Louisville, Kentucky
Largest city in Kentucky, United States From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Largest city in Kentucky, United States From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Louisville[lower-alpha 2] is the most populous city in the Commonwealth of Kentucky, sixth-most populous city in the Southeast, and the 27th-most-populous city in the United States.[lower-alpha 1][11] By land area, it is the country's 24th-largest city, although by population density, it is the 265th most dense city.[lower-alpha 3][12] Louisville is the historical county seat and, since 2003, the nominal seat of Jefferson County, on the Indiana border.
Louisville | |
---|---|
Louisville/Jefferson County Metro Government | |
Nicknames: | |
Coordinates: 38°15′22″N 85°45′05″W | |
Country | United States |
State | Kentucky |
County | Jefferson |
Established | 1778[4] |
Incorporated | 1828[4] |
Founded by | George Rogers Clark |
Named for | Louis XVI |
Government | |
• Type | Mayor–council |
• Mayor | Craig Greenberg (D) |
• Metro Council | 26 council members |
Area | |
• Consolidated city-county | 341.44 sq mi (884.32 km2) |
• Land | 324.94 sq mi (841.59 km2) |
• Water | 16.50 sq mi (42.73 km2) |
Elevation | 466 ft (142 m) |
Population (2020) | |
• Consolidated city-county | 633,045 |
• Estimate (2022)[6] | 624,444 |
• Rank | 75th in North America 27th in the United States[lower-alpha 1] 1st in Kentucky |
• Density | 1,900/sq mi (720/km2) |
• Urban | 1,025,000 (US: 46th) |
• Urban density | 2,430.8/sq mi (938.5/km2) |
• Metro | 1,365,557 (US: 43rd) |
Demonym | Louisvillian[8] |
GDP | |
• MSA | $90.836 billion (2022) |
Time zone | UTC-5 (EST) |
• Summer (DST) | UTC-4 (EDT) |
ZIP code prefixes | 40201-40225, 40228-40229, 40231-40233, 40241-40243, 40245, 40250-40253, 40255-40259, 40261, 40266, 40268-40270, 40272, 40280-40283, 40285, 40287, 40289-40299 |
Area code | 502 |
FIPS code | 21-48000 |
FIPS code | 21-48006 |
GNIS feature ID | 2404963[10] |
Website | louisvilleky |
Named after King Louis XVI of France, Louisville was founded in 1778 by George Rogers Clark, making it one of the oldest cities west of the Appalachians.[13] With the nearby Falls of the Ohio as the only major obstruction to river traffic between the upper Ohio River and the Gulf of Mexico, the settlement first grew as a portage site. It was the founding city of the Louisville and Nashville Railroad, which grew into a 6,000-mile (9,700 km) system across 13 states.
Today, the city is known as the home of boxer Muhammad Ali, the Kentucky Derby, Kentucky Fried Chicken, the University of Louisville and its Cardinals, Louisville Slugger baseball bats, and Fortune 500 company Humana.[14][15] Louisville Muhammad Ali International Airport, the city's main commercial airport, hosts UPS's worldwide hub.
Since 2003, Louisville's borders have been the same as those of Jefferson County, after a city-county merger.[16] The official name of this consolidated city-county government is the Louisville/Jefferson County Metro Government,[17] abbreviated to Louisville Metro.[18] Despite the merger and renaming, the term "Jefferson County" continues to be used in some contexts in reference to Louisville Metro, particularly including the incorporated cities outside the "balance" which make up Louisville proper. The city's total consolidated population as of the 2020 census was 782,969.[19] However, the balance total of 633,045[20] excludes other incorporated places within the county and is the population listed in most sources and national rankings.
