Covington saw a 14.3% drop in its poverty rate between 2017 and 2023, according to the city’s economic impact report.
How did it happen?
“This has been a multifaceted approach,” said Covington Mayor Joe Meyer. “Number one is our economic development initiatives.”
The city has been working to bring the poverty level down for several years, he said.
Dan Hassert, Covington’s communications director, said this figure came from two sources.
“Census Covington Quickfacts that showed 23.3 percent of residents living in poverty in 2023, and the 2017 Kentucky State Data Center report that showed 27.2 percent of residents living in poverty,” Hassert wrote in an email.
Meyer said the city has added thousands of new jobs and employed several strategies to impact the workforce, allowing citizens to enhance their skills and increase their chances of being hired for higher-paying jobs.
In addition, there have been more people moving to Covington who have a bachelor’s degree or higher.
“There’s really been a revitalization of Covington,” said Todd Kyper, business services coordinator at the Northern Kentucky Area Development District. “To a certain extent, there’s been an influx of higher wage earners going into the city, and there are a lot more higher-quality jobs.”
Meyer said Covington’s economic development program has brought in more than 5,000 jobs over the past three years.
“We’ve seen insurance companies relocate their headquarters here, Fidelity has expanded exponentially,” Meyer said. “We’ve seen Gravity Diagnostics grow from 50 people to over 500 people — you know, major growth in those sectors.”
The Covington Works program has also provided citizens with an opportunity to gain on-the-job training and secure full-time employment. The program works closely with Covington employees to place residents in positions that align with their skills and interests, fostering professional growth and career advancement.
The economic report also found a 46.9% uptick in educational attainment and a 50.8% increase in median household income from 2017 to 2023, according to Hassert.
The city has also tried other tactics.
“We have a whole economic development initiative dealing in small businesses,” Meyer said. “We’ve helped over 150 businesses where you’ve got high job growth rate potential that, in our opinion, help make the cultural environment that people feel so good about Covington. So, we have a very broad and very comprehensive economic development strategy.”
More than 1,200 new housing units were added between 2017 and 2023, which Meyer said has helped grow Covington’s population base.
Looking ahead, the city is not close to ending its economic growth efforts. Meyer said the former IRS site is a key part of the economic growth for the future, but other spokes are turning in the city’s metaphoric economic wheel.
“In our Latonia neighborhood, we have a new 170,000 square-foot building in the process of being leased,” Meyer said.
