Steitzer, Stephanie|date=June 26, 2007}}</ref>

Road tunnels include the interstate [[Cumberland Gap Tunnel]] and the rural [[Nada Tunnel]].

===Rails===

{{See also|List of Kentucky railroads}}
[[File:High Bridge in Kentucky.jpg|thumb|[[High Bridge of Kentucky|High Bridge]] over the [[Kentucky River]] was the tallest rail bridge in the world when it was completed in 1877.]]

[[Amtrak]], the national passenger rail system, provides service to [[Ashland, Kentucky|Ashland]], [[South Shore, Kentucky|South Portsmouth]], [[Maysville, Kentucky|Maysville]] and [[Fulton, Kentucky|Fulton]]. The ''[[Cardinal (train)|Cardinal]]'' (trains 50 and 51) is the line that offers Amtrak service to Ashland, South Shore, Maysville and South Portsmouth. The ''[[City of New Orleans (train)|City of New Orleans]]'' (trains 58 and 59) serve Fulton. The [[Northern Kentucky]] area is served by the ''Cardinal'' at [[Cincinnati Union Terminal]]. The terminal is just across the [[Ohio River]] in [[Cincinnati]].

[[Norfolk Southern Railway]] passes through the Central and Southern parts of the commonwealth, via its Cincinnati, New Orleans, and Texas Pacific (CNO&TP) subsidiary. The line originates in [[Cincinnati]] and terminates 338 miles south in [[Chattanooga, Tennessee]].

{{as of|2004}}, there were approximately {{convert|2640|mi}} of railways in Kentucky, with about 65% of those being operated by [[CSX Transportation]]. [[Bituminous coal|Coal]] was by far the most common cargo, accounting for 76% of cargo loaded and 61% of cargo delivered.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.aar.org/aboutus/Pages/default.aspx|format=PDF |title=Railroad Service in Kentucky |access-date=May 1, 2007 |publisher=Association of American Railroads |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130117104804/https://www.aar.org/aboutus/Pages/default.aspx |archive-date=January 17, 2013}} Also, Norfolk Southern's main north–south line runs through central and southern Kentucky, starting in Cincinnati. Formerly the CNO&TP subsidiary of Southern Railway, it is NS's most profitable line.
</ref>

[[Bardstown, Kentucky|Bardstown]] features a [[tourist attraction]] known as ''My Old Kentucky Dinner Train''. Run along a {{convert|20|mi|km|-1|adj=on}} stretch of rail purchased from [[CSX Transportation|CSX]] in 1987, guests are served a four-course meal as they make a two-and-a-half-hour round-trip between Bardstown and Limestone Springs.<ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.cincinnati.com/visitorsguide/stories/071100_dinnertrain.html|title=On the Right Track – Kentucky Dinner Train serves up railroad nostalgia |access-date=May 1, 2007 |last=Knight |first=Andy |newspaper=Cincinnati.com |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070410021419/http://www.cincinnati.com/visitorsguide/stories/071100_dinnertrain.html |archive-date=April 10, 2007}}
</ref> The [[Kentucky Railway Museum]] is located in nearby [[New Haven, Kentucky|New Haven]].<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.kyrail.org/ |title=Kentucky Railway Museum |access-date=May 1, 2007 |archive-date=April 26, 2007 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070426023631/http://www.kyrail.org/ |url-status=live }}</ref>

Other areas in Kentucky are reclaiming old railways in [[rail trail]] projects. One such project is Louisville's [[Big Four Bridge]]. When the bridge's Indiana approach ramps opened in 2014, completing the pedestrian connection across the Ohio River, the Big Four Bridge [[rail trail]] became the second-longest pedestrian-only bridge in the world.<ref>{{cite news|newspaper=Courier-Journal|title=Bridges money may be shifted|last=Shafer|first=Sheldon|date=March 5, 2007}}</ref> The longest pedestrian-only bridge is also found in Kentucky{{snd}}the [[Newport Southbank Bridge]], popularly known as the "Purple People Bridge", connecting [[Newport, Kentucky|Newport]] to [[Cincinnati|Cincinnati, Ohio]].<ref>{{cite news|url= http://www.enquirer.com/editions/2003/04/20/loc_purplebridge20.html|title= Meet the Purple People Bridge|access-date= May 1, 2007|last= Crowley|first= Patrick|date= April 23, 2003|newspaper= Cincinnati Enquirer|archive-date= February 20, 2021|archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20210220152134/https://www.cincinnati.com/|url-status= live}}</ref>

===Air===

{{See also|List of airports in Kentucky}}

Kentucky's primary airports include [[Louisville International Airport]] (Standiford Field (SDF)) of [[Louisville, Kentucky|Louisville]], [[Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky International Airport]] (CVG) of [[Cincinnati]]/[[Covington, Kentucky|Covington]], and [[Blue Grass Airport]] (LEX) in [[Lexington, Kentucky|Lexington]]. Louisville International Airport is home to [[United Parcel Service|UPS]]'s [[Worldport (UPS air hub)|Worldport]], its international air-sorting hub.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.flylouisville.com/about-the-airport/ |title=Fast Facts |access-date=September 11, 2007 |publisher=Louisville International Airport |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120920170324/https://www.flylouisville.com/about-the-airport/ |archive-date=September 20, 2012 }}</ref> Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky International Airport is the largest airport in the state, and is a focus city for passenger airline [[Delta Air Lines]] and headquarters of its [[Delta Private Jets]]. The airport is one of [[DHL Aviation]]'s three super-hubs, serving destinations throughout the Americas, Europe, Africa, and Asia, making it the 7th busiest airport in the U.S. and 36th in the world based on passenger and cargo operations.{{citation needed|date=December 2016}} CVG is also a focus city for [[Frontier Airlines]] and is the largest O&D airport and base for [[Allegiant Air]], along with home to a maintenance for [[American Airlines]] subsidiary [[PSA Airlines]] and [[Delta Air Lines]] subsidiary [[Endeavor Air]]. There are also a number of regional airports scattered across the state.

On August 27, 2006, Blue Grass Airport was the site of a crash that killed 47 passengers and 2{{spaces}}crew members aboard a [[Bombardier CRJ]] designated [[Comair Flight 191]], or Delta Air Lines Flight 5191, sometimes mistakenly identified by the press as Comair Flight 5191.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.kentucky.com/mld/kentucky/news/special_packages/crash/15378422.htm |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20061105013158/http://www.kentucky.com/mld/kentucky/news/special_packages/crash/15378422.htm |archive-date=November 5, 2006 |title=Crash Kills 49 |date=November 5, 2006 |access-date=December 7, 2011}}</ref> The lone survivor was the flight's [[First Officer (civil aviation)|first officer]], James Polehinke, who doctors determined to be brain damaged and unable to recall the crash at all.<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.cbsnews.com/news/comair-crash-survivor-leaves-hospital/ |title=Comair Crash Survivor Leaves Hospital |access-date=May 1, 2007 |publisher=CBS |date=October 3, 2006 |archive-date=December 3, 2006 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20061203025058/http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2006/10/03/national/main2059120.shtml |url-status=live }}</ref>
[[File:Barge hauling coal, Louisville and Portland Canal.jpg|thumb|A barge hauling coal in the [[Louisville and Portland Canal]], the only manmade section of the [[Ohio River]]]]

===Water===

As the state is bounded by two of the largest rivers in North America, water transportation has historically played a major role in Kentucky's economy. Louisville was a major port for steamships in the nineteenth century. Today, most barge traffic on Kentucky waterways consists of coal that is shipped from both the Eastern and Western Coalfields, about half of which is used locally to power many power plants located directly off the [[Ohio River]], with the rest being exported to other countries, most notably Japan.

Many of the largest ports in the United States are located in or adjacent to Kentucky, including:
* [[Port of Huntington-Tristate|Huntington-Tristate]] (includes [[Ashland, Kentucky]]), largest [[inland port]] and 7th largest overall
* Cincinnati-Northern Kentucky, 5th largest inland port and 43rd overall
* Louisville-Southern Indiana, 7th largest inland port and 55th overall

As a state, Kentucky ranks 10th overall in port tonnage.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.iwr.usace.army.mil/ndc/wcsc/pdf/inlandport03f.pdf |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090825064009/http://www.iwr.usace.army.mil/ndc/wcsc/pdf/inlandport03f.pdf |archive-date=August 25, 2009 |title=Top 20 Inland U.S. Ports for 2003 |access-date=December 7, 2011}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.iwr.usace.army.mil/ndc/wcsc/portton01.htm |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100502153836/http://www.iwr.usace.army.mil/ndc/wcsc/portton01.htm |archive-date=May 2, 2010 |title=CY 2001 Tonnage for Selected U.S. Ports by Port Tons |date=May 2, 2010 |access-date=December 7, 2011}}</ref>

The only natural obstacle along the entire length of the Ohio River is the [[Falls of the Ohio]], located just west of [[Downtown Louisville]].

