Data / Rankings / Establishment exit rate / Counties in Kentucky

Counties in Kentucky by establishment exit rate

Meade County had the highest establishment exit rate of 118 counties in 2017, at 24.809%. Hancock County had the lowest, at 2.885%. The median was 8.296% and the figure for Kentucky was 8.603%. Source: the U.S. Census Bureau.

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Highest24.809Meade County
Lowest2.885Hancock County
Median8.296118 counties
Kentucky8.603History

Map of counties, 2017

Adair County: 9.818 %Allen County: 8.734 %Anderson County: 5.304 %Ballard County: 5.907 %Barren County: 6.897 %Bath County: 7.087 %Bell County: 9.406 %Boone County: 7.271 %Bourbon County: 9.409 %Boyd County: 9.959 %Boyle County: 4.699 %Bracken County: 8.383 %Breathitt County: 8 %Breckinridge County: 15.327 %Bullitt County: 7.798 %Butler County: 7.647 %Caldwell County: 9.765 %Calloway County: 8.184 %Campbell County: 7.928 %Carlisle County: 7.229 %Carroll County: 6.103 %Carter County: 6.388 %Casey County: 4.831 %Christian County: 8.489 %Clark County: 6.833 %Clay County: 9.524 %Clinton County: 6.761 %Crittenden County: 7.166 %Cumberland County: 7.656 %Daviess County: 8.197 %Edmonson County: 8.257 %Estill County: 9.726 %Fayette County: 8.317 %Fleming County: 8.531 %Floyd County: 8.081 %Franklin County: 5.727 %Fulton County: 4.651 %Gallatin County: 10.526 %Garrard County: 6.948 %Grant County: 10.762 %Graves County: 6.651 %Grayson County: 15.525 %Green County: 9.701 %Greenup County: 11.221 %Hancock County: 2.885 %Hardin County: 17.096 %Harlan County: 9.162 %Harrison County: 6.576 %Hart County: 9.671 %Henderson County: 7.139 %Henry County: 9.926 %Hickman County: 9.023 %Hopkins County: 9.3 %Jackson County: 6.818 %Jefferson County: 8.652 %Jessamine County: 6.527 %Johnson County: 9.615 %Kenton County: 8.297 %Knott County: 13.505 %Knox County: 5.882 %Larue County: 19.56 %Laurel County: 5.755 %Lawrence County: 4.902 %Lee County: 6.486 %Leslie County: 11.06 %Letcher County: 10.508 %Lewis County: 11.57 %Lincoln County: 7.204 %Livingston County: 7.971 %Logan County: 7.531 %Lyon County: 8.387 %McCracken County: 8.451 %McCreary County: 6.431 %McLean County: 7.273 %Madison County: 8.545 %Magoffin County: 9.79 %Marion County: 18.182 %Marshall County: 6.529 %Martin County: 13.139 %Mason County: 8.479 %Meade County: 24.809 %Mercer County: 8.491 %Metcalfe County: 10.619 %Monroe County: 4.651 %Montgomery County: 7.802 %Morgan County: 9.032 %Muhlenberg County: 9.337 %Nelson County: 13.076 %Nicholas County: 5.97 %Ohio County: 7.832 %Oldham County: 10.598 %Owen County: 10.526 %Owsley County: 13.793 %Pendleton County: 5.902 %Perry County: 9.244 %Pike County: 9.605 %Powell County: 9.003 %Pulaski County: 5.017 %Robertson County: 14.286 %Rockcastle County: 13.079 %Rowan County: 7.246 %Russell County: 7.154 %Scott County: 8.696 %Shelby County: 7.935 %Simpson County: 5.141 %Spencer County: 9.651 %Taylor County: 8.294 %Todd County: 4.255 %Trigg County: 9.955 %Trimble County: 7.634 %Union County: 6.369 %Warren County: 7.29 %Washington County: 17.429 %Wayne County: 5.416 %Webster County: 7.634 %Whitley County: 10.256 %Wolfe County: 11.111 %Woodford County: 6.574 %
  • Under 6.4
  • 6.4 to 7.3
  • 7.3 to 8.3
  • 8.3 to 9.3
  • 9.3 to 11
  • 11 and over
  • No data
%, 2017. Hatched areas have no value for this period. Source: U.S. Census Bureau, Business Dynamics Statistics: establishment exit rate, all covered industries, nation and states from 1978, counties from 2010. Boundaries: U.S. Census Bureau cartographic boundary files.

