Bourbon County vs Simpson County

A side-by-side comparison of Bourbon County and Simpson County: population, income, housing, and more.

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

Bourbon County has the higher population (20,174 vs 19,786 in Simpson County). Simpson County has the higher median household income ($57,392 vs $56,322 in Bourbon County). Bourbon County has the higher median home value ($211,600 vs $195,700 in Simpson County).

Population, income & housing

	Bourbon County	Simpson County
Population	20,174	19,786
Median age	42.0 yrs	39.0 yrs
Median household income	$56,322	$57,392
Median home value	$211,600	$195,700
Median gross rent	$745	$1,011
Housing units	9,148	8,456
Homeownership rate	64.8%	66.3%
Bachelor's degree or higher	25.5%	16.8%
Unemployment rate	4.4%	3.9%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Bourbon County	Simpson County
Population	20,058 → 20,174 (+0.6%)	18,183 → 19,786 (+8.8%)
Median household income	$49,637 → $56,322 (+13.5%)	$48,623 → $57,392 (+18.0%)
Median home value	$146,700 → $211,600 (+44.2%)	$135,200 → $195,700 (+44.7%)
Median gross rent	$730 → $745 (+2.1%)	$804 → $1,011 (+25.7%)

Bourbon County

Population

20,05820,174

Median household income

$49,637$56,322

Median home value

$146,700$211,600

Median gross rent

$730$745

Simpson County

Population

18,18319,786

Median household income

$48,623$57,392

Median home value

$135,200$195,700

Median gross rent

$804$1,011

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Bourbon County	Simpson County
Under 5	6.2%	5.8%
5 to 17	16.6%	17.7%
18 to 24	8.3%	8.9%
25 to 34	11.5%	13.1%
35 to 44	10.8%	12.1%
45 to 54	12.7%	12.2%
55 to 64	14.3%	14.3%
65 to 74	11.5%	9.7%
75 and over	8.0%	6.3%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Bourbon County	Simpson County
White (non-Hispanic)	84.0%	84.2%
Black or African American	4.7%	6.9%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.0%	0.0%
Asian	0.2%	0.2%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.0%	0.0%
Some other race	0.1%	0.1%
Two or more races	3.5%	5.2%
Hispanic or Latino	7.5%	3.4%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Bourbon County	Simpson County
No high school diploma	13.4%	10.8%
High school graduate	33.5%	40.5%
Some college or associate's	27.6%	32.0%
Bachelor's degree	15.0%	10.5%
Graduate or professional degree	10.4%	6.3%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Bourbon County	Simpson County
Drove alone	76.6%	79.5%
Carpooled	9.8%	12.8%
Public transit	0.2%	0.3%
Walked	2.4%	1.6%
Bicycle	0.7%	0.0%
Worked from home	9.6%	5.2%
Other means	0.7%	0.7%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Bourbon County	Simpson County
1-unit, detached	73.6%	79.0%
1-unit, attached	3.2%	0.7%
2 to 4 units	11.7%	6.1%
5 to 19 units	4.5%	6.1%
20 or more units	0.7%	0.5%
Mobile home & other	6.2%	7.6%

Poverty & households

	Bourbon County	Simpson County
Poverty rate	13.7%	15.1%
Average household size	2.46	2.52
Mean commute (minutes)	25	22
Median year structure built	1977	1979