River
Kentucky River
417 km from source to mouth · United States.
United StatesFlows into Ohio River
In numbers
Length
417km
Average flow
280m³/s
Basin
18,000km²
Drop
63m
from 199 m to 136 m
Country
1
The journey
From source to mouth
417 km of river and 13 stops on the way: 3 towns and cities on its banks, dams, bridges and the tributaries that feed it.
- 0 kmSouth Fork Kentucky Riverat 199 m
- 105 kmRed Rivertributary
- 140 kmClays Ferry Bridge
- 183 kmSilver Creektributary
- 210 kmHerrington Lake7.3 km²
- 219 kmDix Rivertributary
- 220 kmHigh Bridge of Kentucky
- 227 kmWilmore6,247 people
- 277 kmYoung's High Bridge
- 305 kmFrankfort28,602 people
- 305 kmWar Mothers Memorial Bridge
- 306 kmSinging Bridge
- 413 kmCarrollton3,890 people
- 413 kmCarrollton–Prestonville Bridge
- 417 kmOhio Riverat 136 m
Water level along the river (RiverATLAS; the height is exaggerated). Towns: GeoNames and Wikidata; bridges, dams and tributaries: Wikidata.
River in Kentucky, United States
At the mouth it carries 285 m³/s on average: an Olympic pool every 8.8 seconds. It drops from 199 m to 136 m, 0.2 m per kilometre on average. Its basin covers 18,000 km², about the size of KW. 852,000 people live in it. Highest water: April. Its dams hold back little of its water (7.5% of a year's flow).
Where to start
- FrankfortLargest city on its banks · 28,602 people
- Blue Grass Airport (LEX)Nearest airport with scheduled flights, 29 km from the cityCar hire at SDF airport (Louisville)Discover Cars · Affiliate link↗
- On the water39 ferry piers, marinas, boat rentals and boat ramps along the river (OpenStreetMap)
- Kayak and canoe4 put-ins and rapids mapped (OpenStreetMap)
- From May to June and from August to OctoberThe best months to visit
Kentucky River, month by month
Highest water: April
Best months to visit: from May to June and from August to October.
From about 85 m³/s in the lowest month to 550 m³/s in the highest. An estimate: the monthly flow is modelled from the lowest and highest months of WaterGAP (RiverATLAS, 1971–2000) and the rain and snow along the river (WorldClim). Dams change the real rhythm. The chip is the average air temperature; below it, the month's rain.
Plan the trip
Plan the trip: boat trips, a bed by the river, a car
Some links above are affiliate links: if you book through them we may earn a commission, at no extra cost to you. It never changes what the data on this page says.
The basin
Kentucky River: the basin in numbers
18,069 km² of land send their water to this river. This is what lives on it.
- 852,000people live in the basin
- 48/km²people per km²
- 324maverage altitude of the basin
- 1,195mmof rain a year (basin average)
- 12.5°Caverage air temperature
- 1%protected areas
- 0.1%covered by lakes
- 0.6km³held in reservoirs
What covers the basin
- 70% Forest
- 25% Cropland
- 7% Pasture
- 2% Towns and cities
RiverATLAS (HydroATLAS v1.0, CC BY 4.0): land cover, people, protected areas, glaciers and dams over the whole basin upstream of the mouth.
Along the river
Kentucky River: what you find on the way
- 17WeirsLock Number 14, Lock Number 13, Dam Number 12 and 14 more
- 30LocksLock and Dam 14, Lock and Dam 13, Lock and Dam 12 and 27 more
- 13WaterfallsElk Lick Falls, Silver Falls, Falls At Shaker Landing and 10 more
- 4Canoe put-ins
- 36Boat rampsBeatyville Ramp, College Hill Road Ramp, Ferry Road Ramp and 33 more
- 2Ferry piers
- 1MarinasBenson Marina/ Bar and Grill
From OpenStreetMap, within 2.0 km of the river. Not mapped is not the same as not there.
