Bell County vs Rowan County

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

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

Rowan County has the higher population (24,525 vs 23,878 in Bell County). Rowan County has the higher median household income ($53,657 vs $32,403 in Bell County). Rowan County has the higher median home value ($155,900 vs $83,000 in Bell County).

Population, income & housing

	Bell County	Rowan County
Population	23,878	24,525
Median age	41.2 yrs	31.2 yrs
Median household income	$32,403	$53,657
Median home value	$83,000	$155,900
Median gross rent	$617	$815
Housing units	11,608	10,577
Homeownership rate	61.1%	63.1%
Bachelor's degree or higher	13.9%	27.0%
Unemployment rate	10.5%	4.3%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Bell County	Rowan County
Population	26,791 → 23,878 (-10.9%)	24,507 → 24,525 (+0.1%)
Median household income	$26,272 → $32,403 (+23.3%)	$38,230 → $53,657 (+40.4%)
Median home value	$59,800 → $83,000 (+38.8%)	$124,200 → $155,900 (+25.5%)
Median gross rent	$522 → $617 (+18.2%)	$652 → $815 (+25.0%)

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

Rowan County

Population

24,50724,525

Median household income

$38,230$53,657

Median home value

$124,200$155,900

Median gross rent

$652$815

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Bell County	Rowan County
Under 5	6.0%	5.4%
5 to 17	15.8%	14.2%
18 to 24	7.8%	21.4%
25 to 34	12.4%	13.0%
35 to 44	11.5%	10.3%
45 to 54	13.1%	10.6%
55 to 64	14.5%	10.9%
65 to 74	11.4%	8.4%
75 and over	7.5%	5.8%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Bell County	Rowan County
White (non-Hispanic)	93.2%	93.8%
Black or African American	2.2%	1.8%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.1%	0.1%
Asian	0.1%	0.9%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.0%	0.0%
Some other race	0.3%	0.0%
Two or more races	3.3%	1.2%
Hispanic or Latino	0.7%	2.2%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Bell County	Rowan County
No high school diploma	20.6%	12.7%
High school graduate	38.2%	33.4%
Some college or associate's	27.2%	26.9%
Bachelor's degree	8.9%	12.5%
Graduate or professional degree	5.1%	14.5%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Bell County	Rowan County
Drove alone	73.2%	75.2%
Carpooled	18.2%	9.0%
Public transit	0.0%	0.8%
Walked	4.4%	6.9%
Bicycle	0.4%	0.3%
Worked from home	3.4%	7.3%
Other means	0.3%	0.6%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Bell County	Rowan County
1-unit, detached	62.6%	59.3%
1-unit, attached	0.2%	0.5%
2 to 4 units	6.4%	7.8%
5 to 19 units	5.0%	7.9%
20 or more units	2.7%	0.5%
Mobile home & other	23.2%	24.0%

Poverty & households

	Bell County	Rowan County
Poverty rate	27.1%	24.5%
Average household size	2.44	2.32
Mean commute (minutes)	23	23
Median year structure built	1979	1992