{"id":3972,"date":"2023-06-14T06:45:51","date_gmt":"2023-06-14T06:45:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/townsvillages.com\/us\/?p=3972"},"modified":"2026-08-07T23:30:22","modified_gmt":"2026-08-07T23:30:22","slug":"fayette-county-kentucky","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/townsvillages.com\/us\/fayette-county-kentucky\/","title":{"rendered":"Fayette County, Kentucky"},"content":{"rendered":"

Fayette County is a county in Kentucky, United States, in the north-central Bluegrass Region,
\nbuilt around the city of Lexington. It had a population of 322,570 at the 2020 census, an
\nestimated 323,725 by 2024, and covers 284 square miles (735.6 km2) centred near 38\u00b002\u2032N 84\u00b028\u2032W.<\/p>\n

Lexington is the county seat, and since 1974 city and county government have run as one
\nconsolidated government — the Lexington-Fayette Urban County Government — so there
\nis no separate incorporated city inside the county line. Its downtown postal code is 40507. The
\ncounty has no civil townships; instead it is divided into more than 100 named neighborhoods and
\na handful of outlying rural communities, and it runs on Eastern Time. Its FIPS code is 21067.<\/p>\n

Towns & Villages in Fayette County<\/h2>\n

Fayette County has no separate towns or villages of its own — Lexington and the county
\nhave shared one government and one set of boundaries since the 1974 merger, the first
\ncity-county consolidation in Kentucky. The places below are recognized neighborhoods and
\nhistoric districts rather than incorporated municipalities; the Census Bureau does not publish
\npopulation or ZIP figures at this level, so those columns read — throughout.<\/p>\n

\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n
Place<\/th>\nType<\/th>\nLocation in County<\/th>\nPop.<\/th>\n<\/tr>\n<\/thead>\n
Gratz Park<\/td>\nHistoric district<\/td>\nDowntown<\/td>\n—<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Bell Court<\/td>\nHistoric district<\/td>\nCentral, near downtown<\/td>\n—<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Mentelle Park<\/td>\nHistoric district<\/td>\nCentral, near downtown<\/td>\n—<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Ashland Park<\/td>\nHistoric district<\/td>\nSouth-central<\/td>\n—<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Chevy Chase<\/td>\nNeighborhood<\/td>\nCentral, near University of Kentucky<\/td>\n—<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Kenwick<\/td>\nNeighborhood<\/td>\nEast-central<\/td>\n—<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Woodland Park<\/td>\nNeighborhood<\/td>\nCentral, near University of Kentucky<\/td>\n—<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Idle Hour<\/td>\nNeighborhood<\/td>\nEast<\/td>\n—<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Bryan Station<\/td>\nNeighborhood<\/td>\nNorth<\/td>\n—<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Winburn<\/td>\nNeighborhood<\/td>\nNorth<\/td>\n—<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Meadowthorpe<\/td>\nNeighborhood<\/td>\nNorth-central<\/td>\n—<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Cardinal Valley<\/td>\nNeighborhood<\/td>\nWest<\/td>\n—<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Garden Springs<\/td>\nNeighborhood<\/td>\nSouthwest<\/td>\n—<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Picadome<\/td>\nNeighborhood<\/td>\nSouth-central<\/td>\n—<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Zandale<\/td>\nNeighborhood<\/td>\nSouth-central<\/td>\n—<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Gainesway<\/td>\nNeighborhood<\/td>\nSouth<\/td>\n—<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Kirklevington<\/td>\nNeighborhood<\/td>\nSouth-central<\/td>\n—<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Andover Forest<\/td>\nPlanned community<\/td>\nEast<\/td>\n—<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Beaumont Centre<\/td>\nPlanned community<\/td>\nSouth<\/td>\n—<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Hartland<\/td>\nPlanned community<\/td>\nSouth<\/td>\n—<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Masterson Station<\/td>\nPlanned community<\/td>\nNorth<\/td>\n—<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Spindletop<\/td>\nRural estate area<\/td>\nNorth<\/td>\n—<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Athens<\/td>\nUnincorp.<\/td>\nSoutheast, outside the urban service area<\/td>\n—<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n<\/div>\n

Athens is the one clearly rural entry on this list — a crossroads community outside
\nLexington’s urban service boundary, the ring inside which the urban county government
\nconcentrates sewer and dense development. Everything else above sits inside that boundary and
\nfunctions as a city neighborhood, even though none of them carries its own local government or
\nmunicipal boundary the way an incorporated town would.<\/p>\n

