University of Kentucky Data & Information Overview
Get the facts about University of Kentucky. Learn how it ranks, what majors it offers, how diverse it is, and much more. All you need to do to learn more about a stat is click on its tile, and you’ll be taken to another page that analyzes that data more closely. Also, you can use the links below to scroll to any section of this page.- Rankings
- Admission and Acceptance
- Faculty
- Retention and Graduation Rates
- Diversity
- Cost
- Student Debt
- Average Earnings
- Location
- Majors
- Online Learning
- Related Schools
How Well Is University of Kentucky Ranked?

2023 Rankings
College Factual analyzes over 2,000 colleges and universities in its annual rankings and ranks them in a variety of ways, including most diverse, best overall quality, best for non-traditional students, and much more.
University of Kentucky was awarded 733 badges in the 2023 rankings.
Overall Quality
According to College Factual's 2023 analysis, UK is ranked #250 out of 2,241 schools in the nation that were analyzed for overall quality. This puts it in the top 15% of all schools in the nation. This is an improvement over the previous year, when UK held the #543 spot on the Best Overall Colleges list.
UK also holds the #1 spot on the Best Colleges in Kentucky ranking.
See all of the rankings for University of Kentucky.
Is It Hard to Get Into UK?
Acceptance Rate
University of Kentucky has an acceptance rate of 96%, so it is easier to gain admission to this school than some others. Still, the admissions staff will examine your application closely to make sure you're a good fit for UK.
Average Test Scores
About 23% of students accepted to UK submitted their SAT scores. When looking at the 25th through the 75th percentile, SAT Evidence-Based Reading and Writing scores ranged between 540 and 640. Math scores were between 530 and 640.
Learn more about University of Kentucky admissions.
University of Kentucky Faculty
Student to Faculty Ratio
With a student to faculty ratio of 16 to 1, University of Kentucky is about average in this regard as the nationwide rate is 15 to 1. While this does not translate directly to class size, it's a good indicator of how much time professors will have to spend with their students on a one-on-one basis.
Percent of Full-Time Faculty
Another measure that is often used to estimate how much access students will have to their professors is how many faculty members are full-time. The idea here is that part-time faculty tend to spend less time on campus, so they may not be as available to students as full-timers.
The full-time faculty percentage at University of Kentucky is 88%. This is higher than the national average of 47%.
Retention and Graduation Rates at University of Kentucky
Freshmen Retention Rate
University of Kentucky has a freshmen retention rate of 86%. That's a good sign that full-time students like the school and their professors enough to want to stick around for another year. It's also a sign that the admissions team did a good job in choosing applicants who were a good fit for the school.
Graduation Rate
The on-time graduation rate for someone pursuing a bachelor's degree is typically four years. This rate at UK for first-time, full-time students is 44%, which is better than the national average of 33.3%.
Find out more about the retention and graduation rates at University of Kentucky.
University of Kentucky Undergraduate Student Diversity
During the 2017-2018 academic year, there were 22,227 undergraduates at UK with 20,239 being full-time and 1,988 being part-time.
How Much Does University of Kentucky Cost?
The overall average net price of UK is $18,203. The affordability of the school largely depends on your financial need since net price varies by income group. See the table below for the net price for different income groups.Net Price by Income Group for UK
$0-30 K | $30K-48K | $48-75 | $75-110K | $110K + |
---|---|---|---|---|
$12,593 | $13,424 | $16,708 | $20,959 | $23,946 |
The net price is calculated by adding tuition, room, board and other costs and subtracting financial aid.Note that the net price is typically less than the published for a school. For more information on the sticker price of UK, see our tuition and fees and room and board pages.
Student Loan Debt
It's not uncommon for college students to take out loans to pay for school. In fact, almost 66% of students nationwide depend at least partially on loans. At UK, approximately 47% of students took out student loans averaging $9,087 a year. That adds up to $36,348 over four years for those students.
The student loan default rate at UK is 4.3%. This is significantly lower than the national default rate of 10.1%, which is a good sign that you'll be able to pay back your student loans.
Get more details about paying for University of Kentucky.
How Much Money Do UK Graduates Make?
Although some majors pay more than others, students who graduate from UK with a bachelor's degree go on to jobs where they make an average salary of $54,458 in their early years. This is good news for future UK graduates since it is 28% more than the average college graduate's salary of $42,485 per year.
See which majors at University of Kentucky make the most money.
Location of University of Kentucky
Located in Lexington, Kentucky, University of Kentucky is a public institution. The surrounding area of the school is a good match for students who enjoy city life.Get more details about the location of University of Kentucky.

Contact details for UK are given below.
Contact Details | |
---|---|
Address: | South Limestone, Lexington, KY 40506-0032 |
Phone: | 859-257-9000 |
Website: | www.uky.edu/ |
Facebook: | http://www.facebook.com/universityofky |
Twitter: | http://twitter.com/universityofky |
University of Kentucky Majors
During the most recent year for which we have data, students from 127 majors graduated from University of Kentucky. Of these students, 5,368 received undergraduate degrees and 2,178 graduated with a master's or doctor's degree. The following table lists the most popular undergraduate majors along with the average salary graduates from those majors make.Most Popular Majors | Bachelor’s Degrees | Average Salary of Graduates |
---|---|---|
Marketing | 343 | $38,713 |
General Business/Commerce | 324 | $41,792 |
Nursing | 293 | $58,034 |
Teacher Education Subject Specific | 278 | $29,771 |
Finance & Financial Management | 267 | $50,819 |
General Psychology | 256 | $24,569 |
Communication & Media Studies | 211 | $34,243 |
General Biology | 208 | $21,456 |
Accounting | 173 | $50,335 |
Mechanical Engineering | 169 | $62,556 |
Online Learning at UK
Online learning is becoming popular at even the oldest colleges and universities in the United States. Not only are online classes great for returning adults with busy schedules, they are also frequented by a growing number of traditional students.
In 2019-2020, 25,082 students took at least one online class at University of Kentucky. This is an increase from the 7,886 students who took online classes the previous year.
Year | Took at Least One Online Class | Took All Classes Online |
---|---|---|
2019-2020 | 25,082 | 4,976 |
2018-2019 | 7,886 | 1,992 |
2017-2018 | 7,038 | 1,622 |
2016-2017 | 6,984 | 1,469 |
2015-2016 | 6,409 | 1,415 |
Learn more about online learning at University of Kentucky.
Find Out More About University of Kentucky
Related Schools
If you’re considering University of Kentucky, here are some more schools you may be interested in knowing more about.
- Auburn University
- The City College of New York
- Michigan State University
- University of Massachusetts - Lowell
- University of Utah
Curious on how these schools stack up against UK? Pit them head to head with College Combat, our free interactive tool that lets you compare college on the features that matter most to you!
Notes and References
Footnotes
*The racial-ethnic minorities count is calculated by taking the total number of students and subtracting white students, international students, and students whose race/ethnicity was unknown. This number is then divided by the total number of students at the school to obtain the racial-ethnic minorities percentage.
References
- National Center for Education Statistics
- College Scorecard
- Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System
- Image Credit: By Seicer under License
More about our data sources and methodologies.