Where Are All the New Residents of Louisville Moving From?

Louisville originally grew because of its central location, making it a perfect hub for trade. And that hasn’t changed.

In 2016, the airport handled more than 5 billion—with a b—pounds of cargo, and UPS uses the airport as its international air-sorting hub. Healthcare is also key to the local economy, with insurer Humana making Louisville its home. Its position along the Ohio River also makes Louisville a prime destination for a variety of recreational activities.

Louisville’s hub status has no doubt played at least a small role in the area’s recent population growth. Between July 2015 and July 2016, the metro area gained 5,847 residents, for a total of 1,283,430, a growth rate of .46 percent, according to the latest census data.

Jefferson County, which shares borders with the city of Louisville, grew at a slightly slower clip in that time; it went from 763,509 residents to 765,352, a .24 percent increase. (The metro area spans multiple counties, so it has a larger population than Jefferson County has.)

While some of the growth can be attributed to birth rates and immigration, the big chunk of new residents are movers from within Kentucky and across the U.S.

So where are all those people coming from?

Another census study, conducted over five years from 2011-2015, gives us a pretty good answer.

Jefferson County attracted 30,053 domestic movers from 2011 to 2015. The majority, 54 percent, came from out of state, while the other 46 percent came from elsewhere within Kentucky. In fact, most people moving to Louisville over the last five years have come from a triangle-shaped region that includes Nashville, Chicago and Detroit.

Below are rankings for the top five counties of origin for movers to Jefferson County:

Movers outside of Kentucky:

1. Clark County, IN (north of Louisville)
2. Cook County, IL (Chicago)
3. Marion County, IN (Indianapolis)
4. Davidson County, TN (Nashville)
5. Wayne County, MI (Detroit)

Movers from Kentucky:

1. Bullitt County
2. Oldham County
3. Fayette County
4. Hardin County
5. Warren County

Above are the top places inside Kentucky that people moved to Jefferson County from over the five-year period 2011-2015. Numbers represent the number of movers from that place during the period.

Sources:

Louisville International Airport

Fortune 500

U.S. Census Bureau