Moving to Louisville, Kentucky in 2025? What to Know First

Louisville, Kentucky at a Glance 

Known for the sharp crack of a Slugger, the smooth finish of barrel-aged whiskey and “the most exciting two minutes in sports,” Louisville is a baseball town, a bourbon town and the home of the Kentucky Derby. This northern Kentucky city of 246,000 made its name in sports and spirits, but it’s the high-energy vibes of Louisville’s culture that keep this Kentucky city at the top of so many “best” lists. Forbes named Louisville one of the top 10 Best Cities to Move to in 2024, and it’s also scored accolades from Travel + Leisure for its beauty, affordability and food.  

As the state’s largest city, Louisville is a major cultural hub, not just for the state, but for the entire region. The metro area population of Louisville-Jefferson County now exceeds 1.4 million, according to the Federal Reserve. Its location on the Ohio River just across the Indiana border makes it an easy drive for visitors from many states, from Indiana to Ohio, Missouri, Tennessee, North Carolina and Georgia. 

And Louisville’s cultural amenities go far beyond the famous tracks of Churchill Downs and the distilleries on Whiskey Row. This is a music town, an art town and an outdoor town, where paddling, biking, hiking and riding are just as popular as dancing, dining and gallery-hopping.  

The city’s economy seems as diverse as its attractions. Generating serious horsepower from megaliths like UPS, Ford, and Humana, Louisville’s job market is further bolstered by smaller enterprises and a booming tourism industry, thanks to the visitors from all around the world — especially those who have a flair for hats and picking winning ponies.  

If you’re looking for a Southern city with a spark, consider moving to Louisville. Learn more about the city below in our moving guide, where we’ll address the economy and cost of living, the housing market, the weather and our favorite things to do. 

Weather in Louisville: What to Expect Year-Round 

Nestled in the rolling bluegrass hills, Louisville’s climate is more tolerable than other cities deeper in the South, which seem to stay hot and sticky all year round. Louisville certainly knows that number, but you won’t hear its refrain for as many months as you will in Nashville or Paducah.  

From June-August, the average high is still only in the upper 80s F, and temperatures usually drop into the upper 60s at night. Spring and fall are particularly delightful, with only a rare day below freezing or at the scorching point, and these seasons are the best times to move to Louisville.  

The city certainly sees a true winter, with lows below freezing possible from December to March, and an average annual snowfall of 13.4 inches. Even rain throughout the year keeps Louisville’s bluegrass green, the flowers abundant and the leaves a showy, colorful display each autumn. 

Cost of Living in Louisville: How Far Your Dollar Goes 

With all the cultural amenities in the city of Louisville — and the appealing climate — you might think the cost of real estate in Louisville would be through the roof. But home prices in Louisville still trail the national rate by nearly $20,000 — the median home value in Louisville is $324,370, according to the Federal Reserve. And the U.S. Census estimates the median gross rent in the metro area to be roughly $1,110/month. Both home values and rents are higher in Lexington. The Louisville Alliance estimates that the cost of living in Louisville is about 4% lower than the U.S. average. 

But how much will you need to earn to afford living in Louisville? The MIT Living Wage Calculator estimates two working adults supporting one child should budget the following for common household expenses.  

• Food: $9,174 
• Child Care: $10,496 
• Medical Expenses: $8,254 
• Housing: $15,855 
• Transportation: $15,855 
• Civic Expenses: $5,253 
• Internet/Mobile Services: $2,110 
• Miscellaneous Expenses: $8,188 
• Taxes: $11,846 

These costs required household earnings of $86,734 annually before taxes. The U.S Census estimates the median earnings for married couples in the city to be $102,336. 

Job Market and Economy: Can You Make a Living Here? 

The Louisville-Jefferson County region has a broad economic profile that relies on traditional industries like trade, transportation and utilities — which employs 167,6000 individuals — but the city has also invested in burgeoning sectors, like Advanced Manufacturing and Healthcare Innovation.  

Apt for the home of the Louisville Slugger, the city’s major employers include some serious heavy hitters, like UPS, Ford, GE Appliances, Humana and Brown-Forman, which plays Papa Barrel to some of bourbon’s biggest labels, like Woodford Reserve and Jack Daniel’s. Even the headquarters of Texas Roadhouse is in Louisville, a shock to many Lone Star Statesmen.  

Thanks to institutions like the University of Louisville, UofL Heath, Spalding University and Norton Healthcare, the education and health services sector supports 112,900 jobs. Manufacturing and professional and business services support more than 85,000 apiece. And leisure and hospitality provides nearly 74,000 positions, thanks to the robust tourism industry in this home of Churchill Downs. 

