Blackey, Kentucky.
Typical home $51,701 (-28.5% in a year).
to buy the typical home at today's mortgage rate — $64 (-19%) since Jan 2020.
- 1 year
- Down $20,647 -29%
- $72,348$51,701 since Sep 2025
- 5 years
- Down $54,826 -51%
- $106,527$51,701 since Sep 2021
Monthly payment to buy the typical home
Home value × that month's 30-year mortgage rate, 20% down, principal and interest. This is the line households feel: prices and rates compound each other.
- Blackey$271
- Kentucky$1,212
- United States$1,922
At the last five years' pace, prices here aren't rising.
Typical home values in Blackey, KY fell 28.5% over the past year — slower than the nation's +1.2%.
Living in Blackey, Letcher County, Kentucky
Blackey, in Letcher County, had 109 people in the 2020 census. Half its households earn more than $11,629 a year and half less, against $41,793 across Letcher County. Unemployment in Letcher County was 4.7% in August 2026, and the county had 3.0% fewer jobs in 2025 than the year before. The most people in Letcher County work in schools and health care, then shops.
Written by AI Claude Haiku 5.5 wrote this on 22 October 2026 from the figures here, a list of nearby places and what it knows. It can be wrong or out of date.
What it’s like
The place. Blackey is a small community in the hills of Letcher County, in eastern Kentucky. Its population is smaller than most towns', and its residents are older than most of the country's. Household incomes here are well below those across the county, so many families get by on modest means. Homes cost less than in most of the country, and the town is one where neighbors tend to know one another.
Work. Most working residents are employed in schools, hospitals and social care, in shops, or in government offices. Others work in transport, in warehouses, or in the utilities that keep the region running. Work close to home is limited, so many people build their days around these few kinds of jobs.
Things to do. A short drive takes you to Lilley Cornett Woods, a park, and to Carr Creek Lake, a reservoir, both good places for a quiet afternoon outdoors. Kingdom Come State Park, a protected area, is also a short drive away. Winters here are colder than in most of the country, with some snow, while summers are warm and the rain falls steadily through the year.
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What people in Letcher County work in
Employed residents by industry, from the Census survey. Letcher County had 4,130 jobs in 2025, 3.0% fewer than the year before (Bureau of Labor Statistics).
Weather through the year
Coldest in January, with highs near 45° and lows near 26°; warmest in July, with highs near 86° and lows near 64°. About 17 inches of snow and 50 inches of rain and melted snow a year.
Average daily high and low, 1991–2020, at the Skyline Southeast weather station, 4 miles away (NOAA).
Largest workplaces in Letcher County
- Letcher County SchoolsSchool district454FTE
- Whitesburg ARHGeneral hospital290FTE
- Mountain Comprehensive HealthCommunity health centers and clinics, outpatient248
- DJLM OperationsHomes for the elderly with nursing care129
- WalmartDiscount department stores129
- K VA T Food StoresSupermarket98
- Jenkins Independent SchoolsSchool district74FTE
- Childers Oil CompanyGasoline stations with convenience stores66
Staff on average in 2025, as each workplace reported it to OSHA with its injury records: 16 workplaces with 20 or more staff, 1,349 people in all across the county; Blackey has none of its own. School districts come from the Common Core of Data (NCES, 2023–24) and hospitals from their Medicare cost reports (CMS, 2023); FTE marks full-time equivalent staff. Not listed: many offices and banks, which need not report to OSHA; military bases, whose staff OPM withholds; and, in about half the states, city and county governments.
Natural hazards
- Inland floodingVery high
- Winter weatherRelatively high
- LandslidesRelatively moderate
- WildfireRelatively moderate
- Strong windRelatively moderate
- HailRelatively moderate
FEMA’s National Risk Index (December 2025) rates the risk each natural hazard poses to the people, buildings and farms in Blackey’s census tracts, against the rest of the country; all of them together, relatively high. It is meant for planning, not a substitute for a local risk assessment or a flood map: FEMA’s index.
From the U.S. Census Bureau’s 2020 census and its American Community Survey (2020–2024 five-year estimates), and the Bureau of Labor Statistics. A survey, so each figure has a margin of error, and figures it is not sure of are left out. More on Letcher County.
Blackey home values
Zillow measures a city over its municipal boundary. Against the state and national figures, mid-tier homes, smoothed and seasonally adjusted.
- Blackey$51,701
- Kentucky$230,909
- United States$366,157
When this market ran hot
Each cell is that month's year-on-year home-value growth. Read left to right, top row is the latest year — the 2021–22 band is the boom.
Zip codes with a Blackey address
A different geography, not a breakdown. The figure above covers the municipality; these zips cover everywhere the Post Office calls Blackey — often including townships beyond the city limits. Both come straight from Zillow, and they are not expected to average out.