==Law and government==

{{Further|Government of Kentucky}}

Kentucky is one of four U.S. states to officially use the term ''[[Commonwealth (U.S. state)|commonwealth]].'' The term was used for Kentucky as it had also been used by Virginia, from which Kentucky was created. The term has no particular significance in its meaning and was chosen to emphasize the distinction from the status of royal colonies as a place governed for the general welfare of the populace.<ref>[http://www.uky.edu/KentuckyAtlas/kentucky.html The Commonwealth of Kentucky] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120525150528/http://www.uky.edu/KentuckyAtlas/kentucky.html |date=May 25, 2012 }}, Kentucky Atlas & Gazetteer, [[University of Kentucky]] website.</ref> Kentucky was originally styled as the "State of Kentucky" in the act admitting it to the Union and its first constitution.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.loc.gov/law/help/statutes-at-large/1st-congress.php|title=Public Statutes at Large of the United States of America|author=United States Congress|website=Statutes at Large: 1st Congress|date=September 2014|page=189|access-date=June 4, 2017|archive-date=May 7, 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170507145334/http://www.loc.gov/law/help/statutes-at-large/1st-congress.php|url-status=live}}</ref>

The "Commonwealth" term was used in citizen petitions submitted between 1786 and 1792 for the creation of the state.<ref>{{cite web|title=Kentucky|url=https://www.history.com/topics/us-states/kentucky|access-date=June 23, 2021|website=HISTORY|date=November 9, 2009 |language=en|archive-date=June 20, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210620153533/https://www.history.com/topics/us-states/kentucky|url-status=live}}</ref> It was also used in the title of a history of the state that was published in 1834 and was used in various places within that book in references to Virginia and Kentucky.<ref>Butler, Mann, ''[https://archive.org/details/historyofcommonw00butl A History of the Commonwealth of Kentucky]'', Wilcox, Dickerman & Co., 1834.</ref> The other three states officially called "commonwealths" are [[Massachusetts]], [[Pennsylvania]], and [[Virginia]]; the territories of [[Puerto Rico]] and the [[Northern Mariana Islands]] are also formally commonwealths.

Kentucky is one of only five states that elect their state officials in odd-numbered years (the others being [[Louisiana]], [[Mississippi]], [[New Jersey]], and [[Virginia]]). Kentucky holds elections for these offices every four years in the years preceding Presidential election years. Thus, Kentucky held gubernatorial elections in 2015, 2019 and 2023.

===Executive branch===

[[File:KY Governors Mansion.png|thumb|upright=1.25|The governor's mansion in [[Frankfort, Kentucky|Frankfort]]]]

The executive branch is headed by the [[Governor of Kentucky|governor]], who serves as both [[head of state]] and [[head of government]]. The [[Lieutenant Governor of Kentucky|lieutenant governor]] may or may not have executive authority depending on whether the person is a member of the governor's [[Cabinet (government)|cabinet]]. Under the current [[Kentucky Constitution]], the lieutenant governor assumes the duties of the governor only if the governor is incapacitated. (Before 1992 the lieutenant governor assumed power any time the governor was out of the state.) The governor and lieutenant governor usually run on a single ticket (also per a 1992 constitutional amendment) and are elected to four-year terms. The current governor is [[Andy Beshear]], and the lieutenant governor is [[Jacqueline Coleman]]. Both are [[Democratic Party (United States)|Democrats]].<ref>{{cite web|url=https://apnews.com/357f0e6196414923acee9ee7aebdf8b8|title=Beshear set for 'next chapter' as Bevin concedes in Kentucky|date=November 14, 2019|website=AP NEWS|access-date=November 19, 2019|archive-date=November 17, 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191117002146/https://apnews.com/357f0e6196414923acee9ee7aebdf8b8|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/video/politics/matt-bevin-concedes-defeat-in-kentucky-governors-race/2019/11/14/42fc0ea7-2d26-4f87-9856-07f6c701ad7b_video.html|title=Matt Bevin concedes defeat in Kentucky governor's race|newspaper=The Washington Post|access-date=November 19, 2019|archive-date=November 15, 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191115232142/https://www.washingtonpost.com/video/politics/matt-bevin-concedes-defeat-in-kentucky-governors-race/2019/11/14/42fc0ea7-2d26-4f87-9856-07f6c701ad7b_video.html|url-status=live}}</ref>

The executive branch is organized into the following "cabinets", each headed by a secretary who is also a member of the governor's cabinet:<ref>{{cite web|title=Organizational Charts|work=Kentucky Personnel|publisher=Kentucky Personnel Cabinet|access-date=December 23, 2020|url=https://personnel.ky.gov/Pages/OrgCharts.aspx|archive-date=January 1, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210101151723/https://personnel.ky.gov/Pages/OrgCharts.aspx|url-status=dead}}</ref>

* General Government Cabinet
* [[Kentucky Transportation Cabinet|Transportation Cabinet]]
* Cabinet for Economic Development
* Finance and Administration Cabinet
* Tourism, Arts, and Heritage Cabinet
* Education and Workforce Development Cabinet
* Cabinet for Health and Family Services
* [[Kentucky Justice and Public Safety Cabinet|Justice and Public Safety Cabinet]]
* Personnel Cabinet
* Labor Cabinet
* [[Kentucky Energy and Environment Cabinet|Energy and Environment Cabinet]]
* Public Protection Cabinet

The cabinet system was introduced in 1972 by Governor [[Wendell Ford]] to consolidate hundreds of government entities that reported directly to the governor's office.<ref>{{cite book|title=Kentucky Government, Politics, and Public Policy|editor1-first=James C.|editor1-last=Clinger|editor2-first=Michael W.|editor2-last=Hail|location=Lexington, Kentucky|publisher=University Press of Kentucky|date=October 8, 2013|page=70|isbn=978-0-8131-4315-6|quote=By 1972 Governor Wendell Ford found himself in a situation similar to that of Governor [[Happy Chandler|Chandler]] thirty-six years earlier. At this time the executive branch had grown to over 60 departments and agencies and 210 boards and commissions falling under the jurisdiction of the governor. Governor Ford issued a reorganization report creating six cabinet departments and a framework for an executive branch that would be more manageable and accountable. As of 2012, this has grown to eleven cabinet departments with three additional cabinet-rank members under the office of Governor [[Steve Beshear|Beshear]]. Each cabinet agency is headed by a secretary who serves at the will of the governor.}}</ref>

Other elected constitutional offices include the [[Secretary of State of Kentucky|secretary of state]], [[Attorney General of Kentucky|attorney general]], auditor of public accounts, [[Kentucky State Treasurer|state treasurer]], and commissioner of agriculture. Currently, Republican [[Michael Adams (Kentucky politician)|Michael G. Adams]] serves as the secretary of state. The commonwealth's chief prosecutor, law enforcement officer, and law officer is the attorney general, currently Republican [[Russell Coleman]]. The auditor of public accounts is Republican [[Allison Ball]]. Republican [[Mark Metcalf (politician)|Mark Metcalf]] is the current treasurer. Republican [[Jonathan Shell]] is the current [[Kentucky Commissioner of Agriculture|commissioner of agriculture]].

===Legislative branch===
[[File:Kentucky_State_Capitol_Building.jpg|thumb|The Kentucky State Capitol Building]]
Kentucky's legislative branch consists of a [[bicameralism|bicameral]] body known as the [[Kentucky General Assembly]]. The [[Kentucky Senate|Senate]] is considered the [[upper house]]. It has 38 members and is led by the [[president of the Senate]], currently [[Robert Stivers]] ([[Republican Party (United States)|R]]). The [[Kentucky House of Representatives|House of Representatives]] has 100 members, and is led by the speaker of the House, currently [[David Osborne (politician)|David Osborne]] of the Republican Party.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.wlky.com/article/kentucky-house-speaker-jeff-hoover-resigns-as-speaker-of-the-house/13304171|title=Representative Jeff Hoover resigns as Speaker of the House|last=Shaw|first=Courtney|date=November 6, 2017|work=WLKY|access-date=September 22, 2018|archive-date=September 23, 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180923005843/https://www.wlky.com/article/kentucky-house-speaker-jeff-hoover-resigns-as-speaker-of-the-house/13304171|url-status=live}}</ref>

In 2016, Republicans won control of the House for the first time since 1922. The party currently holds supermajorities in both chambers.<ref name="Hoover">{{cite web|url=http://www.wave3.com/story/34171035/jeff-hoover-becomes-kentuckys-first-republican-house-speaker-in-96-years|title=Jeff Hoover becomes Kentucky's first Republican House Speaker in 96 years|last=Boyd|first=Gordon|date=January 3, 2017|publisher=[[WAVE (TV)|WAVE]]|access-date=January 21, 2017|archive-date=February 2, 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170202002236/http://www.wave3.com/story/34171035/jeff-hoover-becomes-kentuckys-first-republican-house-speaker-in-96-years|url-status=live}}</ref>

===Judicial branch===

The judicial branch of Kentucky is called the Kentucky Court of Justice<ref>{{cite web|url=http://courts.ky.gov/Pages/default.aspx|title=Kentucky Court of Justice – Home|access-date=January 21, 2017|archive-date=November 7, 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171107014242/https://courts.ky.gov/Pages/default.aspx|url-status=live}}</ref> and comprises courts of [[limited jurisdiction]] called District Courts; courts of general jurisdiction called [[Kentucky Circuit Courts|Circuit Courts]]; specialty courts such as Drug Court<ref>{{cite web|url=http://courts.ky.gov/courtprograms/drugcourt/Pages/default.aspx|title=Adult Drug Court – Kentucky Drug Court: Saving Costs, Saving Lives|access-date=January 21, 2017|archive-date=January 19, 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170119181832/http://courts.ky.gov/courtprograms/drugcourt/Pages/default.aspx|url-status=dead}}</ref> and Family Court;<ref>{{cite web|url=http://courts.ky.gov/courts/familycourt/Pages/default.aspx|title=Family Court|access-date=January 21, 2017|archive-date=January 21, 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170121174533/http://courts.ky.gov/courts/familycourt/Pages/default.aspx|url-status=dead}}</ref> an intermediate appellate court, the [[Kentucky Court of Appeals]]; and a court of last resort, the [[Kentucky Supreme Court]].

