What does R-5 zoning mean in Louisville?

R-5 is a single-family residential district under the Louisville Metro Land Development Code with smaller minimum lot sizes than R-4, allowing higher-density detached housing. The applicable Form District overlay also affects setbacks and building placement on the same lot.

How do I find the zoning for an address in Louisville?

Search the parcel on LOJIC, Louisville/Jefferson County's joint GIS mapping system, which returns the base zoning district and any Form District overlay for a given address. Louisville Metro Planning & Design Services can confirm the reading and any pending rezoning cases.

What is a Form District in Louisville zoning?

Form Districts are an overlay layer in the LDC — Downtown, Traditional Neighborhood, Suburban Workplace, and similar categories — that regulate building form, height, and street relationship independently of the underlying use-based zoning district. A parcel's development standards depend on both layers together.

Louisville, Kentucky · city zoning districts · 18 districts

Louisville, KY zoning map & districts

Louisville and Jefferson County merged into a single consolidated government in 2003, and the Louisville Metro Land Development Code (LDC) now governs zoning countywide. Louisville Metro Planning & Design Services administers the code, which layers traditional Euclidean zoning districts (the R-, C-, M-, and OR- series) with an overlay system of Form Districts — Downtown, Traditional Neighborhood, Traditional Marketplace, Suburban Workplace, and others — that regulate building placement, height, and street relationship independent of the underlying use district. A handful of independent cities inside Jefferson County (e.g., Anchorage, St. Matthews) retain their own separate zoning authority and are not governed by the Metro LDC.

The code Louisville Metro Land Development Code

Louisville zoning map

The interactive map needs JavaScript. See the official Jefferson County KY Zoning (LOJIC Open Data map) instead.

Residential 19
Special purpose 12
Mixed-use 11
Commercial 9
Industrial 5
Downtown / core 2
Other / unclassified 2

Source: Jefferson County KY Zoning (LOJIC Open Data map), retrieved 2026-08-30. Basemap: © OpenFreeMap © OpenMapTiles © OpenStreetMap contributors.

Find a district by address

District lookup only. No bulk standards and no ordinance citations are held for this city yet. Not a zoning verification.

Source: the official Jefferson County KY Zoning (LOJIC Open Data map) , retrieved 2026-08-30 — the authoritative source for current boundaries.

Louisville Metro Planning & Design Services administers the LDC; the official parcel-level zoning map is published through LOJIC (Louisville/Jefferson County Information Consortium), the joint city-county GIS system.

A published summary is never the authority. The adopted ordinance and the city's official zoning map govern, and both change — verify the district and every standard on your parcel before you rely on it.

How zoning works in Louisville

Developers should check both the base zoning district and the applicable Form District before designing a project, since the Form District often drives setbacks and massing more than the underlying zone. Planned Employment Center (PEC) and Enterprise Zone (EZ-1) districts are used for large master-planned business parks, and several waterfront (W-1/W-2/W-3) overlays apply along the Ohio River.

Louisville zoning districts by family

The 18 district codes below are the ones that decide most projects in Louisville, grouped by what they are for rather than by the order the ordinance prints them.

Key districts in the Louisville Metro Land Development Code — a curated reference, not the exhaustive list. Confirm against the current adopted code.
Code	District	What it is for
Residential 7 districts
R4	Single Family Residential	LOJIC codes are unhyphenated (R4, not R-4); the most common suburban single-family district.
R5	Single Family Residential (Small Lot)	Smaller minimum lot sizes than R4.
R5A	Multi-Family Residential	Apartment and multi-family development at moderate density.
R6	Multi-Family Residential	Higher-density apartment development.
R7	Multi-Family Residential (High Density)	High-density apartment districts near urban centers and transit corridors.
RR	Rural Residential	Large-lot, low-density residential outside the urban service area.
RE	Residential Estate	The lowest-density residential district, for large-lot estate housing.
Mixed-use 1 district
OR1	Office/Residential	Transitional district mixing office and residential uses; LOJIC code is OR1, not OR-1.
Commercial 3 districts
C1	Commercial	General commercial uses serving surrounding neighborhoods; LOJIC code is C1, not C-1.
C2	Commercial (Intensive)	Higher-intensity commercial uses, including larger-format retail and auto-oriented uses.
CN	Neighborhood Commercial	Small-scale retail and services compatible with adjacent residential blocks.
Downtown / core 1 district
C3	Central Business	Downtown core district permitting the most intensive commercial and mixed-use development.
Industrial 3 districts
M1	Industrial	Light manufacturing, processing, and wholesale distribution near major roads.
M2	Industrial	General industrial uses at higher intensity than M1.
M3	Industrial	The heaviest industrial district, for uses with the greatest external impact.
Special purpose 3 districts
PRD	Planned Residential Development	Custom-platted residential development approved through a binding site plan.
PEC	Planned Employment Center	Master-planned employment/business park combining office, light industrial, and commercial uses.
EZ1	Enterprise Zone	Enterprise-zone district offering incentive-linked development standards; missing from the prior list.

Louisville zoning — common questions

What does R-5 zoning mean in Louisville?: R-5 is a single-family residential district under the Louisville Metro Land Development Code with smaller minimum lot sizes than R-4, allowing higher-density detached housing. The applicable Form District overlay also affects setbacks and building placement on the same lot.
How do I find the zoning for an address in Louisville?: Search the parcel on LOJIC, Louisville/Jefferson County's joint GIS mapping system, which returns the base zoning district and any Form District overlay for a given address. Louisville Metro Planning & Design Services can confirm the reading and any pending rezoning cases.
What is a Form District in Louisville zoning?: Form Districts are an overlay layer in the LDC — Downtown, Traditional Neighborhood, Suburban Workplace, and similar categories — that regulate building form, height, and street relationship independently of the underlying use-based zoning district. A parcel's development standards depend on both layers together.

Working in Kentucky? Get on the list.

The parcel layer lands in the order demand does. Illinois went first because that's where the deals were; the next state is decided by who tells us what they're trying to underwrite. Tell us where you're building and what you wanted to run — you'll hear from us when Kentucky opens, and sooner if we need a test parcel.

Keep reading

← Kentucky zoning — who holds the zoning power in Kentucky, under which enabling statute, and the reforms that override local rules.

Other Kentucky cities

The zoning reference → — every state, plus city-level district guides like this one.

Louisville zoning summaries on this page are provided for information, not legal advice. Confirm every project against the current adopted code for the jurisdiction.