Top 40 counties, 2017

Meade County: 24.809 %Meade County24.809Larue County: 19.56 %Larue County19.56Marion County: 18.182 %Marion County18.182Washington County: 17.429 %Washington County17.429Hardin County: 17.096 %Hardin County17.096Grayson County: 15.525 %Grayson County15.525Breckinridge County: 15.327 %Breckinridge County15.327Robertson County: 14.286 %Robertson County14.286Owsley County: 13.793 %Owsley County13.793Knott County: 13.505 %Knott County13.505Martin County: 13.139 %Martin County13.139Rockcastle County: 13.079 %Rockcastle County13.079Nelson County: 13.076 %Nelson County13.076Lewis County: 11.57 %Lewis County11.57Greenup County: 11.221 %Greenup County11.221Wolfe County: 11.111 %Wolfe County11.111Leslie County: 11.06 %Leslie County11.06Grant County: 10.762 %Grant County10.762Metcalfe County: 10.619 %Metcalfe County10.619Oldham County: 10.598 %Oldham County10.598Gallatin County: 10.526 %Gallatin County10.526Owen County: 10.526 %Owen County10.526Letcher County: 10.508 %Letcher County10.508Whitley County: 10.256 %Whitley County10.256Boyd County: 9.959 %Boyd County9.959Trigg County: 9.955 %Trigg County9.955Henry County: 9.926 %Henry County9.926Adair County: 9.818 %Adair County9.818Magoffin County: 9.79 %Magoffin County9.79Caldwell County: 9.765 %Caldwell County9.765Estill County: 9.726 %Estill County9.726Green County: 9.701 %Green County9.701Hart County: 9.671 %Hart County9.671Spencer County: 9.651 %Spencer County9.651Johnson County: 9.615 %Johnson County9.615Pike County: 9.605 %Pike County9.605Clay County: 9.524 %Clay County9.524Bourbon County: 9.409 %Bourbon County9.409Bell County: 9.406 %Bell County9.406Muhlenberg County: 9.337 %Muhlenberg County9.337Meade County: 24.809 %Meade County24.809Larue County: 19.56 %Larue County19.56Marion County: 18.182 %Marion County18.182Washington County: 17.429 %Washington County17.429Hardin County: 17.096 %Hardin County17.096Grayson County: 15.525 %Grayson County15.525Breckinridge County: 15.327 %Breckinridge County15.327Robertson County: 14.286 %Robertson County14.286Owsley County: 13.793 %Owsley County13.793Knott County: 13.505 %Knott County13.505Martin County: 13.139 %Martin County13.139Rockcastle County: 13.079 %Rockcastle County13.079Nelson County: 13.076 %Nelson County13.076Lewis County: 11.57 %Lewis County11.57Greenup County: 11.221 %Greenup County11.221Wolfe County: 11.111 %Wolfe County11.111Leslie County: 11.06 %Leslie County11.06Grant County: 10.762 %Grant County10.762Metcalfe County: 10.619 %Metcalfe County10.619Oldham County: 10.598 %Oldham County10.598Gallatin County: 10.526 %Gallatin County10.526Owen County: 10.526 %Owen County10.526Letcher County: 10.508 %Letcher County10.508Whitley County: 10.256 %Whitley County10.256Boyd County: 9.959 %Boyd County9.959Trigg County: 9.955 %Trigg County9.955Henry County: 9.926 %Henry County9.926Adair County: 9.818 %Adair County9.818Magoffin County: 9.79 %Magoffin County9.79Caldwell County: 9.765 %Caldwell County9.765Estill County: 9.726 %Estill County9.726Green County: 9.701 %Green County9.701Hart County: 9.671 %Hart County9.671Spencer County: 9.651 %Spencer County9.651Johnson County: 9.615 %Johnson County9.615Pike County: 9.605 %Pike County9.605Clay County: 9.524 %Clay County9.524Bourbon County: 9.409 %Bourbon County9.409Bell County: 9.406 %Bell County9.406Muhlenberg County: 9.337 %Muhlenberg County9.337
%. Source: U.S. Census Bureau, Business Dynamics Statistics: establishment exit rate, all covered industries, nation and states from 1978, counties from 2010. Retrieved 2026-10-12.

