Bell County vs Lincoln County

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

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

Lincoln County has the higher population (24,415 vs 23,878 in Bell County). Lincoln County has the higher median household income ($50,862 vs $32,403 in Bell County). Lincoln County has the higher median home value ($139,300 vs $83,000 in Bell County).

Population, income & housing

	Bell County	Lincoln County
Population	23,878	24,415
Median age	41.2 yrs	41.9 yrs
Median household income	$32,403	$50,862
Median home value	$83,000	$139,300
Median gross rent	$617	$730
Housing units	11,608	10,869
Homeownership rate	61.1%	77.8%
Bachelor's degree or higher	13.9%	15.2%
Unemployment rate	10.5%	7.6%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Bell County	Lincoln County
Population	26,791 → 23,878 (-10.9%)	24,476 → 24,415 (-0.2%)
Median household income	$26,272 → $32,403 (+23.3%)	$42,919 → $50,862 (+18.5%)
Median home value	$59,800 → $83,000 (+38.8%)	$106,400 → $139,300 (+30.9%)
Median gross rent	$522 → $617 (+18.2%)	$651 → $730 (+12.1%)

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

Lincoln County

Population

24,47624,415

Median household income

$42,919$50,862

Median home value

$106,400$139,300

Median gross rent

$651$730

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Bell County	Lincoln County
Under 5	6.0%	6.4%
5 to 17	15.8%	17.2%
18 to 24	7.8%	7.3%
25 to 34	12.4%	11.8%
35 to 44	11.5%	11.9%
45 to 54	13.1%	12.8%
55 to 64	14.5%	13.7%
65 to 74	11.4%	11.1%
75 and over	7.5%	7.8%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Bell County	Lincoln County
White (non-Hispanic)	93.2%	92.6%
Black or African American	2.2%	1.7%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.1%	0.0%
Asian	0.1%	0.3%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.0%	0.0%
Some other race	0.3%	1.0%
Two or more races	3.3%	2.4%
Hispanic or Latino	0.7%	2.0%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Bell County	Lincoln County
No high school diploma	20.6%	16.8%
High school graduate	38.2%	43.6%
Some college or associate's	27.2%	24.3%
Bachelor's degree	8.9%	9.3%
Graduate or professional degree	5.1%	5.9%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Bell County	Lincoln County
Drove alone	73.2%	80.9%
Carpooled	18.2%	7.0%
Public transit	0.0%	0.1%
Walked	4.4%	2.3%
Bicycle	0.4%	0.0%
Worked from home	3.4%	9.5%
Other means	0.3%	0.3%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Bell County	Lincoln County
1-unit, detached	62.6%	73.7%
1-unit, attached	0.2%	0.8%
2 to 4 units	6.4%	3.0%
5 to 19 units	5.0%	1.8%
20 or more units	2.7%	0.0%
Mobile home & other	23.2%	20.6%

Poverty & households

	Bell County	Lincoln County
Poverty rate	27.1%	18.5%
Average household size	2.44	2.50
Mean commute (minutes)	23	30
Median year structure built	1979	1985