Many residents work for CSX Transportation, Marathon Petroleum, or King's Daughters Medical Center.

Flatwoods is named for the area's unique topography, a belt of flat wooded land in the ancient Teays River valley on an elevation of approximately 650 feet (200 m) or higher, just south of and 150 feet (46 m) higher than the Ohio River valley.

The availability of flat level land and low tax rates made Flatwoods a local hot spot of new construction in the 1950s and 1960s, when many upper-middle-class tract housing developments were built and quickly inhabited.

A main contributor to Flatwoods' growth was the fact that nearby Ashland had developed much of its available land prior to 1960, with little new construction possible within its corporation limits.

According to the United States Census Bureau, Flatwoods has a total area of 3.2 square miles (8.4 km2), all land.

[7] The topography of Flatwoods is uncharacteristic to eastern Kentucky in that it consists of flat to rolling land on a single elevated hill.

In eastern Kentucky, the dissected plateau landscape often referred to as "hill and valley" is standard terrain for the surrounding region.

Some students in a small section of the city near The French Oaks golf course attend the Raceland–Worthington Independent Schools.

In addition, surrounding fire and police departments are in a mutual aid agreement with the city of Flatwoods.