The Louisville-Jefferson County, KY-IN Metropolitan Statistical Area (MSA) includes Louisville-Jefferson County and 12 surrounding counties, seven in Kentucky and five in Southern Indiana. As of 2023, the MSA had a population of 1,365,557,[21] the 43rd largest in the nation.[lower-alpha 4]
The correct pronunciation of the name of Louisville is heatedly debated.[22] The three most popular pronunciations are, in order:
All three are generally considered acceptable; the Louisville Visitor Center says that only the rare /ˈluːɪsvɪl/ LOO-iss-vil is completely unacceptable (though it is the correct pronunciation for the name of the much smaller Louisville, Colorado). There are also acceptable hybrid ways of saying the name, such as /ˈluːəvɪl/ LOO-ə-vil, a mixture of the first and second pronunciations.[23]
The dominant local pronunciation, the LOO-ə-vəl pronunciation is widely practiced and accepted.[24] Some even refer to it as the "only" correct way to pronounce the name of the city.[25] LOO-ee-vil, while respecting the proper pronunciation of the name of the French king who gave Louisville its name, is significantly less common among locals. It is, however, frequently used by those not from the area.[22][25] In 2001, local journalist and historian George H. Yater noted that older natives tended toward the second pronunciation, and that both the first and second pronunciations were used equally in local radio and television broadcasting; however, new personalities were taught that the first one was "correct".[26]
LUUV-əl is a less common, particularly rural way of saying the name. While it is considered acceptable, it is not as widely heard as the others.[citation needed]
The history of Louisville spans hundreds of years, and has been influenced by the area's geography and proximity to the Falls of the Ohio River.
Since the Falls created a barrier to river travel, settlements grew at this portage point. The first European settlement in the vicinity of modern-day Louisville was on Corn Island in 1778 by Col. George Rogers Clark, credited as the founder of Louisville. Several landmarks in the community are named after him.[27]
Two years later, in 1780, the Virginia General Assembly approved the town charter of Louisville. The city was named in honor of King Louis XVI of France, whose soldiers were then aiding Americans in the Revolutionary War. Early residents lived in forts to protect themselves from raids from the local indigenous population, but they moved out by the late 1780s.[28] In 1803, explorers Meriwether Lewis and William Clark organized their expedition across America in the town of Clarksville, Indiana at the present-day Falls of the Ohio opposite Louisville, Kentucky.[29][30]
The city's early growth was influenced by the fact that river boats had to be unloaded and moved downriver before reaching the falls. By 1828, the population had grown to 7,000 and Louisville became an incorporated city.[31]
Early Louisville was a major shipping port and enslaved African Americans worked in a variety of associated trades.[32] The city was often a point of escape for fugitive slaves to the north, as Indiana was a free state.[32][33]
During this point in the 1850s, the city was growing and vibrant, but that also came with negativity. It was the center of planning, supplies, recruiting, and transportation for numerous campaigns, especially in the Western Theater. Ethnic tensions rose, and on August 6, 1855, known as "Bloody Monday", Protestant mobs attacked German and Irish Catholic neighborhoods on election day, resulting in 22 deaths and widespread property damage.[34] Then by 1861, the civil war had broken out. During the Civil War, Louisville was a major stronghold of Union forces, which kept Kentucky firmly in the Union. By the end of the war, the city of Louisville itself had not been attacked, although skirmishes and battles, including the battles of Perryville and Corydon, took place nearby. After the war, returning Confederate veterans largely took political control of the city, leading to the jibe that Louisville joined the Confederacy after the war was over.[35]
The first Kentucky Derby was held on May 17, 1875, at the Louisville Jockey Club track (later renamed Churchill Downs).[36] The Derby was originally shepherded by Meriwether Lewis Clark Jr., the grandson of William Clark of the Lewis and Clark Expedition, and grandnephew of the city's founder George Rogers Clark. Horse racing had a strong tradition in Kentucky, whose Inner Bluegrass Region had been a center of breeding high-quality livestock throughout the 19th century. Ten thousand spectators watched the first Derby, which Aristides won.[37]
On March 27, 1890, the city was devastated and its downtown nearly destroyed when what scientists now estimate was an F4 tornado tore through as part of the middle Mississippi Valley tornado outbreak. It is estimated that between 74 and 120 people were killed and 200 were injured. The damage cost the city $2.5 million[38] (equivalent to $69 million in 2019).[39] Established in 1896, Neighborhood House Louisville was the first settlement movement house in the state.[40]