ZIP Codes<\/h2>\n

Fayette County uses roughly three dozen ZIP codes, nearly all numbered in the 405xx range.
\n40502 through 40505 cover the near-downtown and university-adjacent neighborhoods, including
\nChevy Chase, Ashland Park and Kenwick; 40506 is the University of Kentucky campus itself; 40507
\nand 40508 cover downtown and the historic core, including Gratz Park; 40509 through 40511 serve
\nthe east side; 40513 through 40515 serve the south and southwest, including Beaumont Centre and
\nGarden Springs; and 40516 and 40517 cover the far east side toward Athens. The remaining codes
\n— 40522–40524, 40526, 40533, 40536, 40544, 40546, 40550, 40555, 40574–40583,
\n40588, 40591 and 40598 — are post office boxes, university stations and large-volume
\nbusiness codes rather than residential delivery areas.<\/p>\n

Geography<\/h2>\n

Fayette County sits in the heart of the Bluegrass Region, a belt of gently rolling limestone
\ngrassland known worldwide for horse farms. The terrain is karst, with sinkholes and underground
\ndrainage common across the county, and there are no large natural lakes. The Kentucky River
\nforms part of the county’s southern boundary, cutting through the Kentucky River Palisades,
\na steep limestone gorge that separates Fayette from Jessamine County. Elkhorn Creek and its
\ntributaries drain most of the northern half of the county.<\/p>\n

Scott County lies to the north, Bourbon County to the northeast, Clark County to the east,
\nMadison County to the southeast, Jessamine County to the south, and Woodford County to the
\nwest. Scott County<\/a>, Bourbon County<\/a>, Clark County<\/a>, Madison County<\/a>, Jessamine County<\/a> and Woodford County<\/a> all border
\nFayette directly.<\/p>\n

Demographics<\/h2>\n

Fayette County had a population of 322,570 at the 2020 census, the second-highest county
\ntotal in Kentucky after Jefferson County, and the latest estimate puts the county near 323,725
\nresidents as of 2024. Since Lexington and the county are one government, there is no second
\ncommunity to compare it against — nearly the entire population lives inside what would
\notherwise be city limits. Median household income runs $69,479, notably higher than
\nKentucky’s 2023 statewide figure of $61,118. Population density works out to roughly
\n1,140 people per square mile, reflecting the county’s status as Kentucky’s most
\nurbanized county outside Louisville.<\/p>\n

Economy & Local Life<\/h2>\n

Health care and social assistance is the county’s largest employment sector, with about
\n26,754 workers, followed by educational services at 23,909 and retail trade at 19,311. The
\nUniversity of Kentucky is the single largest employer in the county, with more than 16,000
\nemployees across its campus and hospital system. Fayette County Public Schools employs several
\nthousand more, and Lexmark International and Xerox both run major operations that trace back to
\nIBM’s original Lexington typewriter and printer manufacturing plant. The county is also
\nthe commercial and sales center of Kentucky’s Thoroughbred horse industry: Keeneland,
\non the county’s southwest side, holds its spring race meet each April and fall meet each
\nOctober, alongside horse auctions that draw buyers from around the world. Working horse farms
\nstill cover much of the county outside the urban service boundary.<\/p>\n

History<\/h2>\n

Virginia’s legislature created Fayette County in 1780, one of the original three
\ncounties formed when Kentucky County, Virginia was divided — the other two were Jefferson
\nand Lincoln. It was named for the Marquis de Lafayette. Lexington, founded in 1775 and chartered
\nin 1782, became the county seat and grew into one of the leading towns of the early American
\nfrontier, known for a time as the “Athens of the West.”<\/p>\n

In February 1920, a mob gathered outside the Fayette County courthouse trying to lynch Will
\nLockett, a Black man convicted that day of murder; the Kentucky National Guard opened fire on
\nthe crowd, killing several people. The event remains one of the county’s most documented
\nepisodes of racial violence. In 1974, Lexington and Fayette County voters approved merging city
\nand county government into the Lexington-Fayette Urban County Government, the first such
\nconsolidation in Kentucky and one of the earliest in the country.<\/p>\n

Getting There<\/h2>\n

Interstate 75 crosses the county’s eastern side, and Interstate 64 runs along the
\nnorthern edge, the two running concurrently for several miles near Lexington. US routes 25, 27,
\n60, 68 and 421 also pass through the county, and New Circle Road (KY 4) rings the urban core.<\/p>\n