Lawrence County vs Shelby County

A side-by-side comparison of Lawrence County and Shelby County: population, income, housing, and more.

Lawrence County and Shelby County are counties in Indiana. This page compares them across population, income, housing, education, commuting, and how each has changed since 2019.

Shelby County has the higher population (45,104 vs 45,077 in Lawrence County). Shelby County has the higher median household income ($71,301 vs $65,551 in Lawrence County). Shelby County has the higher median home value ($188,300 vs $164,500 in Lawrence County).

Population, income & housing

	Lawrence County	Shelby County
Population	45,077	45,104
Median age	43.5 yrs	41.2 yrs
Median household income	$65,551	$71,301
Median home value	$164,500	$188,300
Median gross rent	$800	$956
Housing units	20,530	19,576
Homeownership rate	80.0%	73.8%
Bachelor's degree or higher	20.5%	19.4%
Unemployment rate	3.4%	4.0%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Lawrence County	Shelby County
Population	45,548 → 45,077 (-1.0%)	44,438 → 45,104 (+1.5%)
Median household income	$53,610 → $65,551 (+22.3%)	$60,404 → $71,301 (+18.0%)
Median home value	$117,400 → $164,500 (+40.1%)	$133,200 → $188,300 (+41.4%)
Median gross rent	$686 → $800 (+16.6%)	$801 → $956 (+19.4%)

Lawrence County

Population

45,54845,077

Median household income

$53,610$65,551

Median home value

$117,400$164,500

Median gross rent

$686$800

Shelby County

Population

44,43845,104

Median household income

$60,404$71,301

Median home value

$133,200$188,300

Median gross rent

$801$956

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Lawrence County	Shelby County
Under 5	5.5%	6.0%
5 to 17	15.8%	16.6%
18 to 24	7.6%	7.3%
25 to 34	11.4%	13.2%
35 to 44	11.7%	11.6%
45 to 54	13.1%	12.6%
55 to 64	14.8%	14.8%
65 to 74	11.8%	10.6%
75 and over	8.3%	7.3%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Lawrence County	Shelby County
White (non-Hispanic)	94.2%	90.5%
Black or African American	0.4%	1.2%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.0%	0.0%
Asian	0.6%	0.9%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.1%	0.0%
Some other race	0.6%	0.1%
Two or more races	2.3%	1.9%
Hispanic or Latino	1.9%	5.4%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Lawrence County	Shelby County
No high school diploma	9.6%	9.6%
High school graduate	38.4%	41.3%
Some college or associate's	31.5%	29.6%
Bachelor's degree	12.0%	13.4%
Graduate or professional degree	8.5%	6.0%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Lawrence County	Shelby County
Drove alone	81.9%	79.3%
Carpooled	9.7%	8.6%
Public transit	0.0%	0.0%
Walked	2.2%	1.9%
Bicycle	0.0%	0.6%
Worked from home	5.6%	8.5%
Other means	0.7%	1.0%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Lawrence County	Shelby County
1-unit, detached	78.2%	78.7%
1-unit, attached	1.2%	2.3%
2 to 4 units	4.3%	5.4%
5 to 19 units	4.5%	6.3%
20 or more units	2.3%	2.4%
Mobile home & other	9.5%	4.9%

Poverty & households

	Lawrence County	Shelby County
Poverty rate	11.3%	11.5%
Average household size	2.32	2.44
Mean commute (minutes)	26	25
Median year structure built	1975	1971