Following the Civil War and the Emancipation Proclamation, freed slaves settled in a neighborhood of Louisville called Little Africa, nicknamed "the gateway to the South," near the present neighborhood of Park DuValle.[41] The neighborhood was described as a "thriving community" by the 1920s, and declined between the 1940s and 1950s.[41]
In 1914, the city of Louisville passed a racially based residential zoning code, following Baltimore, Atlanta, and a handful of cities in the Carolinas.[42] The NAACP challenged the ordinance in two cases. Two weeks after the ordinance enacted, an African-American named Arthur Harris moved into a house on a block designated for whites. He was prosecuted and found guilty. The second case was planned to create a test case. William Warley, the president of the local chapter of the NAACP, tendered a purchase offer on a white block from Charles Buchanan, a white real estate agent. Warley also wrote a letter declaring his intention to build a house on that lot and reside there. With the understanding that the Louisville ordinance made it illegal for him to live there, Warley withheld payment, setting in motion a breach of contract suit by Buchanan.[43] By 1917 the U.S. Supreme Court agreed to hear the case of Buchanan v. Warley. The court struck down the Louisville residential segregation ordinance, ruling that it violated the Fourteenth Amendment's due process clause.[44]
In 1917, shortly after the United States' entry into World War I, Louisville was selected as the site of Camp Zachary Taylor. Camp Taylor was one of the country's largest World War I training camps. It was home of the 84th Infantry Division and trained over 150,000 men by the end of war, including F. Scott Fitzgerald. The camp was closed in 1921. Many of the buildings and infrastructure in the Camp Taylor neighborhood of Louisville are there as a result of the training camp.
In 1929, Louisville completed the lock and dam in the Falls of the Ohio and the city began referring to itself as "where Northern enterprise and Southern hospitality meet". Between the industrial boom of that year and through the Great Depression, Louisville gained 15,000 new residents, about 3% of them black, most fleeing poverty in rural areas.[45]
Throughout January 1937, 19.17 inches (48.7 cm) of rain fell in Louisville, and by January 27, the Ohio River crested at a record 57.15 feet (17.42 m), almost 30 feet (9.1 m) above flood stage. These events triggered the "Great Flood of 1937", which lasted into early February. The flood submerged 60–70 percent of the city, caused complete loss of power for four days, and forced the evacuation of 175,000 or 230,000 residents, depending on sources. Ninety people died as a result of the flood.[46][47] It led to dramatic changes in where residents lived. Today, the city is protected by numerous flood walls. After the flood, the areas of high elevation in the eastern part of the city had decades of residential growth.
Louisville was a center for factory war production during World War II. In May 1942, the U.S. government assigned the Curtiss-Wright Aircraft Company, a war plant located at Louisville's air field, for wartime aircraft production. The factory produced the C-46 Commando cargo plane, among other aircraft. In 1946, the factory was sold to International Harvester, which began large-scale production of tractors and agricultural equipment. In 1950, the Census Bureau reported Louisville's population as 84.3% white and 15.6% black.[48]
Throughout the 1940s, there were more black police officers than any other Southern city, though they were allowed to patrol only black districts. This, in part, made Louisville seem like a more racially progressive city than other Southern cities, although only when black citizens accepted a lower status than white citizens. Many historians have referred to this "veil" of segregation as a "polite" racism. Historian George Wright stated that polite racism "often deluded both blacks and well-meaning whites into believing that real progress was being made in their city". For example, in the city Jim Crow practices were not maintained by law so much as by custom.[45]
Similar to many other older American cities, Louisville began to experience a movement of people and businesses to the suburbs in the 1960s and 1970s. Middle class residents used newly built freeways and interstate highways to commute to work, moving into more distant but newer housing. Because of tax laws, businesses found it cheaper to build new rather than renovate older buildings. Economic changes included a decline in local manufacturing. The West End and older areas of the South End, in particular, began to decline economically as many local factories closed.
