Louisville is Kentucky's largest city. It is ranked as either the 16th or 26th largest city in the United States depending on how the population is calculated. Louisville is most famous as the home of "The Most Exciting Two Minutes in Sports": the Kentucky Derby, the most widely watched event in American horse racing.

Note: All demographics are the same as that of Jefferson County, Kentucky, which merged with the former City of Louisville on January 6, 2003.

As of the census of 2000, there were 693,604 people, 287,012 households, and 183,113 families residing in the city/county. The population density was 695/km² (1,801/mi²). There were 305,835 housing units at an average density of 307/km² (794/mi²). The racial makeup of the city/county is 77.38% White, 18.88% Black or African American, 0.22% Native American, 1.39% Asian, 0.04% Pacific Islander, 0.68% from other races, and 1.42% from two or more races. 1.78% of the population were Hispanic or Latino of any race.

There were 287,012 households out of which 29.60% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 45.20% were married couples living together, 14.70% had a female householder with no husband present, and 36.20% were non-families. 30.50% of all households were made up of individuals and 10.30% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.37 and the average family size was 2.97.

The age distribution is 24.30% under the age of 18, 8.90% from 18 to 24, 30.40% from 25 to 44, 22.80% from 45 to 64, and 13.50% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 37 years. For every 100 females there were 91.60 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 87.60 males.

The median income for a household is $39,457, and the median income for a family was $49,161. Males had a median income of $36,484 versus $26,255 for females. The per capita income for the county was $22,352. About 9.50% of families and 12.40% of the population were below the poverty line, including 18.10% of those under age 18 and 8.80% of those age 65 or over.

There are 135,421 Catholic Louisvillians who attend 163 Catholic churches in the city. [11] The Cathedral of the Assumption located in downtown Louisville is the seat of the Archdiocese of Louisville. Our Lady of Gethsemani Abbey, the monastic home of Catholic writer Thomas Merton, is in nearby Bardstown, Kentucky and also located in the archdiocese. There is also a noticeably large Jewish population of around 10,000 in the city. Most Jewish families came from Russia at the turn of the 20th century with a sizable number (around 1,000) of Soviet Jews having moved to Louisville since 1991. A sizable number of Louisvillians belong to a Protestant faith. Southeast Christian Church, one of the largest Christian churches in the United States, is located in Louisville.

Many geographers consider Louisville to be Kentucky's primate city, since 17% of the state's population lives in Jefferson County and 25% live in counties in the Louisville CSA, and also Jefferson County has 2.5 times more people than Kentucky's second most populous county, Fayette County. Also, 12 of the 15 buildings in Kentucky over 300 feet are located in downtown Louisville. Over 1/3 of the population growth in Kentucky is in Louisville's CSA counties.

Information provided by Wikipedia .