The Kentucky Court of Justice is headed by the [[Chief Justice|chief justice]] of the Commonwealth. The chief justice is appointed by, and is an elected member of, the Supreme Court of Kentucky. The current chief justice is [[Laurance B. VanMeter|Laurance VanMeter]].

Unlike federal judges, who are usually appointed, justices serving on Kentucky state courts are chosen by the state's populace in non-partisan elections.

===Federal representation===

[[File:KY-districts-108.JPG|thumb|A map showing Kentucky's six [[Kentucky Congressional Districts|congressional districts]]]]

Kentucky's two [[United States Senate|U.S. senators]] are [[Mitch McConnell]] and [[Rand Paul]], both Republicans. The state is divided into six [[Kentucky's congressional districts|congressional districts]], represented by Republicans [[James Comer]] ([[Kentucky's 1st congressional district|1st]]), [[Brett Guthrie]] ([[Kentucky's 2nd congressional district|2nd]]), [[Thomas Massie]] ([[Kentucky's 4th congressional district|4th]]), [[Hal Rogers]] ([[Kentucky's 5th congressional district|5th]]) and [[Andy Barr]] ([[Kentucky's 6th congressional district|6th]]) and Democrat [[Morgan McGarvey]] ([[Kentucky's 3rd congressional district|3rd]]).

In the federal judiciary, Kentucky is served by two [[United States district court]]s: the [[United States District Court for the Eastern District of Kentucky|Eastern District of Kentucky]], with its primary seat in Lexington, and the [[United States District Court for the Western District of Kentucky|Western District of Kentucky]], with its primary seat in Louisville. Appeals are heard in the [[United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit|Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit]], based in [[Cincinnati]], Ohio.

===Law===

[[File:Kentucky schild.jpg|thumb|State sign, [[Interstate 65]]]]

Kentucky's body of laws, known as the [[Kentucky Revised Statutes]] (KRS), were enacted in 1942 to better organize and clarify the whole of Kentucky law.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.lrc.ky.gov/statrev/revoff.htm |title=Reviser of Statutes Office – History and Functions |publisher=Kentucky Legislative Research Commission |access-date=December 27, 2006 |archive-date=February 6, 2007 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070206205857/http://www.lrc.ky.gov/statrev/revoff.htm |url-status=dead }}</ref> The statutes are enforced by local [[police]], [[Sheriffs in the United States|sheriffs]] and deputy sheriffs, and [[constable]]s and deputy constables. Unless they have completed a [[police academy]] elsewhere, these officers are required to complete Police Officer Professional Standards (POPS) training at the Kentucky Department of Criminal Justice Training Center on the campus of [[Eastern Kentucky University]] in [[Richmond, Kentucky|Richmond]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://docjt.jus.state.ky.us/history.html |title=History of the DOCJT |publisher=Kentucky Department of Criminal Justice |access-date=December 27, 2006 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060323200601/http://docjt.jus.state.ky.us/history.html |archive-date=March 23, 2006 }}</ref> Additionally, in 1948, the [[Kentucky General Assembly]] established the [[Kentucky State Police]], making it the 38th state to create a force whose jurisdiction extends throughout the given state.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.kentuckystatepolice.org/history.htm |title=History of the Kentucky State Police |publisher=Kentucky State Police |access-date=December 27, 2006 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20061206002358/http://www.kentuckystatepolice.org/history.htm |archive-date=December 6, 2006 |url-status=dead }}</ref>

Kentucky is one of the [[Capital punishment in the United States|32 states in the United States]] that sanctions the [[Capital punishment|death penalty]] for certain murders defined as heinous. Those convicted of capital crimes after March 31, 1998, are always executed by [[lethal injection]]; those convicted on or before this date may opt for the [[electric chair]].<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.deathpenaltyinfo.org/methods-execution#state |title=Authorized Methods of Execution by State |publisher=Death Penalty Information Center |access-date=December 28, 2006 |archive-date=February 25, 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110225054450/http://www.deathpenaltyinfo.org/methods-execution#state |url-status=live }}</ref> Only [[List of people executed in Kentucky|three people]] have been executed in Kentucky since the [[Supreme Court of the United States|U.S. Supreme Court]] re-instituted the practice in 1976. The most notable execution in Kentucky was that of [[Rainey Bethea]] on August 14, 1936. Bethea was publicly hanged in [[Owensboro, Kentucky|Owensboro]] for the [[rape]] and murder of Lischia Edwards.<ref>{{cite news |url=http://www.kypost.com/2001/jun/11/bethea061101.html |title=The Last Public Execution in America |work=[[The Kentucky Post]]|last=Long |first=Paul A. |date=June 11, 2001 |access-date=December 27, 2006 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060117233210/http://www.kypost.com/2001/jun/11/bethea061101.html |archive-date=January 17, 2006}}</ref> Irregularities with the execution led to this becoming the last public execution in the United States.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.npr.org/programs/morning/features/2001/apr/010430.execution.html |title=The Last Public Execution in America |publisher=[[NPR]] |last=Montagne |first=Renee |date=May 1, 2001 |access-date=December 27, 2006 |archive-date=August 8, 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190808204951/https://www.npr.org/programs/morning/features/2001/apr/010430.execution.html |url-status=live }}</ref>

Kentucky has been on the front lines of the debate over displaying the [[Ten Commandments]] on public property. In the 2005 case of ''[[McCreary County v. ACLU of Kentucky]]'', the [[Supreme Court of the United States|U.S. Supreme Court]] upheld the decision of the [[United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit|Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals]] that a display of the [[Ten Commandments]] in the [[Whitley City, Kentucky|Whitley City]] courthouse of [[McCreary County, Kentucky|McCreary County]] was unconstitutional.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://straylight.law.cornell.edu/supct/html/03-1693.ZS.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090616194116/http://straylight.law.cornell.edu/supct/html/03-1693.ZS.html |archive-date=June 16, 2009 |title=''McCreary County v. ACLU of Kentucky'' |publisher=[[Cornell University]] Law School |access-date=December 27, 2006}}</ref> Later that year, Judge [[Richard Fred Suhrheinrich]], writing for the [[United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit|Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals]] in the case of ''[[American Civil Liberties Union|ACLU]] of Kentucky v. [[Mercer County, Kentucky|Mercer County]]'', wrote that a display including the [[Mayflower Compact]], the [[United States Declaration of Independence|Declaration of Independence]], the [[Ten Commandments]], [[Magna Carta]], ''[[The Star-Spangled Banner]]'', and the [[In God We Trust|national motto]] could be erected in the [[Mercer County, Kentucky|Mercer County]] courthouse.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.ca6.uscourts.gov/opinions.pdf/05a0477p-06.pdf |title=Text of decision in ''ACLU of Kentucky v. Mercer County'' |access-date=December 27, 2006 |archive-date=December 6, 2006 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20061206084948/http://www.ca6.uscourts.gov/opinions.pdf/05a0477p-06.pdf |url-status=live }}</ref>

Kentucky has been known to have unusually high political candidacy age laws, especially compared to surrounding states. The origin of this is unknown.

===Politics===
{{Further|Political party strength in Kentucky}}
[[File:United States presidential election in Kentucky, 2016.svg|thumb|right|upright=1.3|[[Treemap]] of the popular vote by county, 2016 presidential election]]

Since the late 1990s, Kentucky has supported [[Republican Party (United States)|Republican]] candidates for most federal political offices, and, more recently, for state-level office as well. The state leaned toward the [[Democratic Party (United States)|Democratic Party]] from 1860 through the 1990s, and was considered a [[swing state]] at the presidential level for most of the latter half of the 20th century.

The southeastern region of the state aligned with the [[Union (American Civil War)|Union]] during the war and has consistently supported Republican candidates. The central and western portions of the state were heavily Democratic in the years leading to the Civil War, were pro-secessionist and pro-Confederate during the Civil War, and in the decades following the war. Kentucky was part of the Democratic [[Solid South]] in the second half of the nineteenth century and through the majority of the twentieth century.