In 1974, a major (F4) tornado hit Louisville as part of the 1974 Super Outbreak of tornadoes that struck 13 states. It covered 21 miles (34 km) and destroyed several hundred homes in the Louisville area, causing two deaths.[49]
Since the 1980s, many of the city's urban neighborhoods have been revitalized into areas popular with young professionals and college students. The greatest change has occurred along the Bardstown Road/Baxter Avenue and Frankfort Avenue corridors as well as the Old Louisville neighborhood. In recent years, such change has also occurred in the East Market District (NuLu).[50]
Since the late 1990s, Downtown has experienced significant residential, tourist and retail growth, including the addition of major sports complexes KFC Yum! Center, Lynn Family Stadium and Louisville Slugger Field, conversion of waterfront industrial sites into Waterfront Park, openings of varied museums (see Museums, galleries and interpretive centers below), and the refurbishing of the former Galleria into the bustling entertainment complex Fourth Street Live!, which opened in 2004.
On March 13, 2020, four plainclothed officers from Louisville Metro Police Department executed a "no-knock" search warrant which led to the killing of Breonna Taylor, a 26-year-old African-American woman.[51] For months afterward, Taylor's family, members of the local community, and people around the world protested to demand that officers involved in the shooting be fired and criminally charged.[52] These protests and demonstrations coincided and intertwined with the international George Floyd protests, as well as the Black Lives Matter movement and a broader movement of racial unrest.[53] As a result of the incident, the police chief was fired and four officers received federal charges, but no significant systemic changes were made.[54][55]
On April 10, 2023, a mass shooting occurred at the Old National Bank, killing five people, and injuring nine others. The suspect, who was a bank employee and who officials said was livestreaming the rampage, was killed by the police after exchanging fire with them.[56]
Louisville and Jefferson County have a combined area of 397.68 square miles (1,030.0 km2), of which 380.46 square miles (985.4 km2) is land and 17.23 square miles (44.6 km2) (4.33%) is covered by water.[57]
Louisville is southeasterly situated along the border between Kentucky and Indiana, the Ohio River, in north-central Kentucky at the Falls of the Ohio. Louisville is an Upper South city located in a Southern state that is influenced by both Southern and Midwestern culture. It is sometimes referred to as either one of the northernmost Southern cities or as one of the southernmost Northern cities in the United States.[58][59]
Louisville is located in Kentucky's outer Bluegrass region.[60] Its development has been influenced by its location on the Ohio River, which spurred Louisville's growth from an isolated camp site into a major shipping port. Much of the city is located on a very wide and flat floodplain surrounded by hill country on all sides. Much of the area was swampland that had to be drained as the city grew. In the 1840s, most creeks were rerouted or placed in canals to prevent flooding and disease outbreaks.
Areas generally east of I-65 are above the flood plain, and are composed of gently rolling hills. The southernmost parts of Jefferson County are in the scenic and largely undeveloped Knobs region, which is home to Jefferson Memorial Forest.
The Louisville-Jefferson County, KY-IN Metropolitan Statistical Area (MSA), the 43rd largest in the United States,[lower-alpha 4][21] includes the Kentucky county of Jefferson (coterminous with Louisville Metro), plus twelve outlying counties—seven in Kentucky and five in Southern Indiana. Louisville's MSA is included in the Louisville–Elizabethtown–Madison, KY–IN Combined Statistical Area (CSA), which also includes the Elizabethtown, KY MSA, as well as the Madison, IN Micropolitan Statistical Area.
The Louisville area is near several other urban areas, especially Frankfort, Kentucky (the state's capital); Cincinnati, Ohio (the two cities' metropolitan statistical areas almost border each other); Lexington, Kentucky; Bowling Green, Kentucky; Nashville, Tennessee; and the Indianapolis, Indiana area (especially Columbus, Indiana, to the north of Southern Indiana).
