Kentucky’s progress and failings detailed in latest rankings

New statistics show where Kentucky stands compared to other states and nation in jobs, infrastructure, workforce, and government—the four areas laid out in the Kentucky Chamber’s vision for the state.

When laying out priorities to move Kentucky forward with the release of the Four Pillars for Prosperity publication in 2015, the Kentucky Chamber of Commerce created a dashboard to gauge the state’s performance and monitor key indicators.

Research is conducted each year on the state’s standings in significant areas under each of the four pillars and made available via the online dashboard.

The findings on these progress points updated in November 2018 are summarized below:

Government

Kentucky’s Business Tax Climate Index moved from #39 last year to #23 for this year, a move of 16 places—more than any other state in the country. The Tax Foundation attributed Kentucky’s significant progress in this area to the tax reform package passed by the 2018 Kentucky General Assembly.

Kentucky’s overall pension funding ratio for FY 2016 is 31%, tied with New Jersey for the worst in the country. The U.S. average was 66%.

Workforce

The National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) is a periodic national assessment that measures what U.S. students know and can do in various subjects in the 50 states. NAEP scores in Kentucky are above the national average for 4^th grade reading, at the national average for 4^th grade math and 8^th grade reading, and below the national average for 8^th grade math.

The Commonwealth’s high school graduation rate (percentage of high school students who graduate on time) of 89% is above the national average of 84%.

Kentucky’s 2017 violent crime rate of 225.8 per 100,000 population remains among the lowest in the country and well below the national average of 382.9.

Kentucky moved up three spots, from 45^th place to 42^nd place, in the annual America’s Health Rankings, which ranks health status in the 50 states on a wide range of health factors.

The percentage of people living in poverty in Kentucky dropped from 18.5% of the population in 2016 to 17.2% in 2017. The national average for 2017 was 13.4%.

At $39,393, Kentucky’s annual per capita personal income decreased slightly over the last year and stands at 78% of the national average of $50,392.

Jobs

The percentage of Kentucky’s workforce employed in manufacturing is 12.76%–significantly higher than the national average of 8.56%.

With over $30 billion in exports in 2017, Kentucky was 18^th among the 50 states in total value of exports last year.

Kentucky’s 2018 Economic Freedom ranking, as measured annually by the Cato Institute, moved up 7 spots among the 50 states to #26 from #33 in the last ranking.

Kentucky dropped 7 spots—from 35 in 2017 to 42 this year—in the annual CNBC Top States for Business rankings.  Kentucky scored well in infrastructure and cost of doing business, but problem areas included education and quality of workforce.

Infrastructure

Kentucky was considerably below the national average in the percentage of the state population with access to broadband. 85.8% of Kentuckians have broadband access compared to the national average of 92.3%.

In terms of the percentage of bridges that are structurally deficient, Kentucky fares better than the national average, with 7.8% of Kentucky’s bridges rated structurally deficient compared to 8.9% nationally.

Kentucky continues to be a national leader in low electricity costs to industry. As of August 2018, Kentucky’s average industrial electric price was 5.25 cents per kilowatt-hour, compared to a national average of 7.24 cents.  Only Washington state was lower at 5.23 cents.

View all the data collected on the Four Pillars for Prosperity Dashboard on the Kentucky Chamber website here.