Mirroring a broader national reversal of party composition, the Kentucky Democratic Party of the twenty-first century primarily consists of liberal whites, African Americans, and other minorities. Although most of the state's voters have reliably elected Republican candidates for federal office since the late 1990s, Democrats held an advantage in party registration until 2022. On July 15, 2022, the [[Secretary of State of Kentucky|Kentucky secretary of state]]'s office announced that for the first time in its history, the commonwealth had more registered [[Republican Party (United States)|Republicans]] than registered Democrats, with 45.19% of the state's voters registered as Republicans, 45.12% registered as Democrats, and 9.69% registered with [[Third party (United States)|another political party]] or as independents.<ref name="kypartyreg">{{cite web|url=https://elect.ky.gov/Resources/Documents/voterstatscounty-20220115-075312.pdf|title=Election Statistics Registration Statistics|website=elect.ky.gov|access-date=January 19, 2022|archive-date=January 19, 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220119190209/https://elect.ky.gov/Resources/Documents/voterstatscounty-20220115-075312.pdf|url-status=live}}</ref>

From 1964 through 2004, Kentucky voted for the eventual winner of the election for President of the United States; however, in the [[2008 United States presidential election|2008 election]] the state lost its [[bellwether]] status. Republican [[John McCain]] won Kentucky, but he lost the national popular and electoral vote to Democrat [[Barack Obama]] (McCain carried Kentucky 57% to 41%). 116 of Kentucky's 120 counties supported former [[Massachusetts]] governor [[Mitt Romney]] in the 2012 election while he lost to Barack Obama nationwide.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.politico.com/2012-election/results/president/kentucky/|title=2012 Kentucky Presidential Results|website=POLITICO|access-date=June 25, 2016|archive-date=June 23, 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160623182920/http://www.politico.com/2012-election/results/president/kentucky/|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.politico.com/2012-election/results/map/#/President/2012/|title=2012 Election Results Map by State – Live Voting Updates|last=POLITICO|website=POLITICO|access-date=June 25, 2016|archive-date=June 27, 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160627220942/http://www.politico.com/2012-election/results/map/#/President/2012/|url-status=live}}</ref>

Voters in the commonwealth have supported the previous three Democratic candidates elected to the White House in the late 20th century, all from Southern states: [[Lyndon B. Johnson]] ([[Texas]]) in 1964, [[Jimmy Carter]] ([[Georgia (U.S. state)|Georgia]]) in 1976, and [[Bill Clinton]] ([[Arkansas]]) in 1992 and 1996. In the twenty-first century presidential elections, the state has become a Republican stronghold, supporting that party's presidential candidates by double-digit margins from 2000 through 2020. At the same time, voters have continued to elect Democratic candidates to state and local offices in many jurisdictions.

[[Elliott County, Kentucky]] is notable for having held the longest streak of any county in the United States voting Democratic. Founded in 1869, Elliott County supported the Democratic nominee in every presidential election from [[1872 United States presidential election in Kentucky|1872]] (the first in which it participated) until [[2012 United States presidential election in Kentucky|2012]]. In [[2016 United States presidential election in Kentucky|2016]], [[Donald Trump]] became the first Republican to ever carry the county, and he did so in a 44-point landslide, highlighting the modern Republican Party's dominance among rural whites and many ancestrally Democratic, socially-conservative voters.

Kentucky is one of the most [[anti-abortion]] states in the United States. A 2014 poll conducted by [[Pew Research Center]] found that 57% of Kentucky's population thought that [[abortion]] should be illegal in all/most cases, while only 36% thought that abortion should be legal in all/most cases.<ref>{{cite web|title=Religion in America: U.S. Religious Data, Demographics and Statistics|url=https://www.pewforum.org/religious-landscape-study/compare/views-about-abortion/by/state/|access-date=April 17, 2021|website=Pew Research Center's Religion & Public Life Project|archive-date=April 11, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210411213946/https://www.pewforum.org/religious-landscape-study/compare/views-about-abortion/by/state/|url-status=live}}</ref>

In a 2020 study, Kentucky was ranked as the 8th hardest state for citizens to vote in.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=J. Pomante II |first1=Michael |last2=Li |first2=Quan |title=Cost of Voting in the American States: 2020 |journal=Election Law Journal: Rules, Politics, and Policy |date=December 15, 2020 |volume=19 |issue=4 |pages=503–509 |doi=10.1089/elj.2020.0666 |s2cid=225139517 |doi-access=free }}</ref>

{| class="wikitable"
|-
! colspan="6" | Voter registration and party enrollment as of June 2025<ref name="KYSBE">{{cite web |date=July 2025 |title=Registration Statistics |url=https://elect.ky.gov/Resources/Documents/voterstatsdistrict-June%202025.pdf |access-date=July 13, 2025 |publisher=Kentucky State Board of Elections}}</ref>
|-
! colspan="2" | Party
! Number of voters
! Percentage
|-
| {{party color cell|Republican Party (United States)}}
| [[Republican Party (United States)|Republican]]
| style="text-align:center;" | 1,583,527
| style="text-align:center;" | 47.45%
|-
| {{party color cell|Democratic Party (United States)}}
| [[Democratic Party (United States)|Democratic]]
| style="text-align:center;" | 1,390,282
| style="text-align:center;" | 41.66%
|-
| {{party color cell|Libertarian Party (United States)}}
| Other 
| style="text-align:center;" | 177,519
| style="text-align:center;" | 5.32%
|-
| {{party color cell|Independent politician}}
| Independent 
| style="text-align:center;" | 164,800
| style="text-align:center;" | 4.93%
|-
! colspan="2" | Total
! style="text-align:center;" | 3,336,556
! style="text-align:center;" | 100.00%
|}

==Culture==
{{Main|Culture of Kentucky}}
{{See also|Theater in Kentucky|Performing arts in Louisville, Kentucky|List of attractions and events in the Louisville metropolitan area}}
[[File:Buffalo trace distillery.jpg|thumb|upright|The [[Buffalo Trace Distillery]]]]

Kentucky culture is firmly [[Southern culture|Southern]], and influenced by that of [[Appalachia]]. The state is known for [[Bourbon whiskey|bourbon]] and [[whiskey]] distilling, [[tobacco]], [[horse racing]], and [[college basketball]]. Kentucky is more similar to the [[Upland South]] in terms of ancestry that is predominantly American.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.census.gov/prod/2004pubs/c2kbr-35.pdf |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20040920132346/http://www.census.gov/prod/2004pubs/c2kbr-35.pdf |url-status=dead |archive-date=September 20, 2004 |title=Ancestry 2000: Census 2000 Brief |author1=Brittingham, Angela |author2=de la Cruz, G. Patricia |publisher=United States Census Bureau |access-date=June 28, 2007 |date=June 2004 }}</ref>

Nevertheless, during the 19th century, Kentucky did receive a substantial number of German immigrants, who settled mostly in the Midwest and parts of the Upper South, along the Ohio River primarily in Louisville, Covington and Newport.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://kygermanscw.yolasite.com/the-story.php |title=Kentucky's German Americans in the Civil War |publisher=Kygermanscw.yolasite.com |access-date=July 2, 2010 |archive-date=June 3, 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110603023147/http://kygermanscw.yolasite.com/the-story.php |url-status=live }}</ref> Only Maryland, Delaware and West Virginia have higher German ancestry percentages than Kentucky among Census-defined Southern states, although Kentucky's percentage is closer to Arkansas and Virginia's than the previously named state's percentages. [[Scottish American]]s, [[English American]]s and [[Scotch-Irish American]]s have heavily influenced Kentucky culture, and are present in every part of the state.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.thearda.com/mapsReports/maps/map.asp?state=101&variable=494 |title=2000 Census: Percent Reporting Any German Ancestry |access-date=July 20, 2007 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070926234406/http://www.thearda.com/mapsReports/maps/map.asp?state=101&variable=494 |archive-date=September 26, 2007 |url-status=dead }}</ref> As of the 1980s the only counties in the United States where more than half the population cited "English" as their only ancestry group were all in the hills of eastern Kentucky (and made up virtually every county in this region).<ref name="Eugene James Turner 1988"/>

Kentucky was a [[slave state]], and Black people once composed over one-quarter of its population; however, it lacked the [[cotton]] plantation system though it did support significant and large scale tobacco [[plantations in the American South|plantation]] systems in the western and central parts of the state more similar to the plantations developed in Virginia and North Carolina than those in the Deep South, and never had the same high percentage of African Americans as most other slave states. While less than 8% of the total population is Black, Kentucky has a relatively significant rural African American population in the Central and Western areas of the state.<ref>{{cite web| url = http://srdc.msstate.edu/poverty/ppts/cromartie.ppt| title = High Poverty in the Rural U.S. and South: Progress and Persistence in the 1990s| access-date=June 28, 2007| author = Beale, Calvin| date = July 21, 2004| format = PowerPoint| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20070626232430/http://srdc.msstate.edu/poverty/ppts/cromartie.ppt| archive-date = June 26, 2007}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://srdc.msstate.edu/poverty/ppts/womack.ppt |title=The American Black Belt Region: A Forgotten Place |access-date=June 28, 2007 |author=Womack, Veronica L. |date=July 23, 2004 |format=PowerPoint |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070626232429/http://srdc.msstate.edu/poverty/ppts/womack.ppt |archive-date=June 26, 2007 |url-status=dead }}</ref><ref>{{cite web| url = http://www.bowdoin.edu/~prael/branch/ex1/m4-black-belt.jpg| title = Identifying the "Black Belt" of Cash-Crop Production| access-date = June 28, 2007| author = Unknown| format = JPEG Image| publisher = Bowdoin College| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20070628062351/http://www.bowdoin.edu/~prael/branch/ex1/m4-black-belt.jpg| archive-date = June 28, 2007| url-status = dead}}</ref>