Full ranking

RankCounties2017 (%)Change on 2016
1Meade County24.809+19.93 pts
2Larue County19.56+10.62 pts
3Marion County18.182+12.21 pts
4Washington County17.429+10.84 pts
5Hardin County17.096+9.64 pts
6Grayson County15.525+8.99 pts
7Breckinridge County15.327+9.29 pts
8Robertson County14.286n/a
9Owsley County13.793+4.38 pts
10Knott County13.505+0.13 pts
11Martin County13.139+3.24 pts
12Rockcastle County13.079+5.69 pts
13Nelson County13.076+6.08 pts
14Lewis County11.57+7.5 pts
15Greenup County11.221+4.55 pts
16Wolfe County11.111+0.17 pts
17Leslie County11.06+0.92 pts
18Grant County10.762+0.57 pts
19Metcalfe County10.619+6.13 pts
20Oldham County10.598+0.51 pts
21Gallatin County10.526+0.16 pts
21Owen County10.526+7.86 pts
23Letcher County10.508+0.31 pts
24Whitley County10.256+1.38 pts
25Boyd County9.959+4.11 pts
26Trigg County9.955+1.44 pts
27Henry County9.926-0.88 pts
28Adair County9.818-2.88 pts
29Magoffin County9.79-4.07 pts
30Caldwell County9.765+4.3 pts
31Estill County9.726+0.66 pts
32Green County9.701-1.89 pts
33Hart County9.671-0.41 pts
34Spencer County9.651-0.29 pts
35Johnson County9.615-0.97 pts
36Pike County9.605-0.19 pts
37Clay County9.524-1.03 pts
38Bourbon County9.409+2.85 pts
39Bell County9.406+1.07 pts
40Muhlenberg County9.337+2.78 pts
41Hopkins County9.3+1.91 pts
42Perry County9.244+0.55 pts
43Harlan County9.162-1.03 pts
44Morgan County9.032+3.11 pts
45Hickman County9.023+0.07 pts
46Powell County9.003+0.28 pts
47Allen County8.734+4.34 pts
48Scott County8.696+0.89 pts
49Jefferson County8.652+1.22 pts
50Madison County8.545+2.39 pts
51Fleming County8.531-0.49 pts
52Mercer County8.491-1.37 pts
53Christian County8.489+1.94 pts
54Mason County8.479+3.29 pts
55McCracken County8.451+1.6 pts
56Lyon County8.387+1.79 pts
57Bracken County8.383+1.07 pts
58Fayette County8.317+0.94 pts
59Kenton County8.297+0.42 pts
60Taylor County8.294-2.13 pts
61Edmonson County8.257+0.88 pts
62Daviess County8.197+1.16 pts
63Calloway County8.184+1.65 pts
64Floyd County8.081-0.27 pts
65Breathitt County8+0.81 pts
66Livingston County7.971+2.04 pts
67Shelby County7.935+3.49 pts
68Campbell County7.928+1.16 pts
69Ohio County7.832+1.88 pts
70Montgomery County7.802-0.37 pts
71Bullitt County7.798+2.16 pts
72Cumberland County7.656-0.04 pts
73Butler County7.647-2.15 pts
74Trimble County7.634-7.97 pts
74Webster County7.634+0.92 pts
76Logan County7.531+0.96 pts
77Warren County7.29-0.51 pts
78McLean County7.273+0.61 pts
79Boone County7.271-0.45 pts
80Rowan County7.246+0.99 pts
81Carlisle County7.229+2.35 pts
82Lincoln County7.204-1.06 pts
83Crittenden County7.166-0.86 pts
84Russell County7.154-5.66 pts
85Henderson County7.139+0.67 pts
86Bath County7.087-0.85 pts
87Garrard County6.948-3.08 pts
88Barren County6.897-0.31 pts
89Clark County6.833+1.36 pts
90Jackson County6.818-4.68 pts
91Clinton County6.761-4.41 pts
92Graves County6.651-1.84 pts
93Harrison County6.576+0.49 pts
94Woodford County6.574-4.36 pts
95Marshall County6.529+0.2 pts
96Jessamine County6.527-2.22 pts
97Lee County6.486-4.04 pts
98McCreary County6.431-13.88 pts
99Carter County6.388+1.35 pts
100Union County6.369-3.19 pts
101Carroll County6.103-2.33 pts
102Nicholas County5.97-7.07 pts
103Ballard County5.907-1.69 pts
104Pendleton County5.902-4.45 pts
105Knox County5.882-0.26 pts
106Laurel County5.755-0.83 pts
107Franklin County5.727-1.12 pts
108Wayne County5.416-3.8 pts
109Anderson County5.304+1.14 pts
110Simpson County5.141-0.22 pts
111Pulaski County5.017-9.05 pts
112Lawrence County4.902-6.95 pts
113Casey County4.831-10.52 pts
114Boyle County4.699-1.74 pts
115Fulton County4.651-3.22 pts
115Monroe County4.651-4.2 pts
117Todd County4.255-2.77 pts
118Hancock County2.885-0.07 pts

Other periods

About this ranking

Establishments that closed during the year (employees a year earlier and none in March of the year), as a percentage of the average number of establishments in the two years. United States: Census Bureau Business Dynamics Statistics.

Counts closed locations, including branches of firms that keep operating elsewhere, so it is not a firm failure rate. Not comparable with enterprise_death_rate, which counts enterprise deaths in Europe. The year is the twelve months to March: 2023 compares March 2022 with March 2023.

Every value in the ranking comes from the same publisher and the same period, so the counties are compared on one definition. 2 counties with data in other periods have no value for 2017 and are left out rather than filled from another source. Equal values share a rank.

