Paintsville vs Van Lear

A side-by-side comparison of Paintsville and Van Lear: population, income, housing, and more.

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

Paintsville has the higher population (4,256 vs 520 in Van Lear). Van Lear has the higher median household income ($32,895 vs $26,713 in Paintsville). Paintsville has the higher median home value ($110,800 vs $77,500 in Van Lear).

Population, income & housing

	Paintsville	Van Lear
Population	4,256	520
Median age	41.9 yrs	42.5 yrs
Median household income	$26,713	$32,895
Median home value	$110,800	$77,500
Median gross rent	$631	—
Housing units	2,157	410
Homeownership rate	36.7%	73.0%
Bachelor's degree or higher	17.2%	21.4%
Unemployment rate	4.2%	0.0%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Paintsville	Van Lear
Population	4,090 → 4,256 (+4.1%)	477 → 520 (+9.0%)
Median household income	$31,550 → $26,713 (-15.3%)	$36,354 → $32,895 (-9.5%)
Median home value	$161,200 → $110,800 (-31.3%)	$76,800 → $77,500 (+0.9%)
Median gross rent	$571 → $631 (+10.5%)	—

Paintsville

Population

4,0904,256

Median household income

$31,550$26,713

Median home value

$161,200$110,800

Median gross rent

$571$631

Van Lear

Population

477520

Median household income

$36,354$32,895

Median home value

$76,800$77,500

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Paintsville	Van Lear
Under 5	4.6%	4.2%
5 to 17	20.0%	20.6%
18 to 24	10.5%	8.8%
25 to 34	7.4%	5.2%
35 to 44	10.1%	18.8%
45 to 54	17.2%	2.1%
55 to 64	18.3%	24.2%
65 to 74	7.9%	8.3%
75 and over	3.9%	7.7%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Paintsville	Van Lear
White (non-Hispanic)	94.5%	88.7%
Black or African American	0.4%	8.5%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.3%	2.9%
Asian	2.9%	0.0%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.0%	0.0%
Some other race	0.0%	0.0%
Two or more races	1.7%	0.0%
Hispanic or Latino	0.3%	0.0%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Paintsville	Van Lear
No high school diploma	17.8%	6.4%
High school graduate	43.7%	44.1%
Some college or associate's	21.3%	28.1%
Bachelor's degree	8.5%	6.1%
Graduate or professional degree	8.7%	15.4%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Paintsville	Van Lear
Drove alone	78.7%	80.2%
Carpooled	3.8%	19.8%
Public transit	0.0%	0.0%
Walked	2.1%	0.0%
Bicycle	0.0%	0.0%
Worked from home	15.4%	0.0%
Other means	0.0%	0.0%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Paintsville	Van Lear
1-unit, detached	50.9%	77.8%
1-unit, attached	2.6%	0.0%
2 to 4 units	11.3%	0.0%
5 to 19 units	17.9%	3.7%
20 or more units	12.0%	0.0%
Mobile home & other	5.3%	18.5%

Poverty & households

	Paintsville	Van Lear
Poverty rate	34.7%	29.4%
Average household size	2.28	2.06
Mean commute (minutes)	18	21
Median year structure built	1976	1974