Barren County vs Shelby County

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

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

Shelby County has the higher population (48,599 vs 44,670 in Barren County). Shelby County has the higher median household income ($82,671 vs $49,171 in Barren County). Shelby County has the higher median home value ($277,500 vs $166,900 in Barren County).

Population, income & housing

	Barren County	Shelby County
Population	44,670	48,599
Median age	40.1 yrs	40.9 yrs
Median household income	$49,171	$82,671
Median home value	$166,900	$277,500
Median gross rent	$784	$998
Housing units	20,107	19,216
Homeownership rate	65.2%	74.1%
Bachelor's degree or higher	17.8%	31.0%
Unemployment rate	4.8%	2.8%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Barren County	Shelby County
Population	43,884 → 44,670 (+1.8%)	47,325 → 48,599 (+2.7%)
Median household income	$41,459 → $49,171 (+18.6%)	$67,056 → $82,671 (+23.3%)
Median home value	$125,400 → $166,900 (+33.1%)	$197,300 → $277,500 (+40.6%)
Median gross rent	$681 → $784 (+15.1%)	$849 → $998 (+17.6%)

Barren County

Population

43,88444,670

Median household income

$41,459$49,171

Median home value

$125,400$166,900

Median gross rent

$681$784

Shelby County

Population

47,32548,599

Median household income

$67,056$82,671

Median home value

$197,300$277,500

Median gross rent

$849$998

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Barren County	Shelby County
Under 5	5.9%	5.8%
5 to 17	17.8%	16.5%
18 to 24	7.2%	8.1%
25 to 34	12.6%	11.7%
35 to 44	12.6%	12.9%
45 to 54	12.5%	14.2%
55 to 64	13.5%	13.9%
65 to 74	10.7%	10.6%
75 and over	7.2%	6.3%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Barren County	Shelby County
White (non-Hispanic)	88.1%	78.1%
Black or African American	3.6%	4.5%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.0%	0.1%
Asian	0.8%	1.1%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.0%	0.0%
Some other race	0.4%	0.4%
Two or more races	2.8%	5.0%
Hispanic or Latino	4.3%	10.8%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Barren County	Shelby County
No high school diploma	13.5%	11.8%
High school graduate	42.9%	28.9%
Some college or associate's	25.8%	28.2%
Bachelor's degree	11.1%	19.7%
Graduate or professional degree	6.8%	11.4%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Barren County	Shelby County
Drove alone	76.9%	75.3%
Carpooled	12.9%	11.2%
Public transit	0.4%	0.5%
Walked	1.6%	0.7%
Bicycle	0.0%	0.1%
Worked from home	6.6%	11.4%
Other means	1.5%	0.9%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Barren County	Shelby County
1-unit, detached	69.0%	79.5%
1-unit, attached	1.6%	3.7%
2 to 4 units	12.1%	4.6%
5 to 19 units	3.3%	8.2%
20 or more units	1.1%	1.5%
Mobile home & other	12.9%	2.6%

Poverty & households

	Barren County	Shelby County
Poverty rate	21.0%	8.6%
Average household size	2.45	2.64
Mean commute (minutes)	23	27
Median year structure built	1984	1992