Paducah is a city in McCracken County, Kentucky at the confluence of the Tennessee River and the Ohio River. The population was 26,307 at the 2000 census. It is the county seat of McCracken County. Twenty blocks of the Paducah Downtown Commercial District have been placed on the National Register of Historic Places.

Paducah is located at 37°4′20″N, 88°37′39″W (37.072226, -88.627436). According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of 50.5 km² (19.5 mi²). 50.5 km² (19.5 mi²) of it is land and 0.1 km² (0.04 mi²) of it (0.10%) is water. Paducah is the largest city in the Jackson Purchase Region of Western Kentucky. It is one of two cities named Paducah located in the United States. The other Paducah is in the state of Texas, near the panhandle, and was named after Paducah, Kentucky.