Murray is a medium-sized city located in the state of Kentucky. With a population of 17,522 people and ten associated neighborhoods, Murray is the 25th largest community in Kentucky.Unlike some cities where white-collar or blue-collar occupations dominate the local economy, Murray is neither predominantly one nor the other. Instead, it has a mixed workforce of both white- and blue-collar jobs. Overall, Murray is a city of service providers, sales and office workers, and professionals. There are especially a lot of people living in Murray who work in office and administrative support (14.20%), sales jobs (9.36%), and personal care services (9.11%). Murray is a small town with a large college student population. Because of this, there is a real youthful, hip vibe to the place, and much of the life in the town is centered on the college. This has helped Murray to buck the trend of other small towns that have suffered declining populations over the past 20 to 30 years. Spending by students, and faculty and staff jobs, are a big part of the local economy. Residents of the city have the good fortune of having one of the shortest daily commutes compared to the rest of the country. On average, they spend only 12.85 minutes getting to work every day.The education level of Murray citizens is very high relative to the national average among all cities (21.84%): 35.73% of adults in Murray have a bachelor's degree or even advanced degree. The per capita income in Murray in 2022 was $22,900, which is lower middle income relative to Kentucky, and low income relative to the rest of the US. This equates to an annual income of $91,600 for a family of four. However, Murray contains both very wealthy and poor people as well. Murray is a somewhat ethnically-diverse city. The people who call Murray home describe themselves as belonging to a variety of racial and ethnic groups. The greatest number of Murray residents report their race to be White, followed by Black or African-American. Important ancestries of people in Murray include English, German, Irish, European, and Scottish. The most common language spoken in Murray is English. Other important languages spoken here include Spanish and Other Asian languages.