How to cite

U.S. Census Bureau. Business Dynamics Statistics: establishment exit rate, all covered industries, nation and states from 1978, counties from 2010. https://www2.census.gov/programs-surveys/bds/tables/time-series/2023/bds2023_st_cty.csv. Retrieved 2026-10-12.

Citation styles

The publisher is the author. Invokely is named only as the place the figures were read, where a style asks for it.

APA 7

U.S. Census Bureau. (2025). Business Dynamics Statistics: establishment exit rate, all covered industries, nation and states from 1978, counties from 2010 (Counties in Kentucky by establishment exit rate, 2017) [Data set]. Retrieved October 12, 2026, from https://www2.census.gov/programs-surveys/bds/tables/time-series/2023/bds2023_st_cty.csv

MLA 9

Business Dynamics Statistics: establishment exit rate, all covered industries, nation and states from 1978, counties from 2010, Counties in Kentucky by establishment exit rate, 2017. U.S. Census Bureau, 25 Sept. 2025, https://www2.census.gov/programs-surveys/bds/tables/time-series/2023/bds2023_st_cty.csv. Invokely, https://invokely.ai/rankings/establishment-exit-rate/kentucky-counties?period=2017. Accessed 12 Oct. 2026.

Chicago (author-date)

U.S. Census Bureau. 2025. Business Dynamics Statistics: establishment exit rate, all covered industries, nation and states from 1978, counties from 2010. Counties in Kentucky by establishment exit rate, 2017. Dataset. Accessed October 12, 2026. https://www2.census.gov/programs-surveys/bds/tables/time-series/2023/bds2023_st_cty.csv. Also distributed by Invokely, https://invokely.ai/rankings/establishment-exit-rate/kentucky-counties?period=2017.

Harvard

U.S. Census Bureau (2025) Business Dynamics Statistics: establishment exit rate, all covered industries, nation and states from 1978, counties from 2010, Counties in Kentucky by establishment exit rate, 2017 [Dataset]. Available at: https://www2.census.gov/programs-surveys/bds/tables/time-series/2023/bds2023_st_cty.csv, via Invokely: https://invokely.ai/rankings/establishment-exit-rate/kentucky-counties?period=2017 (Accessed: 12 October 2026).

BibTeX
@misc{census_counties_in_kentucky_by_2017,
  author = {{U.S. Census Bureau}},
  title = {{Business Dynamics Statistics: establishment exit rate, all covered industries, nation and states from 1978, counties from 2010: Counties in Kentucky by establishment exit rate, 2017}},
  year = {2025},
  howpublished = {Data set},
  url = {https://www2.census.gov/programs-surveys/bds/tables/time-series/2023/bds2023_st_cty.csv},
  urldate = {2026-10-12},
  note = {Accessed via Invokely, https://invokely.ai/rankings/establishment-exit-rate/kentucky-counties?period=2017. Publisher attribution: U.S. Census Bureau. Business Dynamics Statistics: establishment exit rate, all covered industries, nation and states from 1978, counties from 2010. https://www2.census.gov/programs-surveys/bds/tables/time-series/2023/bds2023\_st\_cty.csv. Retrieved 2026-10-12.},
}
RIS
TY  - DATA
AU  - U.S. Census Bureau
TI  - Business Dynamics Statistics: establishment exit rate, all covered industries, nation and states from 1978, counties from 2010: Counties in Kentucky by establishment exit rate, 2017
PY  - 2025
DA  - 2025/09/25
PB  - U.S. Census Bureau
DB  - Invokely
UR  - https://www2.census.gov/programs-surveys/bds/tables/time-series/2023/bds2023_st_cty.csv
L2  - https://invokely.ai/rankings/establishment-exit-rate/kentucky-counties?period=2017
Y2  - 2026/10/12
N1  - Accessed via Invokely, https://invokely.ai/rankings/establishment-exit-rate/kentucky-counties?period=2017.
N1  - Publisher attribution: U.S. Census Bureau. Business Dynamics Statistics: establishment exit rate, all covered industries, nation and states from 1978, counties from 2010. https://www2.census.gov/programs-surveys/bds/tables/time-series/2023/bds2023_st_cty.csv. Retrieved 2026-10-12.
ER  -
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Questions

Which county has the highest establishment exit rate?

Meade County, with 24.809% in 2017, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.

Which county has the lowest establishment exit rate?

Hancock County, with 2.885% in 2017.

Where does this ranking come from?

Every value comes from one source and one period, so the places are comparable: U.S. Census Bureau, Business Dynamics Statistics: establishment exit rate, all covered industries, nation and states from 1978, counties from 2010. Retrieved 2026-10-12. 2 counties have no value for 2017 and are not ranked.

Establishment exit rate: other rankings

Counties in Kentucky: more rankings