Shively is its own home-rule city inside Jefferson County, built along the Dixie Highway and Seventh Street Road corridors about five miles southwest of downtown Louisville. In the 12 months ending August 2026, 521 single-family homes closed in Shively's ZIP code, 40216, at a median price of about $219,000, up 1.9% from the year before. I'm Rob Bergeron, Owner–Realtor at Winner Realty in Louisville, Kentucky, and this guide covers what's actually selling in Shively real estate, the housing stock buyers are inspecting, and who tends to buy here — plus the Cloverleaf and St. Dennis areas and the northern part of Pleasure Ridge Park that share the same ZIP code.

• 521 single-family homes closed in ZIP 40216 in the 12 months ending August 2026, up 10.1% from the prior year.
• Median sold price: about $219,000, up 1.9% year over year — well below Jefferson County's roughly $281,000 median.
• Homes averaged 27.4 days on market and sold for about 99.1% of list price.
• Active listings reached 123 in August 2026, up 36.7% from August 2025, with 2.8 months of supply.
• Shively incorporated as a home-rule city on May 23, 1938, and has kept its own government ever since.
• Eight whiskey distilleries opened in the Shively area after Prohibition ended in 1933, including Stitzel-Weller in 1935.

Where Shively is and how to get around

Shively is a home-rule city of about 4.6 square miles entirely surrounded by Louisville Metro, roughly five miles southwest of downtown. Its boundaries run along Millers Lane and Bernheim Lane to the north, Seventh Street Road to the east, the Watterson Expressway (I-264) and the St. Dennis area to the west, and Rockford Lane and Pleasure Ridge Park to the south. Dixie Highway (US 31W/US 60), part of the old Dixie Highway national auto trail that predates the numbered federal highway system, runs through the middle of the city and is still its commercial spine, crossing Seventh Street Road near the geographic center of town. ZIP code 40216 stretches beyond Shively's city limits to also cover Cloverleaf, the unincorporated St. Dennis community, and the northern part of Pleasure Ridge Park; this guide's market data covers the whole ZIP.

Downtown Louisville is about 10 minutes away via Dixie Highway or the Watterson Expressway. I-264 runs along Shively's west side and connects quickly to I-65 south, putting UPS Worldport and Louisville Muhammad Ali International Airport (SDF) about 10 to 15 minutes out. Ford's Louisville Assembly Plant on Fern Valley Road is roughly 15 to 20 minutes away via I-264 to I-65 south. GE Appliance Park in Buechel and Ford's Kentucky Truck Plant in Jeffersontown are a longer drive, 25 to 30 minutes, on the far side of the county.

A short history of Shively

Shively takes its name from Christian and Jacob Shively, German immigrant brothers who settled the area before the Civil War and ran a mill and tavern on a 1,000-acre tract; Christian Shively donated land in 1816 for a church now known as Parkview Methodist. A stagecoach stop opened in 1831, the Elizabethtown and Paducah Railroad reached the area in the 1870s, and a streetcar line extended out from Louisville in 1904, turning the crossroads into a commuting community. St. Helen's Catholic Church, built by later Bavarian immigrants, dates to 1897, and Shively's post office opened in 1902.

Shively became its own home-rule city on May 23, 1938. The timing wasn't an accident: distillers operating in the area pushed for incorporation to avoid annexation by Louisville during the Depression, protecting what Shively's own account of its history puts at roughly $20 million in distillery revenue. Eight whiskey distilleries opened after Prohibition ended in 1933, including Stitzel-Weller, which opened on Derby Day in 1935 and today operates as a Bulleit Bourbon visitor site on the Kentucky Bourbon Trail. Brown-Forman still distills its Early Times brand, dating to 1860, at a plant in Shively. The city's population peaked at 19,223 in the 1970 census.

Shively home prices in 2026

• Closed sales (12 mo) — ZIP 40216 (Sep 2025–Aug 2026): 521 (up 10.1% year over year); Jefferson County: 10,339 (down 0.4%)
• Median sold price — ZIP 40216 (Sep 2025–Aug 2026): about $219,000 (up 1.9%); Jefferson County: about $281,000 (up about 3.5%)
• Average sold price — ZIP 40216 (Sep 2025–Aug 2026): about $214,000; Jefferson County: —
• Average days on market — ZIP 40216 (Sep 2025–Aug 2026): 27.4 days; Jefferson County: about 30 days
• Sale-to-list ratio — ZIP 40216 (Sep 2025–Aug 2026): 99.1%; Jefferson County: —
• Active listings, August 2026 — ZIP 40216 (Sep 2025–Aug 2026): 123 (up 36.7% year over year); Jefferson County: 2,433 (up 25.5%)
• Months of supply, August 2026 — ZIP 40216 (Sep 2025–Aug 2026): 2.8 months; Jefferson County: about 2.8 months
• Median list price of active listings — ZIP 40216 (Sep 2025–Aug 2026): about $229,000; Jefferson County: —

Source: Louisville MLS (Flexmls) single-family closed sales, ZIP 40216, Sep 2025–Aug 2026, pulled September 2026 by Winner Realty.