The downtown business district of Louisville is located immediately south of the Ohio River and southeast of the Falls of the Ohio. Major roads extend outwards from the downtown area in all directions. The airport is about 6.75 miles (10.86 km) south of the downtown area. The industrial sections of town are to the south and west of the airport, while most of the residential areas of the city are to the southwest, south, and east of downtown. In 2010, the 22,000-seat KFC Yum! Center was completed.[61][62] Twelve of the 15 buildings in Kentucky over 300 feet (91 m) are located in downtown Louisville.
Another primary business and industrial district is located in the suburban area east of the city on Hurstbourne Parkway.[63]
Louisville's late 19th- and early 20th-century development was spurred by three large suburban parks built at the edges of the city in 1890.
The city's architecture contains a blend of old and new. The Old Louisville neighborhood is the largest historic preservation district solely featuring Victorian homes and buildings in the United States;[64][65] it is also the third-largest district containing such architectural distinctions in the United States. Many modern skyscrapers are located downtown, as well as older preserved structures, such as the Southern National Bank building. The buildings of West Main Street in downtown Louisville have the largest collection of cast iron facades of anywhere outside of New York's SoHo neighborhood.[66]
Since the mid-20th century, Louisville has in some ways been divided into three sides of town: the West End, the South End, and the East End. In 2003, Bill Dakan, a University of Louisville geography professor, said that the West End, west of 7th Street and north of Algonquin Parkway, is "a euphemism for the African American part of town" although he points out that this belief is not entirely true, and most African Americans no longer live in areas where more than 80% of residents are black. Nevertheless, he says the perception is still strong.[67] The South End has long had a reputation as a white, working-class part of town, while the East End has been seen as middle and upper class.[68]
According to the Greater Louisville Association of Realtors, the area with the lowest median home sales price is west of Interstate 65, in the West and South Ends. The middle range of home sales prices are between Interstates 64 and 65 in the South and East Ends, and the highest median home sales price are north of Interstate 64 in the East End.[69] Immigrants from Southeast Asia tend to settle in the South End, while immigrants from Eastern Europe settle in the East End.[70]
Louisville has a humid subtropical climate (Köppen Cfa), typical of the Upper South, and is located in USDA plant hardiness zones 6b and 7a.[71] Springlike conditions typically begin in mid-to-late March, summer from mid-to-late-May to late September, with fall in the October–November period. Seasonal extremes in both temperature and precipitation are not uncommon during early spring and late fall; severe weather is not uncommon, with occasional tornado outbreaks in the region. Winter typically brings a mix of rain, sleet, and snow, with occasional heavy snowfall and icing. Louisville averages 4.5 days with low temperatures dipping to 10 °F (−12 °C);[72] the first and last freezes of the season on average fall on November 2 and April 5, respectively.[73] Summer is typically hazy, hot, and humid with long periods of 90–100 °F (32–38 °C) temperatures and drought conditions at times. Louisville averages 38 days a year with high temperatures at or above 90 °F (32 °C). The mean annual temperature is 58.2 °F (14.6 °C), with an average annual snowfall of 12.7 inches (32 cm) and an average annual rainfall of 44.9 inches (1,140 mm).
The wettest seasons are spring and summer, although rainfall is fairly constant year round. During the winter, particularly in January and February, several days of snow can be expected. January is the coldest month, with a mean temperature of 34.9 °F (1.6 °C). July is the average hottest month with a mean of 79.3 °F (26.3 °C).[74] The highest recorded temperature was 107 °F (42 °C), which last occurred on July 14, 1936, and the lowest recorded temperature was −22 °F (−30 °C) on January 19, 1994.[75] In 2012, Louisville had the fourth-hottest summer on record, with the temperature rising up to 106 °F (41 °C) in July and the June all-time monthly record high temperature being broken on two consecutive days.[73] As the city exemplifies the urban heat island effect, temperatures in commercial areas and in the industrialized areas along interstates are often higher than in the suburbs, often as much as 5 °F (2.8 °C).
