States · Kentucky · Kenton County

Covington, Kentucky.

Typical home $217,214 (-0.2% in a year), asking rent $1,513 (+5.8%). Cincinnati, OH-KY-IN metro.

What it costs per month · Covington $1,140/mo

to buy the typical home at today's mortgage rate — +$643 (+129%) since Jan 2020.

What the home itself did
1 year
Down $384 -0%
$217,599$217,214 since Sep 2025
5 years
Up $44,992 +26%
$172,222$217,214 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.

$500 $1,000 $1,500 $2,000 2002 2006 2010 2014 2018 2022 2026 Covington $1,140 Kentucky $1,212 United States $1,922
$500 $1,000 $1,500 $2,000 2002 2010 2018 2026
  • Covington$1,140
  • Kentucky$1,212
  • United States$1,922

At the last five years' pace, a typical home here doubles in price every 15 years.

Typical home values in Covington, KY fell 0.2% over the past year — slower than the nation's +1.2%.

Asking rents in Covington, KY rose 5.8% over the past year — faster than the nation's +2.7%.

Owning the typical home in Covington runs $37/mo more than renting one. The gap peaked at $273 in Jul 2020.

That is $1,550 a month against $1,513 rent: a $1,140 mortgage payment, plus $177 property tax and $233 insurance & upkeep.

Owning vs renting — Covington

The owning line is the typical home's monthly payment at that month's rate, plus property tax and insurance & upkeep; the renting line is the typical asking rent; the grey line is the mortgage payment on its own. Same homes, same months, both ways of paying for a roof.

$500 $1,000 $1,500 2018 2019 2020 2021 2022 2023 2024 2025 2026 Owning all in $1,550 Renting $1,513 Mortgage only $1,140
$500 $1,000 $1,500 2018 2022 2026
  • Owning all in$1,550
  • Renting$1,513
  • Mortgage only$1,140

Property tax · $177/mo 0.98% of value a year — the ACS 2020-2024 median bill over the median home value for Kenton County, KY

Insurance & upkeep · $233/mo insurance, maintenance and repairs together, from the BLS Consumer Expenditure Survey — the national figure for mortgaged homeowners, scaled to this market's home value. BLS publishes the three bundled and they cannot be split.

Both are priced off the same month's home value, so they rise with the market. Neither is a quote — a specific home's bill depends on its assessment, its age and its insurer.

Living in Covington, Kenton County, Kentucky

Covington is a city of 40,961 people in Kenton County. Half its households earn more than $61,166 a year and half less, against $80,548 across Kenton County; 21% of its people live below the poverty line. 52% of its homes are lived in by their owners and 48% are rented. Unemployment in Covington was 3.7% in August 2026, and Kenton County had 1.0% more jobs in 2025 than the year before. The most residents work in schools and health care, then shops.

People 40,961 in the 2020 census; median age 37.6
Household income $61,166 the median, give or take $4,263 · Kenton County: $80,548
Unemployment 3.7% Covington, August 2026; 3.9% a year before
Homes 52% lived in by their owners; 48% rented

Written by AI Claude Sonnet 5.5 wrote this on 23 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. Covington is a city on the Kentucky side of the Ohio River, across from Cincinnati. Incomes here run well below the county's, and more people live below the poverty line than most would expect to find across Kenton County as a whole. About as many homes are rented as are lived in by their owners, and a typical home costs less than in many parts of the region. Winters are cold, summers are warm, and rain and melted snow fall through the year.

Work. Many residents work in schools, hospitals and social care, with shops, manufacturing and professional and business services also employing a good number. Among the largest workplaces in Covington are the Internal Revenue Service, Taylor Farms Tennessee and Covington Independent Schools. Joblessness is a little lower than a year ago, and commutes are fairly short, with some people working from home.

Things to do. The Newport Aquarium is a short drive away, as is the Cincinnati Zoo and Botanical Garden. For sport, Great American Ball Park is also a short drive off, and the Licking River is close by for a walk along the water.

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  • 18,265households
  • 32%of adults have a degree
  • 21%below the poverty line
  • 22 mintypical commute
  • 14%work from home

What residents work in

  • Schools, hospitals and social care19%
  • Shops (retail)13%
  • Manufacturing12%
  • Professional and business services12%
  • Restaurants, hotels and entertainment10%
  • Transport, warehouses and utilities9%

Employed residents by industry, from the Census survey. Kenton County had 75,385 jobs in 2025, 1.0% more than the year before (Bureau of Labor Statistics).

