Breathitt County vs Estill County

A side-by-side comparison of Breathitt County and Estill County: population, income, housing, and more.

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

Estill County has the higher population (14,079 vs 13,438 in Breathitt County). Estill County has the higher median household income ($43,905 vs $41,101 in Breathitt County). Estill County has the higher median home value ($111,900 vs $61,800 in Breathitt County).

Population, income & housing

	Breathitt County	Estill County
Population	13,438	14,079
Median age	43.0 yrs	44.3 yrs
Median household income	$41,101	$43,905
Median home value	$61,800	$111,900
Median gross rent	$543	$689
Housing units	6,559	6,847
Homeownership rate	74.3%	72.4%
Bachelor's degree or higher	16.5%	9.9%
Unemployment rate	9.3%	7.2%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Breathitt County	Estill County
Population	12,977 → 13,438 (+3.6%)	14,224 → 14,079 (-1.0%)
Median household income	$27,344 → $41,101 (+50.3%)	$31,688 → $43,905 (+38.6%)
Median home value	$54,000 → $61,800 (+14.4%)	$76,800 → $111,900 (+45.7%)
Median gross rent	$488 → $543 (+11.3%)	$574 → $689 (+20.0%)

Breathitt County

Population

12,97713,438

Median household income

$27,344$41,101

Median home value

$54,000$61,800

Median gross rent

$488$543

Estill County

Population

14,22414,079

Median household income

$31,688$43,905

Median home value

$76,800$111,900

Median gross rent

$574$689

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Breathitt County	Estill County
Under 5	5.7%	5.0%
5 to 17	15.2%	16.3%
18 to 24	6.8%	6.5%
25 to 34	12.4%	11.4%
35 to 44	13.0%	11.6%
45 to 54	13.4%	14.5%
55 to 64	15.3%	15.2%
65 to 74	12.0%	11.6%
75 and over	6.3%	7.8%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Breathitt County	Estill County
White (non-Hispanic)	96.2%	96.3%
Black or African American	0.5%	0.1%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.1%	0.0%
Asian	0.8%	1.0%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.0%	0.0%
Some other race	0.0%	0.0%
Two or more races	1.2%	1.7%
Hispanic or Latino	1.2%	0.9%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Breathitt County	Estill County
No high school diploma	19.4%	21.9%
High school graduate	40.9%	45.1%
Some college or associate's	23.3%	23.2%
Bachelor's degree	8.3%	6.6%
Graduate or professional degree	8.2%	3.3%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Breathitt County	Estill County
Drove alone	77.8%	73.8%
Carpooled	13.6%	17.0%
Public transit	0.1%	0.1%
Walked	3.4%	4.4%
Bicycle	0.4%	0.0%
Worked from home	4.0%	4.3%
Other means	0.8%	0.4%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Breathitt County	Estill County
1-unit, detached	50.4%	65.4%
1-unit, attached	0.9%	1.4%
2 to 4 units	3.7%	5.7%
5 to 19 units	3.0%	6.4%
20 or more units	0.3%	0.3%
Mobile home & other	41.7%	20.8%

Poverty & households

	Breathitt County	Estill County
Poverty rate	28.2%	22.0%
Average household size	2.38	2.37
Mean commute (minutes)	30	35
Median year structure built	1989	1980