Prospect is a city situated in the far southwestern part of Oldham and northeastern part of Jefferson Counties, which is in the US state of Kentucky. It is particularly found along the Ohio River and is one of the cities in Jefferson County that extends into another county. It is ranked as the third wealthiest place having over 1,000 inhabitants and the ninth wealthiest place in Kentucky.
Prospect, along with the rest of the area, was first established in the late 18th century. It was agricultural at first until the Louisville, Harrods Creek and Westport Railroad was constructed in the 1970s.
Originally, the area where Prospect is located was called "Sand Hill"; around 1900, its new, self-proclaimed name came out when it was time to pick a name for a post office.
Since the late 1800s, Prospect remained largely agricultural although some luxury residences emerged within its area. It was then developed in the mid- 1960s when a number of large and high-end subdivisions were constructed, one of which was a golf course known as Hunting Creek. In 1974, Prospect incorporated as a city.
Based on the survey conducted by the United States Census Bureau in 2000, Prospect had a total population of 4,657 and a total area of 4.0 square miles, none of which is water. It was composed of 1,423 families and 1,732 households. The average size of a family was 3.01 whereas the average size of a household was 2.69. Out of the households, 4.4% had a female head of household, 38.0% had children below 18 years of age, 76.3% were married couples, 17.8% were non-family members, 15.8% were single individuals, and 5.1 had someone living alone at the age of 65 or above.
The median income for every household within the city was $111,170, and the median income for every family was $124,131. Males had a median income of $100,000 while females had a median income of $42,159. The city had a per capita income of $51,469, with 1.5% of the population and 0.8% of the families living below the poverty line.
Prospect's population density was 1,158.4 people per square mile, with an average housing density of 459.4 per square mile, based on 1,847 housing units within the city. The city was comprised 92.91% Caucasian, 3.39% African American, 2.06% Asian, 0.26% Native American, and 0.02% Pacific Islander. Moreover, 1.14% consisted of those from two or more races and 0.21% was comprised of those from other races. Hispanics made up 0.64% of the population.
Out of the city total population, 27.5% were below 18 years old, 3.7% were 18 to 24 years old, 23.3% were 25 to 44 years old, 35.5% were 45 to 64 years old, and 10.1% were 65 years old and above. The median age of the population was 43 years. There were about 97.2 males for every 100 females; and for every 100 females at the age of 18 or above, there were 94.8 males from the same age group.
Among its residents, 69.9% were adults having a baccalaureate degree or higher and 74.4% were made up of adults at age 25 or older holding an associate degree or higher. Consequently, it was Kentucky's best-educated city.
The city's zip code is 40059 and the area code is 502.