McDowell vs Prestonsburg

A side-by-side comparison of McDowell and Prestonsburg: population, income, housing, and more.

McDowell and Prestonsburg are places in Kentucky. This page compares them across population, income, housing, education, commuting, and how each has changed since 2019.

Prestonsburg has the higher population (3,823 vs 549 in McDowell). McDowell has the higher median household income ($35,576 vs $27,265 in Prestonsburg). Prestonsburg has the higher median home value ($157,200 vs $73,600 in McDowell).

Population, income & housing

	McDowell	Prestonsburg
Population	549	3,823
Median age	55.2 yrs	35.0 yrs
Median household income	$35,576	$27,265
Median home value	$73,600	$157,200
Median gross rent	—	$456
Housing units	344	1,633
Homeownership rate	82.5%	46.5%
Bachelor's degree or higher	26.2%	17.4%
Unemployment rate	28.9%	15.4%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	McDowell	Prestonsburg
Population	656 → 549 (-16.3%)	3,591 → 3,823 (+6.5%)
Median household income	$28,319 → $35,576 (+25.6%)	$26,563 → $27,265 (+2.6%)
Median home value	$70,400 → $73,600 (+4.5%)	$113,300 → $157,200 (+38.7%)
Median gross rent	$411 → $835 (+103.2%)	$600 → $456 (-24.0%)

McDowell

Population

656549

Median household income

$28,319$35,576

Median home value

$70,400$73,600

Median gross rent

$411$835

Prestonsburg

Population

3,5913,823

Median household income

$26,563$27,265

Median home value

$113,300$157,200

Median gross rent

$600$456

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	McDowell	Prestonsburg
Under 5	6.7%	4.9%
5 to 17	13.5%	17.3%
18 to 24	1.8%	14.2%
25 to 34	13.7%	13.5%
35 to 44	0.4%	12.5%
45 to 54	12.4%	8.6%
55 to 64	21.3%	5.9%
65 to 74	11.7%	13.9%
75 and over	18.6%	9.3%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	McDowell	Prestonsburg
White (non-Hispanic)	99.6%	93.7%
Black or African American	0.4%	2.4%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.0%	0.0%
Asian	0.0%	0.2%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.0%	0.0%
Some other race	0.0%	0.0%
Two or more races	0.0%	3.5%
Hispanic or Latino	0.0%	0.2%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	McDowell	Prestonsburg
No high school diploma	11.2%	22.3%
High school graduate	38.8%	36.8%
Some college or associate's	23.8%	23.5%
Bachelor's degree	8.9%	12.1%
Graduate or professional degree	17.3%	5.3%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	McDowell	Prestonsburg
Drove alone	71.6%	80.2%
Carpooled	18.2%	10.7%
Public transit	0.0%	0.0%
Walked	10.2%	2.4%
Bicycle	0.0%	0.0%
Worked from home	0.0%	6.7%
Other means	0.0%	0.0%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	McDowell	Prestonsburg
1-unit, detached	62.2%	58.6%
1-unit, attached	4.7%	0.7%
2 to 4 units	15.1%	18.0%
5 to 19 units	0.0%	12.0%
20 or more units	0.0%	6.5%
Mobile home & other	18.0%	4.2%

Poverty & households

	McDowell	Prestonsburg
Poverty rate	41.0%	44.0%
Average household size	1.99	2.26
Mean commute (minutes)	—	18
Median year structure built	1985	1973