Nonprofits in Kentucky
The IRS recognises 22,690 tax-exempt organizations with a Kentucky address, rank 29 of 51. 1,777 of them have a Form 990 on record.
American Factbook Research
At a glance
- 22,690
- Organizations recognised
- Registration, not activity.
- 18,284
- Recognised under 501(c)(3)
- The charitable subsection.
- 1,777
- With a Form 990 on record
- The only organizations with financial figures here.
- 494.5
- Per 100,000 residents
- Census resident population as the denominator.
- $45,126,789,471
- Revenue reported
- Summed across filings, each for a different year.
- 1.2%
- Share of all US organizations
- Of 1,964,958 recognised nationally.
Taken from the IRS on September 19, 2026. Address of record, which is not necessarily where an organization operates.
Largest by revenue
2 more columns on a wider screen
| Rank | Organization | Revenue |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | BAPTIST HEALTHCARE SYSTEM INC | $4,712,737,148 |
| 2 | NORTON HOSPITALS INC | $3,371,281,873 |
| 3 | ST ELIZABETH MEDICAL CENTER INC | $2,186,211,019 |
| 4 | UOFL HEALTH-LOUISVILLE INC | $1,274,552,208 |
| 5 | EAST KENTUCKY POWER COOPERATIVE INC | $1,153,304,339 |
| 6 | APPALACHIAN REGIONAL HEALTHCARE INC | $1,078,005,401 |
| 7 | UNIVERSITY MEDICAL CENTER INC | $1,071,307,710 |
| 8 | ASHLAND HOSPITAL CORPORATION | $1,006,610,598 |
| 9 | COMMUNITY MEDICAL ASSOCIATES INC | $919,748,939 |
| 10 | BAPTIST HEALTH MEDICAL GROUP INC | $917,749,201 |
| 11 | OWENSBORO HEALTH REGIONAL HOSPITAL | $888,669,741 |
| 12 | BOWLING GREEN-WARREN COUNTY COMMUNITY HOSPITAL CORPORATION | $838,779,513 |
| 13 | PIKEVILLE MEDICAL CENTER INC | $789,640,637 |
| 14 | NORTON HEALTHCARE INC | $759,365,626 |
| 15 | UNIVERSITY OF LOUISVILLE RESEARCH FOUNDATION INC | $651,047,384 |
The fifteen largest with a filing on record. Organizations without one are counted above but have no figures to rank.
Largest by assets
2 more columns on a wider screen
| Rank | Organization | Assets |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | BAPTIST HEALTHCARE SYSTEM INC | $5,793,527,260 |
| 2 | NORTON HOSPITALS INC | $4,590,299,021 |
| 3 | EAST KENTUCKY POWER COOPERATIVE INC | $3,883,147,227 |
| 4 | ST ELIZABETH MEDICAL CENTER INC | $3,365,327,819 |
| 5 | OWENSBORO HEALTH REGIONAL HOSPITAL | $2,841,051,978 |
| 6 | NORTON HEALTHCARE INC | $2,604,396,769 |
| 7 | APPALACHIAN REGIONAL HEALTHCARE INC | $1,690,508,848 |
| 8 | ASHLAND HOSPITAL CORPORATION | $1,411,623,047 |
| 9 | BOWLING GREEN-WARREN COUNTY COMMUNITY HOSPITAL CORPORATION | $1,285,463,047 |
| 10 | UNIVERSITY MEDICAL CENTER INC | $1,062,047,011 |
Book value at the end of the year, which is what all three forms report.
Highest reported compensation
2 more columns on a wider screen
| Rank | Organization | Reported compensation |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | BAPTIST HEALTHCARE SYSTEM INC | $5,838,744 |
| 2 | UNIVERSITY OF LOUISVILLE ATHLETIC | $5,107,465 |
| 3 | COMMUNITY MEDICAL ASSOCIATES INC | $4,115,838 |
| 4 | NORTON HEALTHCARE INC | $4,115,838 |
| 5 | NORTON HOSPITALS INC | $4,115,838 |
| 6 | UNIVERSITY OF KENTUCKY RESEARCH FOUNDATION | $2,220,088 |
| 7 | PIKEVILLE MEDICAL CENTER INC | $1,969,159 |
| 8 | BAPTIST HEALTH MEDICAL GROUP INC | $1,807,720 |
| 9 | EAST KENTUCKY POWER COOPERATIVE INC | $1,771,853 |
| 10 | UOFL HEALTH-LOUISVILLE INC | $1,750,207 |
The largest amount an organization here reported paying one person, as reported.
What they do
| Category | Organizations |
|---|---|
| Education | 190 |
| Human Services | 184 |
| Health Care | 174 |
| Philanthropy, Voluntarism and Grantmaking Foundations | 157 |
| Community Improvement and Capacity Building | 76 |
| Arts, Culture and Humanities | 59 |
| Housing and Shelter | 59 |
| Recreation and Sports | 52 |
| Mental Health and Crisis Intervention | 48 |
| Religion-Related | 35 |
Organizations the IRS never classified do not appear here. A code is assigned at registration and rarely updated, so it describes what an organization said it would do.
Nearest by count
| Rank | State | Organizations |
|---|---|---|
| 28 | Connecticut | 23,649 |
| 30 | Oklahoma | 22,406 |
Kentucky elsewhere on the Factbook
- Reported crimeCrime and justice
Offenses reported to police by type, the trend, and the reporting coverage.
- Cities by violent crime rateCrime and justice
What each agency serving 25,000 or more reported, ranked. Agency populations overlap, so these do not add up to the state.
- Prison populationCrime and justice
People held under the state’s correctional authority, and the imprisonment rate. A different publisher counting a different thing.
- Arrests by race, sex and ageCrime and justice
Arrests as the FBI’s participating agencies reported them, with what the figures can and cannot support at the top.
- Hate crimeCrime and justice
Incidents reported to the FBI by bias motivation, as counts — the collection publishes no participation share, so there is no rate to compare states on.
- Federal obligationsFederal spending
What federal agencies obligated against a place of performance in the state, per resident and by agency.
- Payments to doctorsHealth
What drug and device companies reported paying doctors with a practice address in the state, and the largest recipients.
- The Kentucky Factbook entryAcross the Factbook
Every measure the Factbook publishes for this state in one place, each with where it ranks among the others and the record it came from.
The immigration hub has no page for a state: CBP publishes by sector and field office, which are its own areas of responsibility rather than a geography, so assigning them to states would be a claim the data does not make. Immigration and the border.
Compared with Oklahoma.
Full rankings: largest by revenue, largest by assets, and largest grantmakers, and highest reported officer compensation. All organizations: nonprofits.
What this page cannot show
- The state is the organization’s address of record with the IRS. A national charity registered here operates elsewhere too.
- Churches need not apply for recognition, so they are under-represented, and the ones here are those that chose to apply.
- Financial figures exist only for organizations with a Form 990 on record, and each describes whichever year that organization last reported.
Full method at methodology.
Sources
- Exempt Organizations Business Master File — Internal Revenue Service · U.S. Government work, public domain (17 U.S.C. 105) · retrieved September 21, 2026
- Form 990 series e-file data · retrieved September 19, 2026
Data retrieved