Elsmere, Kentucky.
Typical home $221,452 (-7.5% in a year), asking rent $1,628 . Cincinnati, OH-KY-IN metro.
to buy the typical home at today's mortgage rate — +$605 (+108%) since Jan 2020.
- 1 year
- Down $18,014 -8%
- $239,466$221,452 since Sep 2025
- 5 years
- Up $30,791 +16%
- $190,661$221,452 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.
- Elsmere$1,162
- Kentucky$1,212
- United States$1,922
At the last five years' pace, a typical home here doubles in price every 23 years.
Typical home values in Elsmere, KY fell 7.5% over the past year — slower than the nation's +1.2%.
Living in Elsmere, Kenton County, Kentucky
Elsmere is a city of 9,159 people in Kenton County. Half its households earn more than $60,503 a year and half less, against $80,548 across Kenton County; 16% of its people live below the poverty line. 75% of its homes are lived in by their owners and 25% are rented. Unemployment in Kenton County was 3.6% in August 2026, and the county had 1.0% more jobs in 2025 than the year before. The most residents work in schools and health care, then manufacturing.
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 It can be wrong or out of date.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. Elsmere is a small city in Kenton County, Kentucky, just south of Cincinnati across the Ohio River. Its residents are younger than in much of the country, and most homes are lived in by their owners. Household incomes run below the county's, and a four-year degree is less common among adults here than in many places. Winters are cold, with highs near freezing in January and a fair amount of snow, while July is warm and the year brings plenty of rain.
Work. Many residents work in schools, hospitals and social care, in manufacturing, in shops, and in restaurants, hotels and entertainment. Among the largest workplaces in Elsmere are GXO Logistics Supply Chain, a warehousing operation, Woodcrest Nursing and Rehabilitation, and OrthoCincy Orthopaedics & Sports Medicine. Commutes are fairly short, and some people work from home.
Things to do. Newport Aquarium and the Cincinnati Art Museum, an aquarium and a museum, are each a short drive away. The Licking River, also a short drive from town, is the nearest stretch of water. A longer drive leads to the Cincinnati Zoo and Botanical Garden.
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- 3,400households
- 24%of adults have a degree
- 16%below the poverty line
- 18 mintypical commute
- 10%work from home
What residents work in
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
Coldest in January, with highs near 40° and lows near 23°; warmest in July, with highs near 86° and lows near 66°. About 23 inches of snow and 45 inches of rain and melted snow a year.
Average daily high and low, 1991–2020, at the Cincinnati Northern Ky Airport weather station, 5 miles away (NOAA).
Largest workplaces in Elsmere
- GXO Logistics Supply ChainGeneral warehousing and storage186
- A & A Lawncare & LandscapingPlant and shrub maintenance in buildings145
- Woodcrest Nursing and RehabilitationHomes for the elderly with nursing care123
- OrthoCincy Orthopaedics & Sports MedicinePhysicians' offices95
- Highway Transport ChemicalTanker trucking, long-distance39
- AAA Cooper TransportationGeneral freight trucking, long-distance, less-than-truckload37
- Bryant Heating & CoolingAir-conditioning system installation28
Staff on average in 2025, as each workplace reported it to OSHA with its injury records: 7 workplaces with 20 or more staff, 653 people in all. 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
- Strong windRelatively high
- TornadoesRelatively high
- Cold wavesrelatively high in parts of ElsmereRelatively moderate
- Lightningrelatively high in parts of ElsmereRelatively moderate
- Winter weatherRelatively moderate
FEMA’s National Risk Index (December 2025) rates the risk each natural hazard poses to the people, buildings and farms in Elsmere’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.
Elsmere home values
Zillow measures a city over its municipal boundary. Against the state and national figures, mid-tier homes, smoothed and seasonally adjusted.
- Elsmere$221,452
- Kentucky$230,909
- United States$366,157
Sellers are cutting prices on about 1 in 5 Elsmere listings — 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.
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.
Not enough data to draw this yet.
Homes for sale
Active for-sale inventory. More supply hands power to buyers.
- Elsmere20
New listings per month
Sellers arriving at the market.
- Elsmere12
Zip codes with a Elsmere address
A different geography, not a breakdown. The figure above covers the municipality; these zips cover everywhere the Post Office calls Elsmere — often including townships beyond the city limits. Both come straight from Zillow, and they are not expected to average out.