Boyd County vs Nelson County

A side-by-side comparison of Boyd County and Nelson County: population, income, housing, and more.

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

Boyd County has the higher population (48,043 vs 47,102 in Nelson County). Nelson County has the higher median household income ($67,888 vs $60,659 in Boyd County). Nelson County has the higher median home value ($224,100 vs $126,300 in Boyd County).

Population, income & housing

	Boyd County	Nelson County
Population	48,043	47,102
Median age	42.4 yrs	39.7 yrs
Median household income	$60,659	$67,888
Median home value	$126,300	$224,100
Median gross rent	$839	$932
Housing units	21,731	20,062
Homeownership rate	68.4%	77.3%
Bachelor's degree or higher	19.4%	22.8%
Unemployment rate	6.6%	3.1%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Boyd County	Nelson County
Population	47,682 → 48,043 (+0.8%)	45,650 → 47,102 (+3.2%)
Median household income	$48,308 → $60,659 (+25.6%)	$60,127 → $67,888 (+12.9%)
Median home value	$111,200 → $126,300 (+13.6%)	$154,700 → $224,100 (+44.9%)
Median gross rent	$699 → $839 (+20.0%)	$761 → $932 (+22.5%)

Boyd County

Population

47,68248,043

Median household income

$48,308$60,659

Median home value

$111,200$126,300

Median gross rent

$699$839

Nelson County

Population

45,65047,102

Median household income

$60,127$67,888

Median home value

$154,700$224,100

Median gross rent

$761$932

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Boyd County	Nelson County
Under 5	5.3%	6.0%
5 to 17	16.0%	17.4%
18 to 24	7.3%	7.8%
25 to 34	11.6%	12.9%
35 to 44	12.7%	12.0%
45 to 54	13.0%	13.1%
55 to 64	13.9%	14.0%
65 to 74	12.1%	10.6%
75 and over	8.1%	6.2%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Boyd County	Nelson County
White (non-Hispanic)	92.4%	89.5%
Black or African American	2.1%	5.1%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.1%	0.0%
Asian	0.3%	0.5%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.0%	0.0%
Some other race	0.1%	0.0%
Two or more races	3.3%	2.1%
Hispanic or Latino	1.7%	2.7%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Boyd County	Nelson County
No high school diploma	11.0%	8.1%
High school graduate	34.0%	36.7%
Some college or associate's	35.7%	32.3%
Bachelor's degree	10.4%	14.2%
Graduate or professional degree	9.0%	8.6%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Boyd County	Nelson County
Drove alone	80.9%	84.6%
Carpooled	10.2%	6.9%
Public transit	0.2%	0.0%
Walked	2.3%	1.3%
Bicycle	0.0%	0.0%
Worked from home	5.4%	5.4%
Other means	0.9%	1.8%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Boyd County	Nelson County
1-unit, detached	75.3%	80.7%
1-unit, attached	1.5%	3.2%
2 to 4 units	4.5%	4.9%
5 to 19 units	6.0%	4.4%
20 or more units	2.9%	0.3%
Mobile home & other	9.9%	6.5%

Poverty & households

	Boyd County	Nelson County
Poverty rate	17.7%	9.7%
Average household size	2.43	2.48
Mean commute (minutes)	22	26
Median year structure built	1971	1990