Bell County vs Mercer County

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

Bell County and Mercer 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 22,824 in Mercer County). Mercer County has the higher median household income ($63,115 vs $32,403 in Bell County). Mercer County has the higher median home value ($189,700 vs $83,000 in Bell County).

Population, income & housing

	Bell County	Mercer County
Population	23,878	22,824
Median age	41.2 yrs	42.8 yrs
Median household income	$32,403	$63,115
Median home value	$83,000	$189,700
Median gross rent	$617	$802
Housing units	11,608	10,410
Homeownership rate	61.1%	77.1%
Bachelor's degree or higher	13.9%	22.5%
Unemployment rate	10.5%	2.9%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Bell County	Mercer County
Population	26,791 → 23,878 (-10.9%)	21,592 → 22,824 (+5.7%)
Median household income	$26,272 → $32,403 (+23.3%)	$55,093 → $63,115 (+14.6%)
Median home value	$59,800 → $83,000 (+38.8%)	$147,300 → $189,700 (+28.8%)
Median gross rent	$522 → $617 (+18.2%)	$624 → $802 (+28.5%)

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

Mercer County

Population

21,59222,824

Median household income

$55,093$63,115

Median home value

$147,300$189,700

Median gross rent

$624$802

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Bell County	Mercer County
Under 5	6.0%	6.2%
5 to 17	15.8%	16.0%
18 to 24	7.8%	8.0%
25 to 34	12.4%	11.9%
35 to 44	11.5%	11.0%
45 to 54	13.1%	12.6%
55 to 64	14.5%	15.2%
65 to 74	11.4%	11.0%
75 and over	7.5%	8.2%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Bell County	Mercer County
White (non-Hispanic)	93.2%	90.3%
Black or African American	2.2%	3.6%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.1%	0.1%
Asian	0.1%	0.3%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.0%	0.0%
Some other race	0.3%	0.1%
Two or more races	3.3%	2.5%
Hispanic or Latino	0.7%	3.2%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Bell County	Mercer County
No high school diploma	20.6%	8.9%
High school graduate	38.2%	34.6%
Some college or associate's	27.2%	34.0%
Bachelor's degree	8.9%	13.6%
Graduate or professional degree	5.1%	8.9%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Bell County	Mercer County
Drove alone	73.2%	79.2%
Carpooled	18.2%	11.2%
Public transit	0.0%	0.0%
Walked	4.4%	0.0%
Bicycle	0.4%	0.0%
Worked from home	3.4%	8.8%
Other means	0.3%	0.8%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Bell County	Mercer County
1-unit, detached	62.6%	80.0%
1-unit, attached	0.2%	1.6%
2 to 4 units	6.4%	5.5%
5 to 19 units	5.0%	4.9%
20 or more units	2.7%	0.8%
Mobile home & other	23.2%	7.2%

Poverty & households

	Bell County	Mercer County
Poverty rate	27.1%	11.4%
Average household size	2.44	2.48
Mean commute (minutes)	23	28
Median year structure built	1979	1978