Employment rates in the city are mostly keeping pace with national trends, and the unemployment rate in the region sat at 4.3% in June 2025, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. 

Where to Live: Louisville Neighborhoods for Different Lifestyles 

Rich in historic buildings, character and charm, the Louisville-Jefferson County area encompasses a vast area on both sides of the Ohio, where there are neighborhood styles to suit every taste. 

Anchored by Fourth Street Live!, Downtown Louisville is a hub of entertainment. Trendy boutiques, rooftop cocktail bars and major attractions keep the energy level high in this waterfront district on the  Ohio. Here, you’ll find everything from the Roots 101 African American Museum to Whiskey Row to the KFC Yum! Center, where you can catch U of L basketball games and concerts year-round.  

Downtown’s East Market District — better known as NuLu — is the place for food and drink. You’ll find Cuban, Mediterranean, Southern, Cajun, Mexican and BBQ delights in this pocket-size epicurean haven. Every spring, Louisvillians line the lanes of Billy Goat Strut Alley and Nanny Goat Strut Alley for Bock Fest, a celebration of German beer and, well, goats. Bock can mean many things in Deutschland, but buck is one of them, and there will be more than a few running around NuLu amongst the inebriated during the Happy Goat Races, our favorite part of this festival.  

The harshly named but amply fun Butchertown is — you guessed it — the city’s old meatpacking district. But where hunky sides of beef once hung to cure, artists’ canvases now hang to dry. Handsome, industrial warehouses have been cleverly repurposed for the city’s many creatives, and venues like the Mellwood Arts Center invite you to meet them during First Friday events, when the studios are open and some of the best bars and restaurants in the city fill with art-hungry patrons.  

South of Downtown, you’ll find two neighborhoods with an entirely different flavor — Germantown and Schnitzelburg. These colorful hamlets are now far more international than their monikers suggest, and you’ll find cool speakeasies like North of Bourbon, coffee houses like Phalcha and great breweries, too. Against all odds, Zanzabar — one of the area’s original pubs — is still in operation, and it’s a great spot for live music.  

Smoketown and Shelby Park are two of Louisville’s oldest neighborhoods. These historically Black districts are known for their tree-lined streets where wide front porches, pink brick and stately clapboards welcome gentle breezes and generous conversation. It’s an easy walk to classic establishments like Shirly Mae’s, which has been serving the best home cooking outside your own mother’s kitchen since 1988, and newer ones like Perso, which offers upscale dishes like lamb tartar and roasted octopus.  

In the city’s academic heartland is Old Louisville and the University district, where both Spalding and the University of Louisville are located. Drool-worthy Victorians are de rigueur, but there are plenty of smaller bungalows that also ooze charm. If you need a bit of luck, visit the famous Witches’ Tree, a legendary, knotty (or is it naughty?) old maple, to which people pledge their desires. And don’t pass up the best meal in town at Ollie’s Trolley, where a bacon cheeseburger, fries and a soda will only set you back five bucks.  

Things You Can Only Do in Louisville, Kentucky 

Must-Do Events 

It takes just two minutes to run in just ten furloughs of track, but the Kentucky Derby’s importance in Louisville extends way beyond the historic Churchill Downs.  

The Kentucky Derby Festival starts weeks before Derby Day, hosting block parties, a fashion show and the Tour de Lou. Then there’s GospelFest, hot air balloon races, steamboat races and even bed races — yes, the kind you sleep on. One of the festival’s biggest draws is Thunder Over Louisville — a fireworks bonanza so spectacular that Zeus himself would be hard-pressed to dazzle the sky with greater pyrotechnics.  

But not everything in this city is reined to the ponies. The citizens of Louisville let themselves off their own lead for The Big Stomp, a family-friendly music festival with wellness workshops. Bluegrassers come from miles around to attend the Kentucky State Fair each August, where we admit there is a strong equine contingent. And the Kentuckiana Pride Festival, the Americana World Festival and the Kentucky Shakespeare Festival draw huge crowds of their own. But no one gets people to take to the streets like the NSRA Street Rod Nationals. This rubber-burning, brake-squealing display of blacktop bravado is now in its 57th year, and the combination of high-octane and high style is hard to resist, even if you’re not a car person. 

Top Attractions 

Louisville’s cultural institutions make this city way more than just a horse-racing town. Places like the Speed Museum of Art at the University of Louisville along with hotspots on Museum row, like the Frazier History Museum and the Kentucky Science Center, provide a well-rounded assortment of activities.  

