KENTUCKY — Federal Data, September 2026
The Best Trade Schools in Kentucky, Ranked On What Graduates Owe And Earn
9 accredited institutions in Kentucky report enough federal data to be compared. They are ranked here on a single measure: how many months of gross pay it takes a graduate to cover the median debt.
See The Kentucky RankingU.S. Department of Education data. No school paid to be listed.
Across the 9 ranked trade schools in Kentucky, the median graduate needs 1.9 months of gross pay to cover a median federal debt of $8,581, against median earnings of $52,335 one year after completion.
That puts Kentucky faster than the national median of 3.6 months measured across the 153 institutions in our national ranking. The best performer in the state is Southcentral Kentucky Community and Technical College in Bowling Green, at 1.7 months.
Only schools that are currently operating, accredited, predominantly certificate or associate granting, and reporting both debt and earnings on at least four trade programs appear here. That is why this list is short: most institutions do not publish enough for a fair comparison.
KENTUCKY At A Glance
What the federal data says about trade schools in Kentucky
The Ranking
9 trade schools in Kentucky, ranked by months of gross pay to cover the debt
Lower is better.
| # | School | Type | Months | Debt | Earnings | Completion | Programs |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Southcentral Kentucky Community and Technical CollegeBowling Green, KY | Public | 1.7 | $8,581 | $58,996 | 58% | 5 |
| 2 | Elizabethtown Community and Technical CollegeElizabethtown, KY | Public | 1.7 | $8,136 | $56,656 | 59% | 6 |
| 3 | Bluegrass Community and Technical CollegeLexington, KY | Public | 1.9 | $9,250 | $64,355 | 43% | 7 |
| 4 | Maysville Community and Technical CollegeMaysville, KY | Public | 1.9 | $7,504 | $41,910 | 56% | 4 |
| 5 | Owensboro Community and Technical CollegeOwensboro, KY | Public | 1.9 | $7,838 | $52,335 | 54% | 4 |
| 6 | Gateway Community and Technical CollegeFlorence, KY | Public | 2.1 | $7,520 | $54,530 | 59% | 4 |
| 7 | Jefferson Community and Technical CollegeLouisville, KY | Public | 2.7 | $9,625 | $42,224 | 35% | 5 |
| 8 | Ashland Community and Technical CollegeAshland, KY | Public | 3.2 | $10,500 | $50,906 | 51% | 5 |
| 9 | Somerset Community CollegeSomerset, KY | Public | 3.7 | $9,586 | $34,245 | 43% | 5 |
Source: U.S. Department of Education, College Scorecard, Most Recent Cohorts by Field of Study and by Institution (published 9 June 2026). Debt is the median federal Stafford and Grad PLUS loan debt of completers; earnings are median earnings one year after completion; both are medians across the school’s trade programs. Completion is the institution’s published rate.
The Top Five, In Detail
The five fastest payback schools in Kentucky, one by one
Southcentral Kentucky Community and Technical College
Bowling Green, KY
Southcentral Kentucky Community and Technical College is a public institution in Bowling Green. Across its 5 trade programs with publishable figures, the median graduate leaves with $8,581 of federal debt and reports median earnings of $58,996 a year after completing, so the debt is covered by 1.7 months of gross pay: the fastest payback in the state, and right on the Kentucky state median of 1.9. It reports a 58% completion rate. Its fastest program here is Electrical and Power Transmission Installers.
Elizabethtown Community and Technical College
Elizabethtown, KY
Elizabethtown Community and Technical College is a public institution in Elizabethtown. Across its 6 trade programs with publishable figures, the median graduate leaves with $8,136 of federal debt and reports median earnings of $56,656 a year after completing, so the debt is covered by 1.7 months of gross pay: the second fastest in the state, and right on the Kentucky state median of 1.9. It reports a 59% completion rate. Its fastest program here is Electrical and Power Transmission Installers.
Bluegrass Community and Technical College
Lexington, KY
Bluegrass Community and Technical College is a public institution in Lexington. Across its 7 trade programs with publishable figures, the median graduate leaves with $9,250 of federal debt and reports median earnings of $64,355 a year after completing, so the debt is covered by 1.9 months of gross pay: the third fastest in the state, and right on the Kentucky state median of 1.9. It reports a 43% completion rate. Its fastest program here is Electrical/Electronic Engineering Technologies/Technicians.
Maysville Community and Technical College
Maysville, KY
Maysville Community and Technical College is a public institution in Maysville. Across its 4 trade programs with publishable figures, the median graduate leaves with $7,504 of federal debt and reports median earnings of $41,910 a year after completing, so the debt is covered by 1.9 months of gross pay: fourth in the state, and right on the Kentucky state median of 1.9. It reports a 56% completion rate. Its fastest program here is Heavy/Industrial Equipment Maintenance Technologies/Technicians.
Owensboro Community and Technical College
Owensboro, KY
Owensboro Community and Technical College is a public institution in Owensboro. Across its 4 trade programs with publishable figures, the median graduate leaves with $7,838 of federal debt and reports median earnings of $52,335 a year after completing, so the debt is covered by 1.9 months of gross pay: fifth in the state, and right on the Kentucky state median of 1.9. It reports a 54% completion rate. Its fastest program here is Electrical and Power Transmission Installers.
Read It Carefully
Why this list is short, and what it does not measure
Absence from this page is not a verdict. Most trade schools in Kentucky are missing because the Department of Education suppresses figures for programs with small cohorts, not because they scored badly. A small, excellent school will often have no publishable data at all.
The measure is also a ratio, not a repayment plan, and it counts federal loan debt only. Cash payments, private loans and employer sponsorship are invisible here. Local wages shape earnings as much as the school does, which is exactly why comparing within a state, as this page does, is more informative than comparing across the country.
By Trade
Or narrow it down to one trade in Kentucky
For KENTUCKY School Operators
Want to know how your school ranks, program by program?
We run this analysis for individual schools against their own federal data and show them where they sit against both the Kentucky median and the national one. Where the answer is good, it is the strongest recruitment argument a school owns.
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