Grayson, Kentucky.
Typical home $172,435 (-3.2% in a year). Huntington-Ashland, WV-KY-OH metro.
to buy the typical home at today's mortgage rate — +$517 (+133%) since Jan 2020.
- 1 year
- Down $5,637 -3%
- $178,072$172,435 since Sep 2025
- 5 years
- Up $39,427 +30%
- $133,008$172,435 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.
- Grayson$905
- Kentucky$1,212
- United States$1,922
At the last five years' pace, a typical home here doubles in price every 13 years.
Typical home values in Grayson, KY fell 3.2% over the past year — slower than the nation's +1.2%.
Living in Grayson, Carter County, Kentucky
Grayson is a city of 3,834 people in Carter County. Half its households earn more than $27,542 a year and half less, against $51,235 across Carter County; 38% of its people live below the poverty line. 39% of its homes are lived in by their owners and 61% are rented. Unemployment in Carter County was 6.5% in August 2026, and the county had 1.4% fewer jobs in 2025 than the year before. The most residents work in schools and health care, then restaurants and hotels.
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 It can be wrong or out of date.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. Grayson is a small city and the seat of Carter County, in the hills of eastern Kentucky. It is a young town for its size, with residents younger than in most places, and incomes well below the county's. Far more people here rent their homes than across most of the country, and relatively few adults hold a four-year degree. Winters are cold, with freezing nights and some snow each year, while summers are warm and rain is steady through the seasons.
Work. Many residents work in schools, hospitals and social care, followed by restaurants, hotels and entertainment, shops and the building trades. Among the larger workplaces in Grayson are Smithfield Packaging, which makes preserved hams, and Kentucky Christian University. Very few people work from home, and unemployment in Carter County is a little lower than it was a year ago, though the county has fewer jobs than the year before.
Things to do. Grayson Lake State Park and the Bat Cave and Cascade Caverns State Nature Preserves are both a short drive away, offering lake and cave scenery close to town. A longer drive brings you to Carter Caves State Resort Park, a protected area known for its caves and hills. For an indoor outing, the Huntington Museum of Art is a longer drive away.
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- 1,493households
- 19%of adults have a degree
- 38%below the poverty line
- 3%work from home
What residents work in
Employed residents by industry, from the Census survey. Carter County had 5,573 jobs in 2025, 1.4% fewer than the year before (Bureau of Labor Statistics).
Weather through the year
Coldest in January, with highs near 43° and lows near 22°; warmest in July, with highs near 87° and lows near 63°. About 18 inches of snow and 46 inches of rain and melted snow a year.
Average daily high and low, 1991–2020, at the Grayson East weather station, 2 miles away (NOAA).
Largest workplaces in Grayson
- Smithfield PackagingHams, preserved, made from purchased carcasses488
- Kentucky Christian UniversityUniversity or college150
- Fortrex - 0222 Smithfield Packaged Meats Corp. - GraysonJanitorial services32
- GraysonMail and parcel delivery27
- Pioneer College Caterers, Inc. - Unit 023/Kentucky Christian UniveristyCafeteria food services contractors23
Staff on average in 2025, as each workplace reported it to OSHA with its injury records: 4 workplaces with 20 or more staff, 570 people in all. Colleges come from IPEDS (NCES, 2023–24). 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
- Heat wavesRelatively high
- Inland floodingRelatively high
- Winter weatherRelatively high
- Ice stormsRelatively moderate
- Strong windrelatively high in parts of GraysonRelatively moderate
- LightningRelatively moderate
FEMA’s National Risk Index (December 2025) rates the risk each natural hazard poses to the people, buildings and farms in Grayson’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 Carter County and the Huntington-Ashland, WV-KY-OH metro.
Grayson home values
Zillow measures a city over its municipal boundary. Against the state and national figures, mid-tier homes, smoothed and seasonally adjusted.
- Grayson$172,435
- Kentucky$230,909
- United States$366,157
Sellers are cutting prices on about 1 in 4 Grayson 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.
- Grayson24.05%
- United States26.90%
Homes for sale
Active for-sale inventory. More supply hands power to buyers.
- Grayson35
New listings per month
Sellers arriving at the market.
- Grayson8
Zip codes with a Grayson address
A different geography, not a breakdown. The figure above covers the municipality; these zips cover everywhere the Post Office calls Grayson — often including townships beyond the city limits. Both come straight from Zillow, and they are not expected to average out.