Historic sites like the Thomas Edison House, the Muhammad Ali Center and the Cave Hill Cemetery & Arboretum — where Ali is buried — lend insight into the city’s story through its notable former residents. You can even tour the Louisville Slugger Museum & Factory, where they still produce 3,000 bats each day.  

Outdoor Fun 

In this beautiful bluegrass country, it would be a travesty to ignore the spoils of nature right outside your door, and Downtown’s Waterfront Park is the ideal place to start. Designed to look like construction and boat-building equipment — and made, in part, from repurposed industrial materials — Waterfront Park’s PlayPort is one of the coolest playgrounds ever. From the park, you can cross the Ohio River on the Big Four Bridge, a steel truss wonder that once carried rail cars over the water but now is ped-and-bike-only. At dusk, it’s illuminated with colorful LEDs.  

The Parklands of Floyd’s Fork are one of the most remarkable public greenspaces. 4,000 acres of gently tamed wilderness expands over four parks, from Beckley Peak to Broad Run, giving hikers, paddlers, birders and anglers ample room to take in the natural wonders of this Southern space. Runners and cyclists can take advantage of the 19 miles of paved pathways known as the Louisville Loop, while rugged adventure-seekers can try out the mountain biking trails or even set out on the water on paddleboards or kayaks.  

Southwest of the city, Jefferson Memorial Forest offers even more room to roam. This hardwood forest welcomes not just hikers but equestrians, so if you’ve always wanted to learn to horseback ride, you are really moving to the ideal city for it.  

Where Locals Actually Eat 

If you spent your life in Louisville doing nothing but eating, it would be a life well-spent. Barbecue, Southern staples and innovative, international flavors are all a part of this Kentucky city’s repertoire. Classic sandwiches like the Hot Brown were born in Louisville’s Brown Hotel, where we imagine it might have been literally quite hot in the 1920, when the resident chef concocted the saucy, open-faced number with turkey and bacon to feed frenzies of late-night revelers. 

Those party-goers of yore would have been pleased as punch to have the brunch offerings of contemporary Louisville, where swanky spots like The Porch serve smoked salmon bruschetta and neighborhood faves like Highland Morning put a NOLA twist on the brunch staples, like their crab cake benedict.  

When you’re in the mood for tacos, NuLu is the place to go. Guacamole — whose ordinary name belies their high-style interior and creative offerings — prepares unfairly good lamb coloradito mole and enchiladas suizas with shrimp, crab and scallops. For Middle Eastern fare, we cannot overstate our love for MeeshMeesh. Please take us out for pastrami hummus, eggplant schnitzel and the grape leaf-wrapped branzino for our birthday.  

Okay, but let’s get down to brass tacks. You’re moving to Louisville for the bourbon, right? It’s okay. You’re not the first person to pack up their family and relocate to the headwaters of American whiskey. Get to know the area with a hike along the Urban Bourbon Trail. Less grueling and more intoxicating than an ordinary woodland adventure, this stop-and-sip journey will lead you to 30+ distilleries and restaurants, from Jockey Silks Bourbon Bar to Fourpegs Smokehouse & Bar to Hell or High Water. Downtown’s Whiskey Row will take you deep into the barrels of bourbon’s past — take a tour of Evan Williams, Michter’s, the Rabbit Hole and more. 

Relocating to Louisville? Let Mayflower Get You There 

Looking for the right professional moving company to handle your move? Mayflower has helped nearly one million families relocate since our founding in 1927. Let us help you.  

Get a moving quote now from America’s most-trusted moving company. 

Whether you’re moving cross-country or just across town, Mayflower’s experience can make all the difference. Learn about our full-service moving options. 

If you’re making a long-distance move to Louisville, Mayflower can handle all your family’s moving needs. Our professional long-distance movers can provide you with a full-service moving package that can be customized with services like packing, unpacking, vehicle transport and storage services. Your personal move coordinator will manage all the details.  

If you’re moving locally within Kentucky, either from another part of Louisville or another place in the Bluegrass State, our interstate Kentucky agents/movers can assist you with local moves independently under their own businesses and brands. 

Thinking of going the DIY route? If you’ll be doing the heavy lifting, use Mayflower’s moving checklist and planner can help you stay on target.  

However you decide to move, Mayflower’s moving blog has all the moving advice you’ll ever need. We’ll help you understand what’s included in a moving quote, provide guidance on making settling in easier, and give you pro-tips on packing, planning and more. Be sure to check out Welcome HOME magazine for even more moving expertise.  

Want to see how Louisville, Kentucky, stacks up to other places in the U.S. Mayflower’s full line of city guides and state guides showcase some of the best places to move in the U.S.   

Remember, wherever you decide to move, Mayflower will be with you Every Step of the Way®. 

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