The 10 Most Dangerous And Worst Neighborhoods In Louisville, KY

The 10 Most Dangerous Neighborhoods In Louisville For 2024

Ah, California. Gorgeous ocean vistas. Serene coastal breezes. Thriving international cities like Los Angeles and San Francisco. Just an amazing place to call home.

But wait…that’s the state of California. This is the California section of Louisville. Better forget the sea views and world-known restaurants. Instead, you’ve got a poverty-stricken area located a quick 10-minute drive from downtown.

Don’t believe us about the poverty part? Well, just look at the statistics. You’ve got an unemployment rate of 12.0% and a median income of $26,266.

Park Duvalle is located along I-264 in the southwestern part of the city, not far from the Ohio River. True to its name, the area actually has a couple nice parks. You’ll find Russell Lee Park and Algonquin Park.

The neighborhood also has a great sense of history. The name itself comes from Lucie DuValle, the first woman to serve as the principal of a high school in the city.

Still, economic problems weigh the area down. Park Duvalle counts as the number 3 worst neighborhood in Louisville because of its high unemployment and low incomes. Specifically, the jobless rate reaches 9.6% and the median income comes in at $28,360.

Park Hill sounds nice enough. Who wouldn’t want to live in a park, located at the top of a hill. Beautiful hikes, with a majestic view of the city below. Perfect, right?

Well, not quite. Parks are actually pretty rare in the neighborhood. What will you find instead of inviting green space? Well, not good-paying jobs. Those are pretty rare around here as well.

Just look at the unemployment rate: 11.4%. Meanwhile, everyone else has to make due with low wages. The median income only tracks at $28,998.

Do the folks in Louisville constantly dream of the West Coast? This list also contains a neighborhood called “California.” Now, we’ve got one known as “Portland.” Seems like a pattern is forming. If you’re a property developer in Louisville, maybe consider names like “Seattle,” “San Diego,” or “Vancouver.” You should get a lot of interest from the locals.

Of course, it all makes sense. If you lived in this Portland, you might develop a West Coast fantasy as well. In their everyday life, locals face a 8.9% unemployment rate and a $28,538 median income. With those stats, a move out west suddenly seems ideal.

Sitting just west of downtown, Russell theoretically represents a prime location. A 10-minute drive will take you to the heart of the city. Meanwhile, the Ohio River stands just a few blocks to the north. If you want a road trip, you can jump on I-64 and be out of Kentucky in a matter of minutes.

Escape in either direction might be a good idea. There isn’t much waiting for you in Russell. Like so many neighborhoods on this list, a lack of economic opportunity spawns a serious poverty problem. Unemployment hits the double-digit range, while median incomes can’t top $20,000.

Still, at least homes are affordable. The median home value equals a mere $55,957.

Some parts of Shawnee offer a picturesque spot to spend some time. Nestled into a bend in the Ohio River, west of downtown Louisville, it features plenty of green space along the water. You’ve got the namesake Shawnee Park, an excellent place for a weekend hike. If you want something more exciting, you can hit the links at the Shawnee Golf Course.

So far, so good. However, as you’ve probably guessed, problems start to mount as you travel away from the river. These mostly come in the economic category. A median income below $30,000 and double-digit unemployment undermine Shawnee’s good points.

To the northeast of Prestonia, you’ll find the Audubon Country Club. That might make you think of this as a classy area, dominated by manicured grass and fresh air.

Hardly. Just look in the other direction. Prestonia sits at the intersection of I-65 and I-264, a web of asphalt and traffic. Cross that and you’ll end up at the airport, source of jet-fuel fumes and high-decibel accelerations.

Plus, you’ve got the usual economic problems. The median income is relatively strong at $45,264, but the unemployment rate remains elevated at 5.2%. Meanwhile, despite the heavy emphasis on transportation, Prestonia sits a good distance from downtown Louisville, limiting the local access to amenities.

Methodology: How we determined the most dangerous Louisville neighborhoods in 2024

To figure out how bad a place is to live in, we only needed to know what kinds of things people like and then decide what places have the least amount of those things. We plugged the following criteria into Saturday Night Science to get the worst neighborhoods in Louisville:

• High crime (Estimated)
• High unemployment (Less jobs)
• Low median income (Less pay)
• Low population density (No things to do)
• Low home values (No one’s willing to pay to live here)

Then, we ranked each neighborhood in Louisville, Kentucky for each of these criteria from worst to best.

Next, we averaged the individual rankings for each criterion into a “Worst Score.”

The neighborhood with the lowest “Worst Score” ranks as the most dangerous neighborhood of Louisville.

The article is an opinion based on facts and is meant as infotainment. We updated this article for 2024. This report is our time ranking the worst neighborhoods to live in Louisville.

Skip to the end to see the list of all 62 neighborhoods ranked from worst to best.