Climate data for Louisville International Airport, Kentucky (1991–2020 normals,[lower-alpha 5] extremes 1872–present[lower-alpha 6]) | |||||||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Month | Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec | Year |
Record high °F (°C) | 77 (25) |
82 (28) |
88 (31) |
91 (33) |
98 (37) |
105 (41) |
107 (42) |
105 (41) |
104 (40) |
97 (36) |
85 (29) |
76 (24) |
107 (42) |
Mean maximum °F (°C) | 65.2 (18.4) |
70.4 (21.3) |
77.8 (25.4) |
84.1 (28.9) |
89.0 (31.7) |
93.6 (34.2) |
95.7 (35.4) |
95.6 (35.3) |
92.9 (33.8) |
85.4 (29.7) |
75.1 (23.9) |
67.0 (19.4) |
97.3 (36.3) |
Mean daily maximum °F (°C) | 43.6 (6.4) |
48.3 (9.1) |
58.1 (14.5) |
69.6 (20.9) |
77.8 (25.4) |
85.7 (29.8) |
89.0 (31.7) |
88.4 (31.3) |
82.2 (27.9) |
70.5 (21.4) |
57.6 (14.2) |
47.2 (8.4) |
68.2 (20.1) |
Daily mean °F (°C) | 35.7 (2.1) |
39.5 (4.2) |
48.4 (9.1) |
59.0 (15.0) |
68.3 (20.2) |
76.4 (24.7) |
79.9 (26.6) |
78.9 (26.1) |
72.0 (22.2) |
60.3 (15.7) |
48.5 (9.2) |
39.6 (4.2) |
58.9 (14.9) |
Mean daily minimum °F (°C) | 27.8 (−2.3) |
30.7 (−0.7) |
38.6 (3.7) |
48.5 (9.2) |
58.7 (14.8) |
67.2 (19.6) |
70.8 (21.6) |
69.5 (20.8) |
61.9 (16.6) |
50.1 (10.1) |
39.4 (4.1) |
32.1 (0.1) |
49.6 (9.8) |
Mean minimum °F (°C) | 6.0 (−14.4) |
11.4 (−11.4) |
20.3 (−6.5) |
31.7 (−0.2) |
41.9 (5.5) |
53.6 (12.0) |
60.5 (15.8) |
58.7 (14.8) |
46.9 (8.3) |
33.7 (0.9) |
23.1 (−4.9) |
13.0 (−10.6) |
3.3 (−15.9) |
Record low °F (°C) | −22 (−30) |
−19 (−28) |
−1 (−18) |
21 (−6) |
31 (−1) |
42 (6) |
49 (9) |
45 (7) |
33 (1) |
23 (−5) |
−1 (−18) |
−15 (−26) |
−22 (−30) |
Average precipitation inches (mm) | 3.39 (86) |
3.41 (87) |
4.60 (117) |
4.80 (122) |
5.18 (132) |
4.27 (108) |
4.05 (103) |
3.71 (94) |
3.66 (93) |
3.72 (94) |
3.42 (87) |
4.13 (105) |
48.34 (1,228) |
Average snowfall inches (cm) | 4.5 (11) |
4.1 (10) |
2.1 (5.3) |
0.1 (0.25) |
0.0 (0.0) |
0.0 (0.0) |
0.0 (0.0) |
0.0 (0.0) |
0.0 (0.0) |
0.1 (0.25) |
0.3 (0.76) |
2.2 (5.6) |
13.4 (34) |
Average precipitation days (≥ 0.01 in) | 11.2 | 10.4 | 12.1 | 11.9 | 12.6 | 10.5 | 10.2 | 8.2 | 7.9 | 7.9 | 9.8 | 11.8 | 124.5 |
Average snowy days (≥ 0.1 in) | 3.7 | 3.7 | 1.7 | 0.1 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.6 | 2.5 | 12.3 |
Average relative humidity (%) | 68.6 | 68.1 | 64.0 | 61.5 | 67.2 | 68.9 | 70.9 | 71.7 | 72.9 | 69.9 | 69.4 | 70.2 | 68.6 |
Mean monthly sunshine hours | 140.5 | 148.9 | 188.6 | 221.1 | 263.4 | 288.9 | 293.6 | 272.6 | 234.3 | 208.5 | 135.7 | 118.3 | 2,514.4 |
Percent possible sunshine | 46 | 49 | 51 | 56 | 60 | 65 | 65 | 65 | 63 | 60 | 45 | 40 | 56 |
Average ultraviolet index | 1.8 | 2.8 | 4.6 | 6.5 | 8.0 | 8.9 | 9.1 | 8.2 | 6.4 | 4.0 | 2.3 | 1.6 | 5.3 |
