Bowling Green composite
58.0 /100
Grade C- · weighted across 7 dims
2026 data Public-data reference. 11 dimensions compared
Bowling Green, KY vs Elizabethtown, KY
Side-by-side comparison across cost of living, rent, wages, crime, schools, childcare, and environment — sourced entirely from U.S. federal data, no crowdsourced estimates.
Bowling Green vs Elizabethtown: composite livability scores
Bowling Green and Elizabethtown differ across eleven dimensions of livability. Bowling Green has a cost-of-living index of 90.2 vs Elizabethtown's 90.6 (national average = 100). A 2-bedroom averages $996/mo vs $1,056/mo.
Reading the Bowling Green vs Elizabethtown Comparison
Bowling Green (KY) and Elizabethtown (KY) are assembled here from the same federal data pipeline — BEA Regional Price Parities, HUD Fair Market Rents, BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics, FBI Uniform Crime Reports, NCES public-school counts, and EPA environmental indicators — so every number on this page is directly comparable. The overall cost index reads 90.2 for Bowling Green against 90.6 for Elizabethtown, a 0.4-point gap on a scale where 100 equals the U.S. average. HUD's 2-bedroom Fair Market Rent — the figure used to set housing-choice voucher payment standards — is $996/mo in Bowling Green and $1,056/mo in Elizabethtown, a $60/mo difference that compounds to $720 over a year.
Wage data is reported by metro delineation, and one of these metros is missing a BLS record for the latest OES cycle; the salary columns below fall back to available years. State-level violent crime, the most reliable geographic tier FBI UCR publishes, is 225.5 per 100,000 residents in KY vs 225.5 in KY, with property-crime rates of 1397.1 and 1397.1 respectively.
Schools are reported at the state tier by NCES: KY lists 1,395 public schools at a 15.6:1 student-teacher ratio, while KY lists 1,395 schools at 15.6:1 — a signal of class-size staffing, though individual district and school-level variation within each state is substantial. Department of Labor center-based infant care runs $7,238/yr in the Bowling Green area versus $7,238/yr in Elizabethtown — a line item that shifts the real cost-of-living picture for households with children under five far more than headline RPP does. When these pieces are read together rather than in isolation, Bowling Green and Elizabethtown are not simply "cheaper" or "more expensive" — they trade across dimensions, and which metro wins depends on whether your household optimizes for rent, wages, schools, childcare, safety, or environment. Treat the tables below as inputs to that trade-off, not as a single ranking.
Elizabethtown composite
61.4 /100
Grade C · weighted across 7 dims
Cost-of-living gap
-0.4 pts
Bowling Green vs Elizabethtown BEA RPP
2-bed rent delta
$60 /mo
Elizabethtown priced higher
Composite life score on the national 0–100 scale
Bowling Green
Bowling Green composite (Grade C-)
Elizabethtown
Elizabethtown composite (Grade C)
Composite is a weighted roll-up of seven dimensions: cost (20%), wages (20%), rent (15%), safety (15%), schools (10%), childcare (10%), environment (10%). Each input normalized to a 0–100 percentile across all metros.
💰 Cost of Living PlainCost →
| Category | Bowling Green | Elizabethtown |
|---|---|---|
| Overall RPP | 90.2 | 90.6 |
| Goods | 96.2 | 96.2 |
| Services | 75.2 | 74.6 |
| Rents | 63.4 | 66.7 |
Salary Equivalent Calculator
What salary in Elizabethtown gives the same purchasing power as your salary in Bowling Green?
$
Equivalent in Elizabethtown:
$100,436
Based on BEA Regional Price Parities (Bowling Green: 90.2, Elizabethtown: 90.6, national avg = 100).
🏠 Rent (Fair Market Rent) PlainRent →
| Bedrooms | Bowling Green | Elizabethtown |
|---|---|---|
| Studio | $759/mo | $841/mo |
| 1 Bedroom | $759/mo | $846/mo |
| 2 Bedroom | $996/mo | $1,056/mo |
| 3 Bedroom | $1,224/mo | $1,469/mo |
| 4 Bedroom | $1,520/mo | $1,771/mo |
🛡️ Crime Rates (state-level) PlainCrime →
| Crime Type (per 100K) | Bowling Green (KY) | Elizabethtown (KY) |
|---|---|---|
| Violent Crime | 225.5 | 225.5 |
| Property Crime | 1397.1 | 1397.1 |
🎓 Schools (state-level) PlainSchools →
| Metric | KY | KY |
|---|---|---|
| Total Schools | 1,395 | 1,395 |
| Student-Teacher Ratio | 15.6:1 | 15.6:1 |
| Charter Schools | 0.0% | 0.0% |
👶 Childcare Costs (Annual Avg) (state-level) PlainChildcare →
| Age Group | KY | KY |
|---|---|---|
| Infant (Center) | $7,238/yr | $7,238/yr |
| Toddler (Center) | $6,605/yr | $6,605/yr |
| Preschool (Center) | $6,605/yr | $6,605/yr |
🌿 Environment (state-level) PlainEnviro →
| Metric | KY | KY |
|---|---|---|
| EPA Facilities | 489 | 489 |
| Water Systems | 376 | 376 |
| Superfund Sites | 20 | 20 |
| Water Violations | 1,788 | 1,788 |
Government-verified data — Air quality (EPA AQS), water safety (EPA SDWIS), healthcare access (HRSA), and disaster risk (FEMA NRI) are sourced directly from U.S. federal agencies. No crowdsourced estimates.
