Corbin is a home rule-class city[4] in Whitley, Knox and Laurel counties in the southeastern portion of the U.S. state of Kentucky.

[8] In March 2022, the Corbin City Commission approved an annexation request for a property in Laurel County.

Corbin lies in the Cumberland Plateau region of Appalachia in southeastern Kentucky, along Interstate 75 and U.S. Route 25W.

Precipitation is common year-round but more prevalent in the summer months—the surrounding mountains somewhat moderate Corbin's climate.

Initially provided by L&N Railroad, rail transport was the backbone of the local economy in the first half of the 20th century.

While the railroad (presently CSX) continues to play an important role, the decline of the rail industry in the latter half of the 20th century, as well as the loss of some manufacturing jobs, has prompted the community to begin diversifying its economy.

NIBROC often features free performances by popular musical acts such as 38 Special, Foghat, Joan Jett and the Blackhearts, Kansas, The Marshall Tucker Band, Percy Sledge, Rick Springfield, Starship, Styx and The Turtles.

Corbin appears in the animated cartoon South Park's episode "Medicinal Fried Chicken", wherein Eric Cartman visits the town to meet with Harland Sanders.

Corbin is depicted as located in a lush rain forest in a parody of the 1983 film Scarface, wherein Tony Montana and Omar Suarez visit Bolivia to meet with a drug kingpin.

Since it does not have a mayor/alderman form of government, Corbin is considered home rule-class under Kentucky's city classification system that took effect in 2015.

Trent Knuckles, David Grigsby Hart, Ed Tye, and Andrew Pennington are its four current commissioners.[when?

Many built-up areas in neighboring Laurel County have a Corbin postal address but lie outside the city limits.

[21] On May 23, 2014, the Kentucky Court of Appeals ruled that the "Stivers amendment", passed as part of KY HB 499 "Tax Amnesty" legislation in 2012, did not violate the state's constitution.

The measure essentially canceled the effect of court rulings that would have enabled Corbin to keep all the revenue from the tax generated inside the city limits.

Corbin's mayor, Willard McBurney, vowed to carry the fight to the state Supreme Court.

The annual Battle for the Brass Lantern, a college football rivalry game between the University of the Cumberlands and Union Commonwealth University (formerly Union College), was played at Corbin High School's stadium in 2006 and 2007, as a neutral field roughly equidistant from the two campuses.

[23] Corbin was formerly home to Saint Camillus Academy, a private pre-K-8 Catholic school affiliated with the Diocese of Lexington.

The new school building is still situated atop a prominent hill overlooking the town, providing a striking backdrop to the streets of downtown Corbin.