Lexingtonruns on a handful of strong industries. If you’re job-hunting or weighing a move, here’s where the opportunities (and the big-name employers) are.
Top industries & employers
University of Kentucky & UK HealthCare
University of Kentucky, UK HealthCare, Bluegrass Community & Technical College
The university and its hospital system are the largest employer in the city by a wide margin, and UK HealthCare's Chandler Hospital is the region's Level I trauma centre. Almost every professional network in Lexington runs through one of them.
Automotive manufacturing
Toyota Motor Manufacturing Kentucky (Georgetown), Link-Belt, Webasto, Hitachi Astemo
The Georgetown Toyota plant, 20 minutes north, is one of the largest vehicle assembly plants in the world and anchors a supplier network across the region. Note that working there means a different county's occupational tax.
Equine industry
Keeneland, Kentucky Horse Park, Claiborne Farm, WinStar, Rood & Riddle Equine Hospital
Not a tourist theme — thoroughbred breeding, sales, veterinary medicine and bloodstock are a real professional sector here, with specialisms that exist almost nowhere else in the world.
Technology & manufacturing headquarters
Lexmark, Big Ass Fans, Tempur Sealy, Valvoline, Alltech
Lexmark spun out of IBM's Lexington operation in 1991 and its campus still seeds much of the local software and hardware talent pool. Several mid-size headquarters sit here rather than in a bigger metro precisely because costs are low.
Bourbon & food and drink
Buffalo Trace (Frankfort), Woodford Reserve (Versailles), Barrel House, Town Branch
Central Kentucky produces most of the world's bourbon, and Lexington sits in the middle of it with distilleries in town and a dozen within an hour. Hospitality, logistics and cooperage work follows.
Healthcare & life sciences
Baptist Health Lexington, CHI Saint Joseph, UK HealthCare, Rood & Riddle
Two large hospital systems beyond the university, plus an unusual concentration of veterinary and equine medical research. Nursing and allied health roles are the most reliably open to newcomers.
Some of this may be out of date. Spotted something inaccurate? Help us keep it right for the next newcomer.