💨 Air Quality (EPA AQS) PlainAir →
| Metric | Bowling Green | Elizabethtown |
|---|---|---|
| Median AQI | 41.0 | 41.0 |
| Good Air Days | 76.8% | 83.8% |
| Unhealthy Air Days | 0 days | 0 days |
💧 Water Safety (EPA SDWIS, state-level) PlainWater →
| Metric | KY | KY |
|---|---|---|
| Water Safety Score | 1/100 | 1/100 |
| Total Violations | 80,482 | 80,482 |
| Health-Based Violations | 12,554 | 12,554 |
| Systems with Violations | 99.1% | 99.1% |
🏥 Healthcare Access (HRSA, state-level) PlainHealthAccess →
| Metric | KY | KY |
|---|---|---|
| Healthcare Access Score | 0/100 | 0/100 |
| Population in Shortage Area | 100.0% | 100.0% |
| HPSA Designations | 687 | 687 |
HPSA = Health Professional Shortage Area, designated by HRSA. Higher access score = better healthcare availability.
⚠️ Natural Disaster Risk (FEMA NRI, state-level) PlainHazard →
| Metric | KY | KY |
|---|---|---|
| Disaster Safety Score | 71/100 | 71/100 |
| NRI Risk Score (avg county) | 44.2 | 44.2 |
| Expected Annual Loss Score | 41.4 | 41.4 |
FEMA National Risk Index (NRI) scores are county-level percentiles (0–100). Higher disaster safety score = lower relative risk. State-level values are county averages.
Crime, schools, childcare, and environment data shown at state level. Metro-specific data for these dimensions is not available.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is Bowling Green more expensive than Elizabethtown? ▼
Bowling Green has a cost of living index of 90.2 compared to Elizabethtown's 90.6 (national average = 100). Elizabethtown is 0.4 points above Bowling Green on the BEA Regional Price Parity scale.
What is the rent difference between Bowling Green and Elizabethtown? ▼
A 2-bedroom apartment averages $996/mo in Bowling Green vs $1,056/mo in Elizabethtown, based on HUD Fair Market Rent data. Studios range from $759/mo to $841/mo.
How do salaries compare between Bowling Green and Elizabethtown? ▼
Wage data is not available for one or both metros.
Is Bowling Green or Elizabethtown safer? ▼
At the state level, KY has a violent crime rate of 225.5 per 100,000 residents compared to KY's 225.5 per 100,000. Property crime rates are 1397.1 vs 1397.1 per 100,000 respectively, based on FBI Uniform Crime Report data.
How do schools compare between Bowling Green and Elizabethtown? ▼
KY has 1,395 public schools with an average student-teacher ratio of 15.6:1, while KY has 1,395 schools at 15.6:1. Charter schools make up 0.0% of KY schools vs 0.0% in KY. Data from the National Center for Education Statistics.
Where does the comparison data come from? ▼
All data comes from official U.S. government sources: Bureau of Economic Analysis (cost of living), HUD (fair market rents), BLS (wages), FBI UCR (crime), NCES (schools), Department of Labor (childcare), EPA (environment, air quality, water safety), HRSA (healthcare access), and FEMA NRI (disaster risk). No crowdsourced estimates or proprietary ratings are used.
Research Guides
Explore Further
Bowling Green Cost of Living
BEA Regional Price Parity breakdown
Elizabethtown Cost of Living
BEA Regional Price Parity breakdown
Bowling Green Rent Data
HUD Fair Market Rents by bedroom
Elizabethtown Rent Data
HUD Fair Market Rents by bedroom
Bowling Green Schools
NCES school profiles and demographics
Elizabethtown Schools
NCES school profiles and demographics
KY Crime Data
FBI UCR crime statistics
KY Crime Data
FBI UCR crime statistics
Relocate Bowling Green to Elizabethtown
7-dimension relocation intelligence
Relocate Elizabethtown to Bowling Green
7-dimension relocation intelligence
Data from BEA, HUD, FBI UCR, BLS OES, NCES, DOL, EPA AQS, EPA SDWIS, HRSA, and FEMA NRI. Not affiliated with the U.S. Government.
Related
Data sourced from official U.S. government datasets. See our methodology for details. Retrieved and formatted by PlainCompare Editorial