Closed sales in 40216 jumped 10.1% year over year to 521 — one of the stronger volume gains among the ZIP codes in this series — while the median sold price crept up just 1.9% to about $219,000. More sales at a price that barely moved is typical of a ZIP where most of the stock sits in a tight band under $300,000: there's room for more transactions without much room for the price itself to run.

At 99.1% of list price and 27.4 average days on market, Shively homes are selling close to full price and about as fast as the county average of roughly 30 days. Active inventory rose 36.7% to 123 listings by August 2026, but months of supply still sits at 2.8 — essentially identical to Jefferson County's overall 2.8 months. Shively isn't loosening any faster than the rest of the county; it's tracking it closely, just at a lower price point.

What's actually selling

In the most recent sample of 50 closed sales, spanning mid-August to mid-September 2026, 70% of Shively homes sold between $200,000 and $300,000 and another 26% closed under $200,000 — 96% of the market at or below $300,000, with essentially nothing above $400,000. The median closed price in that sample was $225,000 for a median 1,088 square feet, typically 3 bedrooms and 2 bathrooms.

The housing stock skews heavily toward one era: 78% of recent sales were built between 1950 and 1979, with another 12% built before 1950. Only 10% postdate 1980, and none of the sampled sales were built in 2016 or later — new construction is essentially absent from Shively's recent closings. The most frequent subdivision names among recent sales were Heatherfields and Northernburg (3 sales each), followed by Cedar Hills Acres, Briargate, Hunters Pointe, James Davis, Winners Circle, and Sunshine Meadows (2 each). Every sale in the sample was a standalone single-family home.

A typical recent sale: a 2-bed, 1-bath, 871-square-foot home built in 1956 closed at $225,000 after 32 days. On the low end, a 2-bed, 1-bath, 870-square-foot home built in 1952 in Whitehurst closed at $85,000 after 13 days. On the high end, a 3-bed, 4-bath, 1,614-square-foot home built in 1993 in Hunters Pointe closed at $378,000 after 16 days — still well under the county median, a reminder of how tightly Shively's whole price range is compressed.

Housing stock and what to inspect

With 78% of recent sales built between 1950 and 1979, Shively's housing stock is dominated by post-war brick ranches and a scattering of split-levels — the same era that fills most of southwest Louisville. For any home from that period, I tell buyers to budget for a sewer-lateral inspection: cast-iron and clay laterals, often Orangeburg pipe, are common in pre-1970 Louisville construction and prone to root intrusion and collapse. Homes wired between 1965 and 1973 sometimes still carry original aluminum branch wiring, which an inspector should flag if it hasn't already been pigtailed or replaced. The 12% of sales built before 1950 add an older set of questions — original cast-iron plumbing, knob-and-tube remnants, and foundation settling worth a close look.

Jefferson County sits in the EPA's Radon Zone 1, the agency's highest predicted-radon category, so a radon test is a standard add-on to any Louisville home inspection, Shively included. Shively is also inside the roughly 110-square-mile area the Ohio River Flood Protection System protects, but which FEMA zone a specific parcel falls into still varies block to block; I'd pull the determination before writing an offer. See our flood zone guide for Louisville buyers for how to check any address.

Parks, daily life, and what's nearby

Shively Park, at 3920 Dixie Highway, is the city's main recreational space — 21 acres with gazebos, tennis courts, a playground, a fountain, and a retired Army tank on display, next to Shively's police station, city hall, and library. Leeds Park, on Leeds Road, is a smaller neighborhood park with additional play equipment. Neither is an Olmsted-designed park, but two of Louisville's original Olmsted parks sit a short drive north — Shawnee Park along the Ohio River and Chickasaw Park on Southwestern Parkway, both in the 40211 and 40212 ZIP codes; see our guide to Olmsted parks and Louisville home values for what that frontage is worth. The nearest Louisville Loop trail segments run along the Southwestern Parkway Path and Algonquin Parkway Path past Chickasaw Park, continuing through the Rubbertown Path and the Levee Trail toward Riverside Gardens and Farnsley-Moremen Landing.