Kentucky adopted the [[Jim Crow laws|Jim Crow]] system of [[racial segregation]] in most public spheres after the Civil War. Louisville's 1914 ordinance for residential racial segregation was [[Buchanan v. Warley|struck down by the Supreme Court in 1917]]. However, in 1908 Kentucky enacted the [[Day Law]], "An Act to Prohibit White and Colored Persons from Attending the Same School", which Berea College [[Berea College v. Kentucky|unsuccessfully challenged at the US Supreme Court in 1908]]. In 1948, [[Lyman T. Johnson]] filed suit for admission to the [[University of Kentucky]]; as a result, nearly thirty African American students entered UK graduate and professional programs in the summer of 1949.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://explorekyhistory.ky.gov/items/show/145|title=Desegregation of UK – ExploreKYHistory|website=ExploreKYHistory|access-date=July 9, 2017|archive-date=August 30, 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170830195253/http://explorekyhistory.ky.gov/items/show/145|url-status=live}}</ref> Kentucky integrated its schools after the 1954 ''[[Brown v. Board of Education]]'' verdict, later adopting the first state civil rights act in the South in 1966.<ref>{{cite web
|title=Kentucky OK's Rights Bill; 1st in South
|quote=Kentucky yesterday became the first state south of the [[Mason-Dixon line]] to adopt a civil rights measure. With only one dissenting vote, the state Senate approval a bill outlawing racial discrimination in public accommodations and employment that is stronger than the federal act of 1964. It sailed through the House 76 to 12 last week. A milder bill had failed to get out of committee in 1964{{spaces}}... Governor [[Edward T. Breathitt]] said he would sign the measure tomorrow at the base of [[Abraham Lincoln]]'s status in the capitol rotunda.
|date=January 26, 1966
|author=Chicago Tribune
|url=http://archives.chicagotribune.com/1966/01/26/page/8/article/kentucky-oks-rights-bill-1st-in-south
|author-link=Chicago Tribune
|access-date=July 9, 2017
|archive-date=August 31, 2017
|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170831000112/http://archives.chicagotribune.com/1966/01/26/page/8/article/kentucky-oks-rights-bill-1st-in-south/
|url-status=live
}}</ref>
[[File:Werne's Row 4th and Hill, Old Louisville.jpg|thumb|left|upright=1.1|[[Old Louisville]] is the largest Victorian Historic neighborhood in the United States.]]

Kentucky  commemorates [[Confederate Memorial Day]] but added Juneteenth as a holiday by proclamation of Governor Andy Beshear in 2024. The biggest day in American horse racing, the [[Kentucky Derby]], is preceded by the two-week [[Kentucky Derby Festival|Derby Festival]]<ref>{{cite web |url=http://kdf.org/ |title=Derby Festival Home Page |access-date=May 13, 2011 |archive-date=February 11, 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110211120931/http://kdf.org/ |url-status=live }}</ref> in Louisville. The Derby Festival features many events, including Thunder Over Louisville, the Pegasus Parade, the Great Steamboat Race, Fest-a-Ville, the Chow Wagon, BalloonFest, BourbonVille, and many others leading up to the big race.

Louisville also plays host to the [[Kentucky State Fair]]<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.kystatefair.org/ |title=Kentucky State Fair |access-date=December 25, 2006 |archive-date=December 15, 2006 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20061215111620/http://kystatefair.org/ |url-status=live }}</ref> and the [[Kentucky Shakespeare Festival]].<ref>{{cite web |url=http://kyshakespeare.com/ |title=Kentucky Shakespeare Festival Home Page |access-date=December 25, 2006 |archive-date=March 10, 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110310085940/http://www.kyshakespeare.com/ |url-status=live }}</ref> [[Bowling Green, Kentucky|Bowling Green]], the state's third-largest city and home to the [[Bowling Green Assembly Plant|only assembly plant in the world]] that manufactures the [[Chevrolet Corvette]],<ref>{{cite web |url=http://bg.ky.net/Corvette/newera.htm |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071227111243/http://bg.ky.net/Corvette/newera.htm |archive-date=December 27, 2007 |title=National Corvette Museum press release |access-date=December 25, 2006}}</ref> opened the [[National Corvette Museum]] in 1994.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.corvettemuseum.org/ |title=National Corvette Museum Home Page |access-date=December 25, 2006 |archive-date=May 9, 2008 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080509073653/http://www.corvettemuseum.org/ |url-status=live }}</ref> The fourth-largest city, [[Owensboro, Kentucky|Owensboro]], gives credence to its nickname of "Barbecue Capital of the World" by hosting the annual [[International Bar-B-Q Festival]].<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.bbqfest.com/ |title=Home Page of the International Barbecue Festival |access-date=December 25, 2006 |archive-date=February 24, 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110224220704/http://bbqfest.com/ |url-status=live }}</ref>

[[Old Louisville]], the largest [[historic preservation]] district in the United States featuring [[Victorian architecture]] and the third largest overall,<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.ajc.com/travel/content/travel/southeast/ky_stories/0305/09lvgetaway.html |title=Stately Mansions Grace Old Louisville |publisher=[[The Atlanta Journal-Constitution]] |access-date=December 25, 2006 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060422111720/http://www.ajc.com/travel/content/travel/southeast/ky_stories/0305/09lvgetaway.html |archive-date=April 22, 2006 }}</ref> hosts the [[St. James Court Art Show]], the largest outdoor art show in the United States.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.stjamescourtartshow.com/ |title=St. James Court Art Show Home Page |access-date=December 25, 2006 |archive-date=January 12, 2007 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070112212356/http://www.stjamescourtartshow.com/ |url-status=live }}</ref> The neighborhood was also home to the [[Southern Exposition]] (1883–1887), which featured the first public display of [[Thomas Edison]]'s [[light bulb]],<ref>{{cite web|url=http://chfs.ky.gov/NR/rdonlyres/6AD56B4B-7551-4E34-AE5B-E067472C503E/0/October_2004.pdf |title=The Heart Line |publisher=Kentucky Commission on Community Volunteerism and Service |access-date=December 25, 2006 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060926112913/https://chfs.ky.gov/NR/rdonlyres/6AD56B4B-7551-4E34-AE5B-E067472C503E/0/October_2004.pdf |archive-date=September 26, 2006 }}</ref> and was the setting of [[Alice Hegan Rice]]'s novel, ''[[Mrs. Wiggs of the Cabbage Patch]]''.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.oldlouisville.com/literature/ |title=Old Louisville and Literature |access-date=December 25, 2006 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20061224022716/http://www.oldlouisville.com/Literature/ |archive-date=December 24, 2006 }}</ref>

[[Fairview, Kentucky|Fairview]] was the birthplace of [[Jefferson Davis]], who would become President of the [[Confederate States of America]]; the town had the Jefferson Davis Memorial, a 351-foot concrete obelisk, built in 1917. [[Hodgenville, Kentucky|Hodgenville]], the birthplace of [[Abraham Lincoln]], hosts the annual Lincoln Days Celebration, and also hosted the kick-off for the National Abraham Lincoln Bicentennial Celebration in February 2008. [[Bardstown, Kentucky|Bardstown]] celebrates its heritage as a major bourbon-producing region with the [[Kentucky Bourbon Festival]].<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.kybourbonfestival.com/ |title=Kentucky Bourbon Festival Home Page |access-date=December 25, 2006 |archive-date=December 28, 2006 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20061228073210/http://www.kybourbonfestival.com/ |url-status=live }}</ref> [[Glasgow, Kentucky|Glasgow]] mimics [[Glasgow]], Scotland by hosting the [[Glasgow Highland Games]], its own version of the [[Highland Games]],<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.glasgowhighlandgames.com/ |title=Glasgow, Kentucky Highland Games Home Page |access-date=December 25, 2006 |archive-date=December 24, 2006 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20061224082919/http://www.glasgowhighlandgames.com/ |url-status=dead }}</ref> and [[Sturgis, Kentucky|Sturgis]] hosts "Little Sturgis", a mini version of [[Sturgis, South Dakota]]'s annual [[Sturgis Motorcycle Rally]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.littlesturgisrally.net/ |title=Little Sturgis Rally Home Page |access-date=December 25, 2006 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20061223053331/http://littlesturgisrally.net/ |archive-date=December 23, 2006 }}</ref>

The state is famous for quilts.  The [[National Quilt Museum]] is in Paducah. It hosts QuiltWeek, an annual competition and celebration of that attracts artists and hobbyists from the world of quilting.<ref>Linda Elisabeth LaPinta, ''Kentucky Quilts and Quiltmakers: Three Centuries of Creativity, Community, and Commerce'' (University Press of Kentucky, 2023) [https://www.h-net.org/reviews/showpdf.php?id=60243 online review of this book].</ref>

[[Winchester, Kentucky|Winchester]] celebrates an original Kentucky creation, [[Beer cheese (spread)|Beer Cheese]], with its [[Beer Cheese Festival]] held annually in June.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.beercheesefestival.com/bcf/|title=HOME|website=Beer Cheese Festival|access-date=February 5, 2019|archive-date=October 19, 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181019213055/http://www.beercheesefestival.com/|url-status=dead}}</ref> Beer Cheese was developed in [[Clark County, Kentucky|Clark County]] at some point in the 1940s along the Kentucky River.<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=KPl2CQAAQBAJ&q=origins+of+beer+cheese&pg=PT134|title=A Culinary History of Kentucky: Burgoo, Beer Cheese and Goetta|isbn=9781625847478|last1=Young-Brown|first1=Fiona|date=April 1, 2014|publisher=Arcadia|access-date=November 14, 2020|archive-date=April 1, 2024|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240401192303/https://books.google.com/books?id=KPl2CQAAQBAJ&q=origins+of+beer+cheese&pg=PT134#v=snippet&q=origins%20of%20beer%20cheese&f=false|url-status=live}}</ref>

The residents of tiny [[Benton, Kentucky|Benton]] pay tribute to their favorite tuber, the [[sweet potato]], by hosting [[Tater Day]].<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.americaslibrary.gov/cgi-bin/page.cgi/es/ky/tater_1 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20061227214402/http://www.americaslibrary.gov/cgi-bin/page.cgi/es/ky/tater_1 |archive-date=December 27, 2006 |title=Tater Day Festival A Local Legacy |access-date=December 25, 2006}}</ref> Residents of [[Clarkson, Kentucky|Clarkson]] in [[Grayson County, Kentucky|Grayson County]] celebrate their city's ties to the honey industry by celebrating the Clarkson Honeyfest.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.honeyfest.com/ |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080513044539/http://www.honeyfest.com/ |archive-date=May 13, 2008 |title=Clarkson Honeyfest home page |access-date=May 12, 2007}}</ref> The Clarkson Honeyfest is held the last Thursday, Friday and Saturday in September, and is the "Official State Honey Festival of Kentucky".