Cross-checked with our atlases
Kentucky River in our other atlases
What our sister atlases know about the waterfalls on this river, the lakes it flows through, the beaches at its mouth, the mountains where it rises and the islands off its mouth.
1lake on its wayLakeyas
3mountains at the sourcePeakyas
Lakes and reservoirs (1)
Lakes it flows through, by Lakeyas
- Herrington Lakekm 1827.3km²
Lakeyas is coming soonOpen Lakeyas ↗
Mountains at the source (3)
Within 15 km of the source, by Peakyas
- Anvil Knob14 km away
- Mine Knob11 km away
- Turkey Knob12 km away
From space
The source and the mouth, seen from orbit
Sentinel-2 cloudless 2016 by EOX IT Services GmbH (contains modified Copernicus Sentinel data 2016), CC BY 4.0. The glowing line is the river as drawn by RiverATLAS.
Photos
Kentucky River in pictures
Tributaries
Where it flows, and what flows into it
It flows into
Ohio RiverUnited States1,579 km8,000 m³/sTributaries (7)
Also: Red River, Dix River, Silver Creek, North Fork Kentucky River, Elkhorn Creek, Eagle Creek, South Fork Kentucky River
In the same basin
United States3,766 km12,700 m³/sMissouri RiverUnited States3,726 km2,500 m³/sArkansas RiverUnited States2,364 km240 m³/sTennessee RiverUnited States1,049 km2,000 m³/sRed RiverUnited States2,189 km1,900 m³/sYellowstone RiverUnited States1,114 km390 m³/sPlatte RiverUnited States500 km200 m³/sCanadian RiverUnited States1,458 km200 m³/sIllinois RiverUnited States432 km660 m³/sAllegheny RiverUnited States523 km560 m³/sNearby
Rivers nearby
United States372 km190 m³/s188 km awayWabash RiverUnited States960 km1,000 m³/s270 km awayKanawha RiverUnited States156 km430 m³/s264 km awayTennessee RiverUnited States1,049 km2,000 m³/s347 km awayCumberland RiverUnited States1,107 km860 m³/s334 km awayMissouri RiverUnited States3,726 km2,500 m³/s428 km awayDetroit RiverUnited States45 km5.3 m³/s411 km awayIllinois RiverUnited States432 km660 m³/s457 km awayWhere these numbers come from
| Name, length, places | Wikidata (Q1544834) · CC0 |
|---|---|
| Course, profile, basin | RiverATLAS v1.0 (HydroATLAS, Linke et al. 2019) · CC BY 4.0 — followed from the source to the mouth given by Wikidata |
| Flow | WaterGAP (RiverATLAS), 1971–2000 · CC BY 4.0 |
| Climate along the river | WorldClim (RiverATLAS), 1970–2000 · CC BY 4.0 |
| Towns, bridges, dams | Wikidata · CC0; GeoNames · CC BY 4.0 |
| Along the river | © OpenStreetMap contributors · ODbL |
| Images | EOX Sentinel-2 cloudless 2016 · CC BY 4.0; Wikimedia Commons |
| Our other atlases | Lakeyas, Peakyas — Wikidata · CC0; © OpenStreetMap contributors · ODbL; GeoNames · CC BY 4.0; HydroLAKES · CC BY 4.0; NOAA OISST |
Every source and licence is on the data sources page.
The family
Do you prefer beaches, lakes, mountains, waterfalls, islands, rivers or canyons?
Same idea, other landscapes: field atlases built on open data, month by month, in seven languages.
beaches
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Every lake on Earth: water temperature, ice, depth and the shore.Coming soonVisit mountains
Every summit in 3D: summit weather, the 0 °C line, huts and trails.Visit 
waterfalls
Every waterfall: height, flow month by month and when it roars.Coming soonVisit 
islands
Every island from the sea up: size, sea temperature, ferries and 3D.Coming soonVisit 
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Every river from source to sea: the journey, the flow and the basin in numbers.You are here
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Every canyon cut to scale: depth to the floor, rim and floor temperatures, trails and viewpoints.Coming soonVisit