Source 1: NOAA (relative humidity and sun 1961–1990)[72][73][76] | |||||||||||||
Source 2: UV Index Today (1995 to 2022)[77] |
Census | Pop. | Note | %± |
---|---|---|---|
1790 | 200 | — | |
1800 | 359 | 79.5% | |
1810 | 1,357 | 278.0% | |
1820 | 4,012 | 195.7% | |
1830 | 10,341 | 157.8% | |
1840 | 21,210 | 105.1% | |
1850 | 43,194 | 103.6% | |
1860 | 68,033 | 57.5% | |
1870 | 100,753 | 48.1% | |
1880 | 123,758 | 22.8% | |
1890 | 161,129 | 30.2% | |
1900 | 204,731 | 27.1% | |
1910 | 223,928 | 9.4% | |
1920 | 234,891 | 4.9% | |
1930 | 307,745 | 31.0% | |
1940 | 319,077 | 3.7% | |
1950 | 369,129 | 15.7% | |
1960 | 390,639 | 5.8% | |
1970 | 361,706 | −7.4% | |
1980 | 298,694 | −17.4% | |
1990 | 269,063 | −9.9% | |
2000 | 256,231 | −4.8% | |
2010 | 597,337 | 133.1% | |
2020 | 633,045 | 6.0% | |
2022 (est.) | 624,444 | [6] | −1.4% |
U.S. Decennial Census[78] In 2003, Louisville merged with Jefferson County and population counts were combined thereafter.[79] 2010–2020[20] |
Between 1970 and 2000, Louisville lost population each decade. As of the 2000 census, Louisville had a population of 256,231, down from the 1990 census population of 269,063.[11] Due to the city-county merger that occurred in 2003, which expanded the city limits, the city's population increased to 597,337 at the 2010 census count.
Race / Ethnicity (NH = Non-Hispanic) | Pop 2010[80] | Pop 2020[81][82][83] | % 2010 | % 2020 |
---|---|---|---|---|
White alone (NH) | 408,157 | 382,096 | 68.33% | 60.36% |
Black or African American alone (NH) | 135,138 | 147,069 | 22.62% | 23.23% |
Native American or Alaska Native alone (NH) | 1,289 | 1,206 | 0.22% | 0.19% |
Asian alone (NH) | 12,764 | 21,034 | 2.14% | 3.32% |
Pacific Islander alone (NH) | 347 | 493 | 0.06% | 0.08% |
Some Other Race alone (NH) | 1,018 | 3,064 | 0.17% | 0.48% |
Mixed Race/Multi-Racial (NH) | 11,834 | 27,900 | 1.98% | 4.41% |
Hispanic or Latino (any race) | 26,790 | 50,183 | 4.48% | 7.93% |
Total | 597,337 | 633,045 | 100.00% | 100.00% |
Louisville is the largest city in Kentucky, with 17.1% of the state's total population as of 2010; the balance's percentage was 13.8%.[84]
The 2007 demographic breakdown for the entire Louisville Metro area was 74.8% White (71.7% non-Hispanic), 22.2% African American, 0.6% Native American, 2.0% Asian, 0.1% Hawaiian or Pacific islander, 1.4% other, and 1.6% multiracial. About 2.9% of the total population was identified as Hispanic of any race. During the same year, the area of premerger Louisville consisted 60.1% White, 35.2% African American, 1.9% Asian, 0.2% Native American, and 3.0% other, with 2.4% identified as Hispanic of any race.