===Music===

{{Main|Music of Kentucky}}
{{See also|Category:Musicians from Kentucky}}

[[Renfro Valley, Kentucky]] is home to Renfro Valley Entertainment Center and the Kentucky Music Hall of Fame and is known as "Kentucky's Country Music Capital", a designation given it by the Kentucky State Legislature in the late 1980s. The Renfro Valley Barn Dance was where Renfro Valley's musical heritage began, in 1939, and influential country music luminaries like [[Red Foley]], [[Homer &&nbsp;Jethro]], [[Lily May Ledford]] &{{spaces}}the Original [[Coon Creek Girls]], Martha Carson and many others have performed as regular members of the shows there over the years. The [[Renfro Valley Gatherin']] is today America's second-oldest continually broadcast radio program of any kind. It is broadcast on local radio station [[WRVK]] and a syndicated network of nearly 200 other stations across the United States and Canada every week.
[[File:U.S. 23 Country Music Highway Museum.jpg|thumb|The [[U.S. 23 Country Music Highway Museum]] in [[Paintsville, Kentucky|Paintsville]] provides background on the country music artists from Eastern Kentucky.]]

[[Contemporary Christian music]] star [[Steven Curtis Chapman]] is a [[Paducah, Kentucky|Paducah]] native, and Rock and Roll Hall of Famers [[the Everly Brothers]] are closely connected with [[Muhlenberg County, Kentucky|Muhlenberg County]], where older brother Don was born. [[Merle Travis]], Country and{{spaces}}Western artist known for both his signature "[[Travis picking]]" guitar playing style, as well as his hit song "[[Sixteen Tons]]", was also born in [[Muhlenberg County]]. Kentucky was also home to [[Mildred Hill|Mildred]] and [[Patty Hill]], the [[Louisville, Kentucky|Louisville]] sisters credited with composing the tune to the ditty [[Happy Birthday to You]] in 1893; [[Loretta Lynn]] ([[Johnson County, Kentucky|Johnson County]]), [[Brian Littrell]] and [[Kevin Richardson (musician)|Kevin Richardson]] of the [[Backstreet Boys]], and [[Billy Ray Cyrus]] ([[Flatwoods, Kentucky|Flatwoods]]).

However, its depth lies in its signature sound{{snd}}[[Bluegrass music]]. [[Bill Monroe]], "The Father of Bluegrass", was born in the small [[Ohio County, Kentucky|Ohio County]] town of [[Rosine, Kentucky|Rosine]], while [[Ricky Skaggs]], [[Keith Whitley]], [[David "Stringbean" Akeman]], [[Grandpa Jones|Louis Marshall "Grandpa" Jones]], Sonny and [[Bobby Osborne]], and [[Sam Bush]] (who has been compared to Monroe) all hail from Kentucky. The Bluegrass Music Hall of Fame & Museum is located in [[Owensboro, Kentucky|Owensboro]],<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.bluegrasshall.org/general/home.php |title=Bluegrass Music Hall of Fame & Museum |access-date=November 30, 2006 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090502142523/http://www.bluegrasshall.org/ |archive-date=May 2, 2009 }}</ref> while the annual [[Festival of the Bluegrass]] is held in [[Lexington, Kentucky|Lexington]].<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.festivalofthebluegrass.com/ |title=Festival of the Bluegrass Home Page |access-date=November 30, 2006 |archive-date=December 7, 2006 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20061207231803/http://www.festivalofthebluegrass.com/ |url-status=live }}</ref>

Kentucky was also home to famed [[jazz]] musician [[Lionel Hampton]].<ref>{{cite news|last=Voce |first=Steve |title=Obituary: Lionel Hampton |work=[[The Independent]] |url=http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qn4158/is_20020902/ai_n12639955/pg_5 |date=September 2, 2002 |access-date=June 3, 2007 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130730173629/http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qn4158/is_20020902/ai_n12639955/pg_5 |archive-date=July 30, 2013 }}</ref> [[Blues]] legend [[W. C. Handy]] and [[Rhythm and blues|R&B]] singer [[Wilson Pickett]] also spent considerable time in Kentucky. The R&B group [[Midnight Star (band)|Midnight Star]] and Hip-Hop group [[Nappy Roots]] were both formed in Kentucky, as were country acts [[the Kentucky Headhunters]], [[Montgomery Gentry]], [[Halfway to Hazard]], [[the Judds]], and [[GMA Music Awards|Dove Award]]-winning Christian groups [[Audio Adrenaline]] and [[Bride (band)|Bride]]. [[Black Stone Cherry]] hails from rural Edmonton. [[Indie rock]] bands [[Slint]], [[My Morning Jacket]], [[Wax Fang]], [[White Reaper]], and [[Tantric (band)|Tantric]] formed in Louisville; indie rock bands [[Cage the Elephant]], [[Sleeper Agent (band)|Sleeper Agent]], and [[Morning Teleportation]] are from Bowling Green. The bluegrass groups Driftwood and Kentucky Rain, along with [[Nick Lachey]] of the pop band [[98 Degrees]] are also from Kentucky. [[King Crimson]] guitarist [[Adrian Belew]] is from [[Covington, Kentucky|Covington]]. Noted singer and actress [[Rosemary Clooney]] was a native of [[Maysville, Kentucky|Maysville]], her legacy being celebrated at the annual music festival bearing her name. Noted songwriter and actor [[Will Oldham]] is from Louisville.<ref>{{Cite magazine|last1=Shteamer|first1=Hank|date=September 27, 2018|title=Will Oldham: My Life in 15 Songs|url=https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-lists/will-oldham-my-life-in-15-songs-723480/|access-date=June 2, 2020|magazine=Rolling Stone|archive-date=June 22, 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200622151217/https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-lists/will-oldham-my-life-in-15-songs-723480/|url-status=live}}</ref> More recently in the limelight are country artists [[Chris Stapleton]], [[Sturgill Simpson]], [[Tyler Childers]], and [[Chris Knight (musician)|Chris Knight]].

In eastern Kentucky, [[old-time music]] carries on the tradition of ancient ballads and reels developed in historical Appalachia.

===Literature===

{{Main|Kentucky literature}}

Kentucky has played a major role in Southern and American literature, producing works that often celebrate the working class, rural life, nature, and explore issues of class, extractive economy, and family. Major works from the state include ''[[Uncle Tom's Cabin]]'' (1852) by [[Harriet Beecher Stowe]], widely seen as one of the impetuses for the American Civil War; ''[[The Little Shepherd of Kingdom Come (novel)|The Little Shepherd of Kingdom Come]]'' (1908) by [[John Fox Jr.]], which was the first novel to sell a million copies in the United States; ''[[All the King's Men]]'' by [[Robert Penn Warren]] (1946), rated as the 36th best [[Modern Library 100 Best Novels|English-language novel of the 20th century]]; ''[[The Dollmaker (novel)|The Dollmaker]]'' (1954) by [[Harriette Simpson Arnow|Harriette Arnow]]; ''[[Night Comes to the Cumberlands]]'' (1962) by [[Harry Caudill]], which contributed to initiating the U.S. Government's [[War on poverty]], and others.

Author [[Thomas Merton]] lived most of his life and wrote most of his books{{snd}}including ''[[The Seven Storey Mountain]]'' (1948), ranked on ''[[National Review]]''{{'s}} list of the 100 best non-fiction books of the century{{snd}}during his time as a monk at the [[Abbey of Our Lady of Gethsemani]] near Bardstown, Kentucky. Author [[Hunter S. Thompson]] is also a native of the state. Since the later part of the 20th century, several writers from Kentucky have published widely read and critically acclaimed books, including: [[Wendell Berry]] ([[Floruit|fl.]] 1960–), [[Silas House]] (fl. 2001–), [[Barbara Kingsolver]] (fl. 1988–), poet [[Maurice Manning (poet)|Maurice Manning]] (fl. 2001–), and [[Bobbie Ann Mason]] (fl. 1988–).

