Lancaster, Kentucky.
Typical home $258,906 (+2.2% in a year).
to buy the typical home at today's mortgage rate — +$799 (+142%) since Jan 2020.
- 1 year
- Up $5,664 +2%
- $253,242$258,906 since Sep 2025
- 5 years
- Up $64,330 +33%
- $194,576$258,906 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.
- Lancaster$1,359
- Kentucky$1,212
- United States$1,922
At the last five years' pace, a typical home here doubles in price every 12 years.
Typical home values in Lancaster, KY rose 2.2% over the past year — faster than the nation's +1.2%.
Living in Lancaster, Garrard County, Kentucky
Lancaster is a city of 3,899 people in Garrard County. Half its households earn more than $43,898 a year and half less, against $63,087 across Garrard County; 29% of its people live below the poverty line. 55% of its homes are lived in by their owners and 45% are rented. Unemployment in Garrard County was 3.8% in August 2026, and the county had 2.6% fewer 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 It can be wrong or out of date.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. Lancaster is a small Kentucky city and the seat of Garrard County. Household incomes here run well below the county's, and a larger share of residents live below the poverty line than most people would expect in a town this size. More homes are lived in by their owners than rented, and relatively few adults hold a four-year degree. Winters are cold, with January highs staying well above the coldest nights but nights dropping below freezing, while summers are warm. Rain and melted snow add up to a fairly wet year.
Work. Many residents work in schools, hospitals and social care, with manufacturing and transport, warehouses and utilities also providing steady work. Among the largest workplaces in Lancaster are Garrard County Schools and Maplewood Health and Rehabilitation. The typical commute is a bit longer than a short hop across town, and a small share of residents work from home. Across Garrard County, unemployment has eased a little over the past year, though the county has fewer jobs than it did the year before.
Things to do. The Old Garrard County Jail, a museum, sits in or beside town. Round Hill, an archaeological site, is a short drive away. For a longer outing, Camp Nelson National Monument is a protected area with a long history, and Herrington Lake is a reservoir that suits a day by the water.
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- 1,494households
- 13%of adults have a degree
- 29%below the poverty line
- 26 mintypical commute
- 9%work from home
What residents work in
Employed residents by industry, from the Census survey. Garrard County had 2,688 jobs in 2025, 2.6% fewer than the year before (Bureau of Labor Statistics).
Weather through the year
Coldest in January, with highs near 43° and lows near 23°; warmest in July, with highs near 86° and lows near 65°. About 48 inches of rain and melted snow a year.
Average daily high and low, 1991–2020, at the Danville weather station, 11 miles away (NOAA).
Largest workplaces in Lancaster
- Garrard County SchoolsSchool district409FTE
- Maplewood Health and RehabilitationSkilled nursing facilities115
- LancasterMail and parcel delivery28
Staff on average in 2025, as each workplace reported it to OSHA with its injury records: 2 workplaces with 20 or more staff, 143 people in all. School districts come 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
- Strong windVery high
- Winter weatherRelatively high
- LightningRelatively high
- TornadoesRelatively high
- Cold wavesRelatively high
- Ice stormsRelatively moderate
FEMA’s National Risk Index (December 2025) rates the risk each natural hazard poses to the people, buildings and farms in Lancaster’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 Garrard County.
Lancaster home values
Zillow measures a city over its municipal boundary. Against the state and national figures, mid-tier homes, smoothed and seasonally adjusted.
- Lancaster$258,906
- Kentucky$230,909
- United States$366,157
Sellers are cutting prices on about 1 in 3 Lancaster listings, and the typical home goes pending in 37 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.
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.
- Lancaster31.44%
- United States26.90%
Days to pending
How long the typical listing takes to go under contract.
Not enough data to draw this yet.
Homes for sale
Active for-sale inventory. More supply hands power to buyers.
- Lancaster78
New listings per month
Sellers arriving at the market.
- Lancaster20
Zip codes with a Lancaster address
A different geography, not a breakdown. The figure above covers the municipality; these zips cover everywhere the Post Office calls Lancaster — often including townships beyond the city limits. Both come straight from Zillow, and they are not expected to average out.