Bell County vs Johnson County

A side-by-side comparison of Bell County and Johnson County: population, income, housing, and more.

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

Bell County has the higher population (23,878 vs 22,464 in Johnson County). Johnson County has the higher median household income ($43,014 vs $32,403 in Bell County). Johnson County has the higher median home value ($125,300 vs $83,000 in Bell County).

Population, income & housing

	Bell County	Johnson County
Population	23,878	22,464
Median age	41.2 yrs	42.0 yrs
Median household income	$32,403	$43,014
Median home value	$83,000	$125,300
Median gross rent	$617	$698
Housing units	11,608	10,530
Homeownership rate	61.1%	66.4%
Bachelor's degree or higher	13.9%	16.6%
Unemployment rate	10.5%	4.7%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Bell County	Johnson County
Population	26,791 → 23,878 (-10.9%)	22,634 → 22,464 (-0.8%)
Median household income	$26,272 → $32,403 (+23.3%)	$37,055 → $43,014 (+16.1%)
Median home value	$59,800 → $83,000 (+38.8%)	$101,300 → $125,300 (+23.7%)
Median gross rent	$522 → $617 (+18.2%)	$616 → $698 (+13.3%)

Bell County

Population

26,79123,878

Median household income

$26,272$32,403

Median home value

$59,800$83,000

Median gross rent

$522$617

Johnson County

Population

22,63422,464

Median household income

$37,055$43,014

Median home value

$101,300$125,300

Median gross rent

$616$698

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Bell County	Johnson County
Under 5	6.0%	5.3%
5 to 17	15.8%	17.0%
18 to 24	7.8%	7.3%
25 to 34	12.4%	11.0%
35 to 44	11.5%	12.8%
45 to 54	13.1%	13.4%
55 to 64	14.5%	14.4%
65 to 74	11.4%	11.7%
75 and over	7.5%	7.1%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Bell County	Johnson County
White (non-Hispanic)	93.2%	95.3%
Black or African American	2.2%	0.6%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.1%	0.1%
Asian	0.1%	1.1%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.0%	0.0%
Some other race	0.3%	0.0%
Two or more races	3.3%	2.3%
Hispanic or Latino	0.7%	0.5%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Bell County	Johnson County
No high school diploma	20.6%	17.7%
High school graduate	38.2%	39.9%
Some college or associate's	27.2%	25.9%
Bachelor's degree	8.9%	9.1%
Graduate or professional degree	5.1%	7.5%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Bell County	Johnson County
Drove alone	73.2%	82.1%
Carpooled	18.2%	8.4%
Public transit	0.0%	0.0%
Walked	4.4%	0.6%
Bicycle	0.4%	0.0%
Worked from home	3.4%	7.6%
Other means	0.3%	1.3%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Bell County	Johnson County
1-unit, detached	62.6%	59.6%
1-unit, attached	0.2%	0.6%
2 to 4 units	6.4%	3.8%
5 to 19 units	5.0%	6.3%
20 or more units	2.7%	2.6%
Mobile home & other	23.2%	27.1%

Poverty & households

	Bell County	Johnson County
Poverty rate	27.1%	23.4%
Average household size	2.44	2.48
Mean commute (minutes)	23	26
Median year structure built	1979	1984