Well-known playwrights from Kentucky include [[Marsha Norman]] (works include ''[['night, Mother]]'', 1983), [[Naomi Wallace]] (works include ''[[One Flea Spare]]'', 1995), and [[George C. Wolfe]] (works include ''[[Jelly's Last Jam]]'', 1992).
[[File:Hot Brown Kurtz.jpg|thumb|right|upright=0.95| The Hot Brown]]

===Cuisine===

{{Main|Cuisine of Kentucky}}

Kentucky's cuisine is generally similar to and is a part of traditional southern cooking, although in some areas of the state it can blend elements of both the South and Appalachia, mixing Appalachian with the native Southern cuisine of the area.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.iicaculinary.com/iica-ye2-sem1.htm#ac303 |title=International Institute of Culinary Arts |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080106091226/http://www.iicaculinary.com/iica-curr.htm#ac303 |archive-date=January 6, 2008 |url-status=usurped }}</ref> One original Kentucky dish is called the [[Hot Brown]], a dish normally layered in this order: toasted bread, turkey, bacon, tomatoes and topped with [[mornay sauce]]. It was developed at the [[Brown Hotel (Louisville, Kentucky)|Brown Hotel]] in [[Louisville, Kentucky|Louisville]].<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.brownhotel.com/dining/hot-brown.html |title=Hot Brown Recipe |publisher=[[Brown Hotel (Louisville, Kentucky)|Brown Hotel]] |access-date=December 18, 2006| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20070823065032/http://www.brownhotel.com/dining/hot-brown.html| archive-date = August 23, 2007}}</ref> The [[Pendennis Club]] in Louisville is the birthplace of the [[Old fashioned (cocktail)|Old Fashioned]] cocktail. Also, Western Kentucky is known for its own regional style of Southern barbecue. Central Kentucky is the birthplace of [[Beer cheese (spread)|Beer Cheese]].

[[Colonel Sanders|Harland Sanders]], a [[Kentucky colonel]], originated [[Kentucky Fried Chicken]] at his service station in [[North Corbin, Kentucky|North Corbin]], though the first franchised [[KFC]] was located in [[South Salt Lake, Utah]].<ref>{{cite news|last1=Henetz|first1=Patty|last2=Nii|first2=Jenifer K.|title=Colonel's landmark KFC is mashed|url=http://www.deseretnews.com/article/595057690/Colonels-landmark-KFC-is-mashed.html|work=[[Deseret News]]|access-date=January 14, 2017|date=April 21, 2004|archive-date=January 13, 2010|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100113154352/http://www.deseretnews.com/article/595057690/Colonels-landmark-KFC-is-mashed.html|url-status=dead}}</ref>

===Sports===

{{Main|Sports in Kentucky}}
{{more citations needed section|date=August 2014}}
[[File:University of Louisville marching band, Churchill Downs Twin Spires.jpg|thumb|Kentucky's [[Churchill Downs]] hosts the [[Kentucky Derby]].]]

Kentucky is the home of sports teams such as [[Minor League Baseball]]'s Triple-A [[Louisville Bats]] and High-A [[Bowling Green Hot Rods]]. It is home to the independent [[Atlantic League of Professional Baseball]]'s [[Lexington Legends]] and the [[Frontier League]]'s [[Florence Y'alls]]. The [[Lexington Horsemen]] and [[Louisville Fire]] of the now-defunct [[af2]] had been interested in making a move up to the "major league" [[Arena Football League]], but nothing has come of those plans.

The [[Northern Kentucky|northern part of the state]] lies across the [[Ohio River]] from Cincinnati, which is home to the [[National Football League]]'s [[Cincinnati Bengals]], [[Major League Baseball]]'s [[Cincinnati Reds]]. It is not uncommon for fans to park in the city of [[Newport, Kentucky|Newport]] and use the [[Newport Southbank Bridge|Newport Southbank Pedestrian Bridge]], locally known as the "Purple People Bridge", to walk to these games in Cincinnati. [[Georgetown College (Kentucky)|Georgetown College]] in [[Georgetown, Kentucky|Georgetown]] was the location for the Bengals' summer training camp, until it was announced in 2012 that the Bengals would no longer use the facilities.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.bengalscamp.com |title=About the camp |publisher=Georgetown College |access-date=December 18, 2006 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20061205035939/http://bengalscamp.com/ |archive-date=December 5, 2006 |url-status=dead }}</ref>

As in many states, especially those without major league professional sports teams, college athletics are prominent. This is especially true of the state's three Division{{spaces}}I [[Football Bowl Subdivision]] (FBS) programs, including the [[Kentucky Wildcats]], the [[Western Kentucky Hilltoppers and Lady Toppers|Western Kentucky Hilltoppers]], and the [[Louisville Cardinals]]. The [[Kentucky Wildcats men's basketball|Wildcats]], [[Western Kentucky Hilltoppers basketball|Hilltoppers]], and [[Louisville Cardinals men's basketball|Cardinals]] are among the most tradition-rich college men's basketball teams in the United States, combining for 11 National Championships and 24 NCAA Final Fours;{{citation needed|date=August 2014}} all three are high on the lists of total all-time wins, wins per season, and average wins per season.{{citation needed|date=August 2014}} 
{{Multiple image
| image1            = Rupp Arena February 2020.jpg
| image2            = The-Yum-Center.jpg
| caption1          = 
| footer            = [[College Basketball]] enjoys significant popularity in Kentucky, with the [[University of Kentucky]]'s [[Rupp Arena]] (left), and the [[University of Louisville]]'s [[KFC Yum! Center]] (right) ranking 2nd and 3rd in capacity among college basketball arenas.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Sequin |first=Molly |date=January 14, 2021 |title=9 biggest college basketball arenas {{!}} NCAA.com |url=https://www.ncaa.com/news/basketball-men/article/2020-01-14/these-are-9-largest-arenas-college-basketball |access-date=October 19, 2024 |website=NCAA.com |language=en}}</ref>
}}

The Kentucky Wildcats are particularly notable, leading all Division{{spaces}}I programs in all-time wins, win percentage, NCAA tournament appearances, and being second only to [[UCLA Bruins men's basketball|UCLA]] in NCAA championships.<ref>{{cite web|title=The college basketball teams with the most national championships {{!}} NCAA.com|url=https://www.ncaa.com/news/basketball-men/article/2020-07-10/college-basketball-teams-most-national-championships|access-date=August 21, 2020|website=www.ncaa.com|archive-date=August 8, 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200808095842/https://www.ncaa.com/news/basketball-men/article/2020-07-10/college-basketball-teams-most-national-championships|url-status=live}}</ref> [[Louisville Cardinals football|Louisville]] has stepped onto the football scene, including winning the [[2007 Orange Bowl]] as well as the 2013 Sugar Bowl, and producing [[2016 NCAA Division I FBS football season|2016]] Heisman Trophy winner [[Lamar Jackson]]. [[Western Kentucky Hilltoppers football|Western Kentucky]], the 2002 [[NCAA Division I Football Championship|national champion in Division{{spaces}}I-AA football]] (now [[Football Championship Subdivision]] (FCS)), completed its transition to Division{{spaces}}I FBS football in 2009.

The [[Kentucky Derby]] is a horse race held annually in Louisville on the first Saturday in May. The [[Valhalla Golf Club]] in Louisville has hosted several editions of the [[PGA Championship]], [[Senior PGA Championship]] and [[Ryder Cup]] since the 1990s.

The [[NASCAR Cup Series]] held a race at the [[Kentucky Speedway]] in [[Sparta, Kentucky]] from 2011 to 2020. The NASCAR [[Nationwide Series]] and the [[Camping World Truck Series]] raced there through 2020. The [[IndyCar Series]] previously raced there as well.

[[Ohio Valley Wrestling]] in Louisville was the primary location for training and rehab for [[WWE]] professional wrestlers from 2000 until 2008, when WWE moved its contracted talent to Florida Championship Wrestling. OVW later became the primary developmental territory for [[Total Nonstop Action Wrestling]] (TNA) from 2011 to 2013.

In 2014 [[Louisville City FC]], a professional soccer team in the league then known as USL Pro and now as the [[United Soccer League]], was announced. The team made its debut in 2015, playing home games at Louisville Slugger Field. In its first season, Louisville City was the official reserve side for [[Orlando City SC]], who made its debut in [[Major League Soccer]] at the same time. That arrangement ended in 2016 when Orlando City established a [[Orlando City B|directly controlled reserve side]] in the USL. In 2021, [[Lexington SC]] was founded as a professional soccer team out of Lexington, competing in [[USL League One]].<ref>{{Cite web |date=October 5, 2021 |title=United Soccer League Welcomes Lexington Pro Soccer as League One Expansion Club |url=https://www.uslleagueone.com/news_article/show/1187030-united-soccer-league-welcomes-lexington-pro-soccer-as-league-one-expansion-club |access-date=October 22, 2022 |website=USLLeagueOne.com |language=en-us}}</ref> They played their home games at [[Toyota Stadium (Kentucky)|Toyota Stadium]] until construction on [[Lexington SC Stadium]] was completed in 2024. In 2025, they joined the [[USL Championship]] league.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.uslleagueone.com/news_article/show/1315914 |title=Lexington Sporting Club to join USL Championship for 2025 season |date=August 13, 2024 |website=USLLeagueOne.com |publisher=[[USL League One]] |access-date=August 13, 2024 |language=en-us}}</ref> The club has companion [[Lexington SC (women)|women's teams]] that compete in the [[USL W League]] and [[USL Super League]].