Of the 287,012 households, 29.6% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 45.2% were married couples living together, 14.7% had a female householder with no husband present, and 36.2% were not families. About 30.5% of all households were made up of individuals, and 10.3% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.37 and the average family size was 2.97.
The age distribution is 24.3% under the age of 18, 8.9% from 18 to 24, 30.4% from 25 to 44, 22.8% from 45 to 64, and 13.5% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 37 years. For every 100 females, there were 91.60 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 87.60 males.
The median income for a household in 2017 was $51,960. For non-family households the median income was $32,446, and for family households was $67,965. In 2017, males had a median income of $36,326 while females had a median income of $30,464.[85] The latest available data for per capita income comes from 2006, and was $23,304 for the county.[86] About 9.5% of families and 15.1% of the population were below the poverty line in 2017, including 23.5% of those under age 18 and 8.2% of those ages 65 or over.[87]
African Americans are concentrated in the Smoketown neighborhood.[88]
Additionally, around 60,000 Cuban Americans are said to live in the Louisville area,[12] with Jefferson County ranking 12th nationally.[89]
Louisville hosts religious institutions of various faiths, including Christianity, Judaism, Islam, Hinduism, Buddhism, Sikhism and the Baháʼí Faith.
The 135,421 Roman Catholic Louisvillians are part of the Archdiocese of Louisville, covering 24 counties in central Kentucky, and consisting of 121 parishes and missions spread over 8,124 square miles (21,040 km2).[90] The Cathedral of the Assumption in downtown Louisville is the seat of the Archdiocese of Louisville. Our Lady of Gethsemani Abbey, the monastic home of Catholic writer Thomas Merton, is in nearby Bardstown, Kentucky, and also in the archdiocese. Most of Louisville's Roman Catholic population is of German descent, the result of large-scale 19th-century immigration.
Bellarmine University and Spalding University in Louisville are affiliated with the Roman Catholic Church.
One in three Louisvillians is Southern Baptist, belonging to one of 147 local congregations.[91] This denomination increased in number when large numbers of people moved into Louisville in the early 20th century from rural Kentucky and Tennessee to work in the city's factories; some of these migrants also formed Holiness and Pentecostal churches and Churches of Christ.
German immigrants in the 19th century brought not only a large Catholic population, but also the Lutheran and Evangelical faiths, which are represented today in Louisville by the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, the Lutheran Church–Missouri Synod, and the United Church of Christ, respectively.
The largest Methodist Church in Kentucky, Christ Church United Methodist, is located in Louisville, and the city has boasted a large Methodist population since the cities founding.[92]
The city is home to two megachurches. Southeast Christian Church, with its main campus in Middletown and three others in the surrounding region, is, as of 2023[update], the eighth-largest church in the US by average weekend attendance.[93] St. Stephen Church[94] has the largest African American congregation in Kentucky.[95]
The city is home to several religious institutions: the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, Louisville Bible College, Louisville Presbyterian Theological Seminary, and the denominational headquarters of the Presbyterian Church (USA).
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints maintains a temple in suburban Crestwood.[96]
The Jewish population of around 14,200 in the metro area[97] is served by five synagogues. Most Jewish families emigrated from Eastern Europe at the start of the 20th century; around 800 Soviet Jews have moved to Louisville since 1991.[98] Jewish immigrants founded Jewish Hospital in what was once the center of the city's Jewish district. From 2005 to 2012, Jewish Hospital merged with two Kentucky-based Catholic healthcare systems to form KentuckyOne Health, which later in 2012 announced a partnership with the University of Louisville Hospital. A significant focal point for Louisville's Jewish community is located near Bowman Field, where there are two Orthodox synagogues (including Anshei Sfard, founded in 1893), the Jewish Community Center, Jewish Family and Career Services, and an affordable housing complex.
Since 1996, every May, the Festival of Faiths,[99] a five-day national interfaith gathering, is held featuring music, poetry, film, art and dialogue with internationally renowned spiritual leaders, thinkers and practitioners. The festival is organized by the Center for Interfaith Relations[100] and is held at Actors Theatre of Louisville.[101][102]