Kentucky Business by the Numbers: 2026 Company Breakdown

Key findings

• Kentucky ranks 30th nationally with 515,024 business records — 0.8% of all 64,799,929 U.S. records in the directory.
• An above-average share of large employers. Kentucky is 25th for records of companies with 500+ employees (998), with 19.4 per 10,000 records against 14.0 nationally (9th of 52 states).
• Kentucky has more healthcare & life science than the U.S. mix:Healthcare & Life Science is 9.8% of the state’s records against 7.4% nationally (1.3×).
• Louisville is the state’s largest business hub, with 22.0% of all Kentucky records.
• Business is concentrated in a few metros: Louisville, Lexington and Bowling Green together hold 34.9% of the state’s records.

How Kentucky ranks nationally

Kentucky and its closest neighbours by total business records. Select a state to open its own study.

Top Kentucky cities by number of business records

These 4 cities account for 36.7% of all records in Kentucky. Select any city to browse its full company list.

Browse all Kentucky companies →

Kentucky businesses by industry

Every record is classified by its primary industry using NAICS/SIC codes; the shares are of all Kentucky records. Select a sector to see those Kentucky companies.

What sets Kentucky apart

Sectors that make up a bigger share of Kentucky’s records than of the U.S. as a whole. A ratio of 2.0× means the sector is twice as common here as nationally. Select a sector to browse it.

Kentucky businesses by size

Most records in every state are small businesses. In Kentucky, 1.63% of records with a known size have 51 or more employees, against 1.77% nationally. 220 records belong to companies with $1 billion or more in revenue.

What the numbers show

Kentucky’s 515,024 records place it 30th nationally, 0.8% of the U.S. total, and 25th for large employers. That large-employer rank is well above its rank by records, so its business base is weighted toward bigger companies. Activity clusters in its largest metros — Louisville, Lexington and Bowling Green alone account for 34.9% of the state’s records — and the state leans toward healthcare & life science compared with the rest of the country. For buyers and sellers, that means the deepest pools of suppliers sit in a handful of cities and sectors; the charts above link straight into each so you can shortlist by capability and region.

Methodology

Figures count records in Factur’s U.S. business directory as of July 2026, classified by city and primary industry using NAICS/SIC codes. Records cover manufacturers, suppliers and businesses of all sizes. They are not a count of unique companies: one company can have several records (for example one per department or location), and some records are duplicates. That affects large companies most, so treat raw totals as an upper bound and rely on the ranks, shares and comparisons, which it affects much less. These are directory totals, not official census figures. Percentages are computed against the Kentucky directory total; size shares use records with a known employee count. Data compiled by Factur, a sales and marketing firm for B2B manufacturers.