Kentucky · NAICS 71 · Annual, 2025

Arts, Entertainment, and Recreation in Kentucky

Employment, establishments and average pay for NAICS 71 in Kentucky, 2004–2025, from DTG's QCEW-based estimates.

In 2025, Arts, Entertainment, and Recreation (NAICS 71) employed about 30,200 people in Kentucky across roughly 2,158 establishments, with average annual pay of $35,500.

Employment in Arts, Entertainment, and Recreation in Kentucky grew 47.7% from 2020 to 2025. Average pay in the industry is 43.3% below the all-industries average in Kentucky. Employment reached its 2004–2025 peak in 2025, at about 30,200. Quarterly values, full industry detail and projections to 2036 for Kentucky are included with a free account. County-level detail is part of every paid plan, or one county free for seven days.

  • 30,200Employment, 2025
  • 2,158Establishments
  • $35,500Avg. annual pay
  • 1.5%Share of Kentucky jobs
  • 0.78Location quotient

Employment, 2004 to 2025

Annual average · all ownerships

Employment in Arts, Entertainment, and Recreation in Kentucky, 2004–2025Line chart of annual employment from 2004 to 2025, from 22,000 to 30,200.010K20K30K40K20042010201520202025

Annual employment, 2004–2025: 2004 22,000; 2005 22,100; 2006 22,500; 2007 22,800; 2008 22,200; 2009 22,800; 2010 21,900; 2011 21,000; 2012 22,300; 2013 22,600; 2014 22,600; 2015 23,700; 2016 24,500; 2017 25,600; 2018 25,900; 2019 26,700; 2020 20,400; 2021 23,300; 2022 25,800; 2023 28,200; 2024 29,700; 2025 30,200.

Last ten years

Annual · 10 years

YearEmploymentEstab.Avg. annual payChangeSource
202530,1842,158$35,497 1.5%pub.
202429,7292,096$34,690 5.3%pub.
202328,2282,002$33,223 9.5%pub.
202225,7771,873$32,147 10.7%pub.
202123,2961,788$29,182 14.0%pub.
202020,4301,733$29,449 23.4%pub.
201926,6551,670$24,234 2.9%pub.
201825,9001,649$23,508 1.4%pub.
201725,5511,636$22,544 4.1%pub.
201624,5431,664$22,201 3.7%pub.

† Not disclosed in QCEW; DTG estimate.

The full history from 2004 and quarterly values are available with a free account.

By subsector, 2025

3-digit NAICS · 3 shown

CodeSubsectorEmploymentShare of arts, entertainment, and recreationLQSource
711Performing Arts, Spectator Sports, and Related Industries7,27424.1%0.96est. · 0.99
712Museums, Historical Sites, and Similar Institutions4,33814.4%1.31est. · 0.95
713Amusement, Gambling, and Recreation Industries18,57161.5%0.66est. · 1.00

† Not disclosed in QCEW; DTG estimate.

Where these numbers come from

Reading these figures

The figures on this page come from one named vintage, stated below, and are annual values for all ownerships combined. Where QCEW withheld a value, the marked figure is an estimate that DTG produced under the constraints of the published record; suppression is a property of QCEW, not of DTG, and a withheld value is marked rather than silently omitted. Two things DTG itself holds back, and says so where it does: an estimate that cannot be given a reliability score is not shown, and average pay is not shown where fewer than three jobs are reported. The row is marked withheld, with the reason in a note beneath the table. The mark is on every row that carries a value: the headline, the yearly history, the subsectors and the other states. An estimated value that rounds below one is shown as less than one, not as zero. Quarterly figures, county figures and projected years are in the app.

How this figure was built

Employment is the average of the three monthly counts in each quarter, averaged across the year, and establishments are averaged across the year the same way. Average annual pay is the year’s total wages divided by that average employment. Each of these is DTG’s value: QCEW’s published figure where QCEW disclosed it, and DTG’s estimate, marked, where it did not. How withheld values are estimated, and what the reliability score beside a figure means, are described on the industry data and disclosure and provenance pages.

Estimated by Data Tactical Group from BLS QCEW, with CES/SAE and projection inputs described in the methodology. Method: Disclosure, Industry.

Notes

Data Tactical Group is an independent company and is not affiliated with or endorsed by any federal agency.

Arts, Entertainment, and Recreation in Kentucky, quarterly, at full depth

This page shows annual figures for arts, entertainment, and recreation in Kentucky. A free account shows every detailed industry beneath it, quarterly, for every state, with projections to ten years. No card.

County figures, file export and the API are on paid plans.