Boyd County vs Shelby County

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

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

Shelby County has the higher population (48,599 vs 48,043 in Boyd County). Shelby County has the higher median household income ($82,671 vs $60,659 in Boyd County). Shelby County has the higher median home value ($277,500 vs $126,300 in Boyd County).

Population, income & housing

	Boyd County	Shelby County
Population	48,043	48,599
Median age	42.4 yrs	40.9 yrs
Median household income	$60,659	$82,671
Median home value	$126,300	$277,500
Median gross rent	$839	$998
Housing units	21,731	19,216
Homeownership rate	68.4%	74.1%
Bachelor's degree or higher	19.4%	31.0%
Unemployment rate	6.6%	2.8%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Boyd County	Shelby County
Population	47,682 → 48,043 (+0.8%)	47,325 → 48,599 (+2.7%)
Median household income	$48,308 → $60,659 (+25.6%)	$67,056 → $82,671 (+23.3%)
Median home value	$111,200 → $126,300 (+13.6%)	$197,300 → $277,500 (+40.6%)
Median gross rent	$699 → $839 (+20.0%)	$849 → $998 (+17.6%)

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

Shelby County

Population

47,32548,599

Median household income

$67,056$82,671

Median home value

$197,300$277,500

Median gross rent

$849$998

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Boyd County	Shelby County
Under 5	5.3%	5.8%
5 to 17	16.0%	16.5%
18 to 24	7.3%	8.1%
25 to 34	11.6%	11.7%
35 to 44	12.7%	12.9%
45 to 54	13.0%	14.2%
55 to 64	13.9%	13.9%
65 to 74	12.1%	10.6%
75 and over	8.1%	6.3%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Boyd County	Shelby County
White (non-Hispanic)	92.4%	78.1%
Black or African American	2.1%	4.5%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.1%	0.1%
Asian	0.3%	1.1%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.0%	0.0%
Some other race	0.1%	0.4%
Two or more races	3.3%	5.0%
Hispanic or Latino	1.7%	10.8%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Boyd County	Shelby County
No high school diploma	11.0%	11.8%
High school graduate	34.0%	28.9%
Some college or associate's	35.7%	28.2%
Bachelor's degree	10.4%	19.7%
Graduate or professional degree	9.0%	11.4%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Boyd County	Shelby County
Drove alone	80.9%	75.3%
Carpooled	10.2%	11.2%
Public transit	0.2%	0.5%
Walked	2.3%	0.7%
Bicycle	0.0%	0.1%
Worked from home	5.4%	11.4%
Other means	0.9%	0.9%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Boyd County	Shelby County
1-unit, detached	75.3%	79.5%
1-unit, attached	1.5%	3.7%
2 to 4 units	4.5%	4.6%
5 to 19 units	6.0%	8.2%
20 or more units	2.9%	1.5%
Mobile home & other	9.9%	2.6%

Poverty & households

	Boyd County	Shelby County
Poverty rate	17.7%	8.6%
Average household size	2.43	2.64
Mean commute (minutes)	22	27
Median year structure built	1971	1992