Dixie Highway and Seventh Street Road carry most of Shively's retail and grocery corridor, including the Southland Terrace shopping center on Seventh Street Road, and TARC runs bus service along both corridors into downtown.

Who should buy in Shively

First-time buyer under $250,000: the 26% of recent sales under $200,000, plus the lower half of the $200,000-to-$300,000 band, are mostly 1950s-to-1970s brick ranches — budget for the sewer-lateral and wiring checks above, but the entry price point is one of the more accessible in this series.

Move-up buyer wanting more square footage for the money: with 70% of sales landing in the $200,000-to-$300,000 band and a median of 1,088 square feet, Shively offers more house per dollar than ZIP codes closer to the Highlands or St. Matthews, though almost none of that stock is newer than 1999.

Downsizer wanting a single-level home: the post-war ranch stock that dominates 40216 works well for a one-story move; see our senior real estate services page for how we handle that transition.

Investor: with 96% of recent closings at or below $300,000 and a median 16 days on market, Shively is one of the more affordable entry points in this series for a rental purchase. I'd run the numbers on a specific address with our investment property analyzer rather than lean on a ZIP-wide rent estimate.

Commuter to UPS Worldport, SDF, or Ford's Louisville Assembly Plant: the I-264-to-I-65 access above is the draw — about 10 to 15 minutes to Worldport and the airport, 15 to 20 minutes to Ford's Fern Valley Road plant.

Selling a home in Shively

At 99.1% of list price and 27.4 average days on market, sellers in Shively are getting close to full asking when a home is priced to the 1950s-to-1970s comp set that dominates the market. With months of supply at 2.8 — right in line with the county — this isn't a market where an overpriced listing sits for long without a price cut, but it also isn't so tight that careless pricing gets rewarded. Closings were heaviest in October 2025 (61 sales) and again from April through June 2026 (57, 54, and 56 sales), and lightest in November 2025 (28) and February 2026 (29) — list toward spring for the deepest buyer pool.

Before you list, get a real number instead of an algorithm's guess — start with our home value estimate and run your proceeds through the seller net proceeds calculator. Winner Realty listings also go out to The Morning Bergeron's 60,000-plus subscribers and to OffMarket.deals' investor audience.

Shively is one of the 10 busiest neighborhoods for home sales in Louisville over the past year. If you're weighing a nearby ZIP too, our guides to Valley Station and Iroquois Park & the South End cover the neighborhoods closest to 40216 in location and price.

Frequently asked questions

Is Shively in Louisville or its own city?

Shively is its own home-rule city, incorporated May 23, 1938, with its own mayor, city council, and police department — unlike most of the neighborhoods in this series, it is not part of Louisville Metro government. It sits entirely within Jefferson County and is bordered by Louisville Metro on nearly every side.

What ZIP code is Shively?

Shively shares ZIP code 40216 with the Cloverleaf neighborhood, the unincorporated St. Dennis community, and the northern part of Pleasure Ridge Park.

How much does a house cost in Shively?

The median closed sale price in ZIP 40216 was about $219,000 over the 12 months ending August 2026, up 1.9% from the year before. About 70% of recent sales closed between $200,000 and $300,000.

How far is Shively from downtown Louisville?

Downtown Louisville is about 10 minutes from Shively via Dixie Highway or the Watterson Expressway (I-264), depending on traffic and where you start.

What school district serves Shively?

Jefferson County Public Schools serves Shively, as it does the rest of Jefferson County outside the small independent districts in eastern Louisville.

Did Shively's distilleries shape the city's history?

Yes. Eight whiskey distilleries opened in the Shively area after Prohibition ended in 1933, and Shively incorporated as its own city in 1938 partly so those distillers could avoid annexation by Louisville. Stitzel-Weller opened in 1935 and is now a Bulleit Bourbon visitor site, and Brown-Forman still distills its Early Times brand at a plant in Shively.

Talk to Winner Realty

If you own a home in Shively, Cloverleaf, or St. Dennis and want to know what it's worth against the Heatherfields, Northernburg, or Hunters Pointe sales closing right now, send me your street and I'll put together a free comp report for your block. I can also set you up on an alert for what's coming to market in 40216 before it hits the public listing sites. Book a call and we'll get started.

Rob Bergeron is the Owner–Realtor of Winner Realty, an award-winning Louisville, Kentucky brokerage, and writes The Morning Bergeron, a daily Louisville real-estate newsletter read by more than 60,000 people. Kentucky license #219325.