Weather through the year

Average daily high and low for each month: coldest in January, 41° and 24°; warmest in July, 87° and 65° 20° 40° 60° 80° J 41° 24° F M A M J J 87° 65° A S O N D
Average daily high and low for each month: coldest in January, 41° and 24°; warmest in July, 87° and 65° 20° 40° 60° 80° J 41° 24° F M A M J J 87° 65° A S O N D

Coldest in January, with highs near 41° and lows near 24°; warmest in July, with highs near 87° and lows near 65°. About 43 inches of rain and melted snow a year.

Average daily high and low, 1991–2020, at the Cincinnati Lunken Airport weather station, 7 miles away (NOAA).

Largest workplaces in Covington

  1. Internal Revenue ServiceFederal government · Department of the Treasury1,677
  2. Taylor Farms TennesseePrepared meals, perishable, packaged for individual resale789
  3. Covington Independent SchoolsSchool district629FTE
  4. Atkins and PearceThread mills259
  5. Kenton HousingNursing homes193
  6. Kroger Cincinnati-Dayton KMASupermarkets and other grocery except convenience stores141
  7. Chfs DcbsState government140
  8. M&M Service Station Equipment SpecialistPetroleum and petroleum products merchant wholesalers140

Staff on average in 2025, as each workplace reported it to OSHA with its injury records: 32 workplaces with 20 or more staff, 3,111 people in all. Federal offices come from OPM's federal workforce data (2026) and school districts from the Common Core of Data (NCES, 2023–24); 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

  1. Strong windrelatively high in parts of CovingtonRelatively moderate
  2. Cold wavesRelatively moderate
  3. Tornadoesrelatively high in parts of CovingtonRelatively moderate
  4. LightningRelatively moderate
  5. Inland floodingRelatively moderate

FEMA’s National Risk Index (December 2025) rates the risk each natural hazard poses to the people, buildings and farms in Covington’s census tracts, against the rest of the country; all of them together, relatively low. 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 Kenton County and the Cincinnati, OH-KY-IN metro.

Covington home values

Zillow measures a city over its municipal boundary. Against the state and national figures, mid-tier homes, smoothed and seasonally adjusted.

$100,000 $200,000 $300,000 2018 2020 2022 2024 2026 Covington $217,214 Kentucky $230,909 United States $366,157
$100,000 $200,000 $300,000 2018 2022 2026
  • Covington$217,214
  • Kentucky$230,909
  • United States$366,157
Property tax, 2026 roll $1,750/yr median bill inside Covington, effective 0.79% of estimated value — current assessment rolls, AssessorSearch Data Lab, quality-gated against the county's official figures

Levy by levy, and a check of one home’s own bill, the site covers Ohio’s property tax.

Sellers are cutting prices on about 1 in 3 Covington listings, and the typical home goes pending in 17 days — the market is roughly in balance.

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.

JFMAMJJASOND
2026
2025
2024
2023
2022
2021
2020
2019
2018
falling flat warming hot overheating runaway

Market heat, inside the city limits

Share of listings with a price cut

The early-warning dial: sellers cut when buyers stop reaching. Rising cuts cool a market months before prices notice.

10% 20% 30% 2018 2019 2020 2021 2022 2023 2024 2025 2026 Covington 36.24% United States 26.90%
10% 20% 30% 2018 2022 2026
  • Covington36.24%
  • United States26.90%

Days to pending

How long the typical listing takes to go under contract.

10 20 30 40 2018 2019 2020 2021 2022 2023 2024 2025 2026 Covington 17 United States 27
10 20 30 40 2018 2022 2026
  • Covington17
  • United States27

Homes for sale

Active for-sale inventory. More supply hands power to buyers.

125 150 175 200 225 2018 2019 2020 2021 2022 2023 2024 2025 2026 Covington 197
125 150 175 200 225 2018 2022 2026
  • Covington197

New listings per month

Sellers arriving at the market.

40 60 80 2018 2019 2020 2021 2022 2023 2024 2025 2026 Covington 63
40 60 80 2018 2022 2026
  • Covington63

Median sale price

What buyers actually paid — closed sales, not asking prices.

$100,000 $200,000 $300,000 2018 2019 2020 2021 2022 2023 2024 2025 2026 Covington $217,606 United States $371,407
$100,000 $200,000 $300,000 2018 2022 2026
  • Covington$217,606
  • United States$371,407

Sale-to-list ratio

Above 100%, homes sell over asking; below, buyers negotiate wins.

95.0% 97.5% 100.0% 102.5% 2018 2019 2020 2021 2022 2023 2024 2025 2026 Covington 98.13%
95.0% 97.5% 100.0% 102.5% 2018 2022 2026
  • Covington98.13%

Zip codes with a Covington address

A different geography, not a breakdown. The figure above covers the municipality; these zips cover everywhere the Post Office calls Covington — often including townships beyond the city limits. Both come straight from Zillow, and they are not expected to average out.

Zip codes in Covington