Bowling Green vs Oakland

A side-by-side comparison of Bowling Green and Oakland: population, income, housing, and more.

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

Bowling Green has the higher population (73,638 vs 230 in Oakland). Bowling Green has the higher median home value ($232,100 vs $142,200 in Oakland). Since 2019, Bowling Green's population has grown faster (+8.9% vs -0.9%).

Population, income & housing

	Bowling Green	Oakland
Population	73,638	230
Median age	27.9 yrs	51.5 yrs
Median household income	$48,419	—
Median home value	$232,100	$142,200
Median gross rent	$948	$900
Housing units	32,726	119
Homeownership rate	37.3%	87.2%
Bachelor's degree or higher	32.0%	24.4%
Unemployment rate	5.1%	0.9%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Bowling Green	Oakland
Population	67,600 → 73,638 (+8.9%)	232 → 230 (-0.9%)
Median household income	$42,216 → $48,419 (+14.7%)	$44,000 → $38,750 (-11.9%)
Median home value	$161,000 → $232,100 (+44.2%)	$122,400 → $142,200 (+16.2%)
Median gross rent	$778 → $948 (+21.9%)	$636 → $900 (+41.5%)

Bowling Green

Population

67,60073,638

Median household income

$42,216$48,419

Median home value

$161,000$232,100

Median gross rent

$778$948

Oakland

Population

232230

Median household income

$44,000$38,750

Median home value

$122,400$142,200

Median gross rent

$636$900

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Bowling Green	Oakland
Under 5	6.7%	12.2%
5 to 17	16.2%	4.8%
18 to 24	22.1%	4.8%
25 to 34	14.9%	5.7%
35 to 44	12.3%	12.6%
45 to 54	8.8%	15.7%
55 to 64	8.1%	19.6%
65 to 74	6.4%	18.7%
75 and over	4.6%	6.1%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Bowling Green	Oakland
White (non-Hispanic)	63.2%	90.0%
Black or African American	12.7%	8.7%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.1%	0.0%
Asian	7.2%	0.0%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.9%	0.0%
Some other race	0.2%	0.0%
Two or more races	5.0%	0.4%
Hispanic or Latino	10.7%	0.9%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Bowling Green	Oakland
No high school diploma	14.5%	1.7%
High school graduate	25.2%	42.2%
Some college or associate's	28.3%	31.7%
Bachelor's degree	19.3%	13.9%
Graduate or professional degree	12.7%	10.6%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Bowling Green	Oakland
Drove alone	74.5%	83.3%
Carpooled	13.6%	7.4%
Public transit	0.3%	0.0%
Walked	4.7%	0.0%
Bicycle	0.3%	0.0%
Worked from home	5.2%	9.3%
Other means	1.4%	0.0%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Bowling Green	Oakland
1-unit, detached	44.9%	100.0%
1-unit, attached	2.7%	0.0%
2 to 4 units	17.8%	0.0%
5 to 19 units	21.9%	0.0%
20 or more units	8.6%	0.0%
Mobile home & other	4.2%	0.0%

Poverty & households

	Bowling Green	Oakland
Poverty rate	25.4%	18.3%
Average household size	2.29	2.11
Mean commute (minutes)	19	31
Median year structure built	1991	1976