Bourbon County vs Spencer County

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

Bourbon County and Spencer 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 19,875 in Spencer County). Spencer County has the higher median household income ($98,333 vs $56,322 in Bourbon County). Spencer County has the higher median home value ($297,600 vs $211,600 in Bourbon County).

Population, income & housing

	Bourbon County	Spencer County
Population	20,174	19,875
Median age	42.0 yrs	43.3 yrs
Median household income	$56,322	$98,333
Median home value	$211,600	$297,600
Median gross rent	$745	$954
Housing units	9,148	7,599
Homeownership rate	64.8%	86.6%
Bachelor's degree or higher	25.5%	22.1%
Unemployment rate	4.4%	5.9%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Bourbon County	Spencer County
Population	20,058 → 20,174 (+0.6%)	18,680 → 19,875 (+6.4%)
Median household income	$49,637 → $56,322 (+13.5%)	$80,166 → $98,333 (+22.7%)
Median home value	$146,700 → $211,600 (+44.2%)	$213,300 → $297,600 (+39.5%)
Median gross rent	$730 → $745 (+2.1%)	$649 → $954 (+47.0%)

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

Spencer County

Population

18,68019,875

Median household income

$80,166$98,333

Median home value

$213,300$297,600

Median gross rent

$649$954

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Bourbon County	Spencer County
Under 5	6.2%	5.3%
5 to 17	16.6%	17.4%
18 to 24	8.3%	7.2%
25 to 34	11.5%	10.1%
35 to 44	10.8%	14.2%
45 to 54	12.7%	14.8%
55 to 64	14.3%	16.1%
65 to 74	11.5%	10.0%
75 and over	8.0%	5.0%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Bourbon County	Spencer County
White (non-Hispanic)	84.0%	93.2%
Black or African American	4.7%	0.9%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.0%	0.1%
Asian	0.2%	0.4%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.0%	0.0%
Some other race	0.1%	0.3%
Two or more races	3.5%	2.5%
Hispanic or Latino	7.5%	2.6%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Bourbon County	Spencer County
No high school diploma	13.4%	6.7%
High school graduate	33.5%	38.3%
Some college or associate's	27.6%	32.9%
Bachelor's degree	15.0%	13.7%
Graduate or professional degree	10.4%	8.4%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Bourbon County	Spencer County
Drove alone	76.6%	83.4%
Carpooled	9.8%	4.1%
Public transit	0.2%	0.1%
Walked	2.4%	0.7%
Bicycle	0.7%	0.2%
Worked from home	9.6%	10.5%
Other means	0.7%	1.0%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Bourbon County	Spencer County
1-unit, detached	73.6%	89.6%
1-unit, attached	3.2%	0.1%
2 to 4 units	11.7%	1.9%
5 to 19 units	4.5%	2.1%
20 or more units	0.7%	0.8%
Mobile home & other	6.2%	5.6%

Poverty & households

	Bourbon County	Spencer County
Poverty rate	13.7%	7.4%
Average household size	2.46	2.80
Mean commute (minutes)	25	32
Median year structure built	1977	1998