===Kentucky colonel===

{{Main|Kentucky colonel}}

The distinction of being named a '''Kentucky colonel''' is the highest [[title of honor]] bestowed by the Commonwealth of Kentucky. Commissions for Kentucky colonels are given by the [[Governor of Kentucky|Governor]] and the [[Secretary of State of Kentucky|Secretary of State]] to individuals in recognition of noteworthy accomplishments and outstanding service to a community, state or the nation. The sitting [[Governor of Kentucky|governor of the Commonwealth of Kentucky]] bestows the honor of a colonel's [[commission (document)|commission]], by issuance of [[letters patent]]. Kentucky colonels are commissioned for life and act officially as the state's [[goodwill ambassador]]s.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/sagamore-commodore-colonel-ceremonial-title-honorary|title=You Can't Be Knighted in the U.S., But You Can Be Named a Sagamore of the Wabash|last=Grundhauser|first=Eric|date=November 8, 2017|website=Atlas Obscura|access-date=January 20, 2020|archive-date=June 27, 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200627185733/https://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/sagamore-commodore-colonel-ceremonial-title-honorary|url-status=live}}</ref>

==See also==
{{Portal|Kentucky}}
* [[Index of Kentucky-related articles]]
* [[Outline of Kentucky]]
* [[USS Kentucky|USS ''Kentucky'']], 3 ships

==Notes==
{{notelist|30em}}

==References==
{{reflist|30em}}

==Bibliography==

===Politics===

* Miller, Penny M. ''Kentucky Politics & Government: Do We Stand United?'' (1994)
* Jewell, Malcolm E. and Everett W. Cunningham, ''Kentucky Politics'' (1968).

===History===

====Surveys and reference====

* Bodley, Temple and Samuel M. Wilson. ''History of Kentucky'' 4 vols. (1928).
* [[Harry M. Caudill|Caudill, Harry M.]], ''Night Comes to the Cumberlands'' (1963). {{ISBN|0-316-13212-8}}
* Channing, Steven. ''Kentucky: A Bicentennial History'' (1977).
* Clark, Thomas Dionysius. ''A History of Kentucky'' (many editions, 1937–1992).
* Collins, Lewis. ''History of Kentucky'' (1880).
* {{cite book|last=Gunther|first=John|author-link=John Gunther|chapter=Romance and Reality in Kentucky|title=Inside U.S.A|pages=[https://archive.org/details/insideusa00guntrich/page/640 640–652]|location=[[New York City|New York]], [[London]]|publisher=[[Harper & Brothers]]|year=1947|title-link=Inside U.S.A. (book)}}
* [[Lowell H. Harrison|Harrison, Lowell H.]] and [[James C. Klotter]]. ''A New History of Kentucky'' (1997).
* Kleber, John E. et al. ''The Kentucky Encyclopedia'' (1992), standard reference history. {{ISBN|0-8131-1772-0}}
* [[James C. Klotter|Klotter, James C.]] ''Our Kentucky: A Study of the Bluegrass State'' (2000), high school text
* Lucas, Marion Brunson and Wright, George C. ''A History of Blacks in Kentucky'' 2 vols. (1992).
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20080306060234/http://www.uky.edu/Subject/aakyall.html World-Wide Web Resources – Notable Kentucky African Americans]
* Share, Allen J. ''Cities in the Commonwealth: Two Centuries of Urban Life in Kentucky'' (1982).
* Wallis, Frederick A. and Hambleton Tapp. ''A Sesqui-Centennial History of Kentucky'' 4 vols. (1945).
* Ward, William S., ''A Literary History of Kentucky'' (1988) ({{ISBN|0-87049-578-X}}).
* WPA, ''Kentucky: A Guide to the Bluegrass State '' (1939); classic guide from the Federal Writers Project; covers main themes and every town [https://archive.org/details/kentuckyguidetob00federich/page/n8/mode/1up online]
* {{cite book|title=Two Hundred Years at the Fall of the Ohio: A History of Louisville and Jefferson County|last=Yater|first=George H.|year=1987|publisher=[[The Filson Historical Society|Filson Club, Incorporated]]|edition=2nd|isbn = 978-0-9601072-3-0}}

====Specialized scholarly studies====

* Bakeless, John. ''Daniel Boone, Master of the Wilderness'' (1989)
* Blakey, George T. ''Hard Times and New Deal in Kentucky, 1929–1939'' (1986)
* Coulter, E. Merton. ''The Civil War and Readjustment in Kentucky'' (1926)
* Davis, Alice. "Heroes: Kentucky's Artists from Statehood to the New Millennium" (2004)
* Ellis, William E. ''The Kentucky River'' (2000).
* Faragher, John Mack. ''Daniel Boone'' (1993)
* [https://www.questia.com/read/6471305/politics-in-the-border-states-a-study-of-the-patterns Fenton, John H. ''Politics in the Border States: A Study of the Patterns of Political Organization, and Political Change, Common to the Border States: Maryland, West Virginia, Kentucky, and Missouri'' (1957)] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200803021432/https://www.questia.com/read/6471305/politics-in-the-border-states-a-study-of-the-patterns |date=August 3, 2020 }}
* Harlow, Luke E. ''Religion, Race, and the Making of Confederate Kentucky, 1830–1880.'' New York: Cambridge University Press, 2014.
* Ireland, Robert M. ''The County in Kentucky History'' (1976)
* {{cite book|title=Kentucky's Civil War 1861–1865|author-link=James C. Klotter|last1=Klotter|first1=James C.|last2=Harrison|first2=Lowell|author-link2=Lowell H. Harrison|last3=Ramage|first3=James|last4=Roland|first4=Charles|last5=Taylor|first5=Richard|last6=Bush|first6=Bryan S|last7=Fugate|first7=Tom|last8=Hibbs|first8=Dixie|last9=Matthews|first9=Lisa|last10=Moody|first10=Robert C.|last11=Myers|first11=Marshall|last12=Sanders|first12=Stuart|last13=McBride|first13=Stephen|editor-last=Rose|editor-first=Jerlene|year=2005|location=Clay City, Kentucky|publisher=Back Home in Kentucky, Inc.|isbn = 978-0-9769231-1-4}}
* Kelly, Andrew, Ed. "Kentucky by Design: The Decorative Arts and American Culture". Lexington, University Press of Kentucky, 2015. {{ISBN|978-0-8131-5567-8}}
* [[James C. Klotter|Klotter, James C.]] ''Kentucky: Portrait in Paradox, 1900–1950'' (1992)
* Pearce, John Ed. ''Divide and Dissent: Kentucky Politics, 1930–1963'' (1987)
* Remini, Robert V. ''Henry Clay: Statesman for the Union'' (1991).
* [https://www.questia.com/read/100662336/liberal-kentucky-1780-1828 Sonne, Niels Henry. ''Liberal Kentucky, 1780–1828'' (1939)] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200802211353/https://www.questia.com/read/100662336/liberal-kentucky-1780-1828 |date=August 2, 2020 }}
* Tapp, Hambleton and [[James C. Klotter]]. ''Kentucky Decades of Discord, 1865–1900'' (1977)
* [https://www.questia.com/read/61648056/lincoln-and-the-bluegrass-slavery-and-civil-war-in Townsend, William H. ''Lincoln and the Bluegrass: Slavery and Civil War in Kentucky'' (1955)] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200925151832/https://www.questia.com/read/61648056/lincoln-and-the-bluegrass-slavery-and-civil-war-in |date=September 25, 2020 }}
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20130605161639/http://www.questia.com/read/14459929/night-riders-defending-community-in-the-black-patch Waldrep, Christopher ''Night Riders: Defending Community in the Black Patch, 1890–1915'' (1993)] tobacco wars

==External links==

{{Sister project links|Kentucky|voy=Kentucky}}
* {{official website|http://kentucky.gov}}
* [https://www.loc.gov/rr/program/bib/states/kentucky/index.html Kentucky State Guide, from the Library of Congress]
* [http://www.kentuckytourism.com/ Kentucky Department of Tourism]
* [http://www.google.com/maps/d/edit?mid=zkXQ4MSaa6bU.kV82taX_fVck GPS Specific Map of Kentucky Destinations (map)]
* [http://www.eia.gov/beta/state/?sid=KY Energy & Environmental Data for Kentucky]
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20120626233658/http://www.ers.usda.gov/data-products/state-fact-sheets/state-data.aspx?StateFIPS=21&StateName=Kentucky Kentucky State Facts from USDA]. {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140810145637/http://www.ers.usda.gov/data-products/state-fact-sheets/state-data.aspx?StateFIPS=21&StateName=Kentucky |date=August 10, 2014 }}.
* [http://kentucky.gov/about/Pages/unbridledspirit.aspx Kentucky: Unbridled Spirit]. {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210211014806/https://kentucky.gov/about/pages/unbridledspirit.aspx |date=February 11, 2021 }}.
* [http://www.kyvl.org/ Kentucky Virtual Library]
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20150622061626/http://quickfacts.census.gov/qfd/states/21000.html U.S. Census Bureau Kentucky QuickFacts]
* {{Ballotpedia|Kentucky}}
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20080515221659/http://wikis.ala.org/godort/index.php/Kentucky Kentucky State Databases] – Annotated list of searchable databases produced by Kentucky state agencies and compiled by the Government Documents Roundtable of the American Library Association.
* {{OSM relation|161655}}

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