Breathitt County vs Jackson County

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

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

Breathitt County has the higher population (13,438 vs 13,003 in Jackson County). Jackson County has the higher median household income ($41,410 vs $41,101 in Breathitt County). Jackson County has the higher median home value ($107,000 vs $61,800 in Breathitt County).

Population, income & housing

	Breathitt County	Jackson County
Population	13,438	13,003
Median age	43.0 yrs	40.6 yrs
Median household income	$41,101	$41,410
Median home value	$61,800	$107,000
Median gross rent	$543	$758
Housing units	6,559	5,999
Homeownership rate	74.3%	79.7%
Bachelor's degree or higher	16.5%	10.3%
Unemployment rate	9.3%	5.8%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Breathitt County	Jackson County
Population	12,977 → 13,438 (+3.6%)	13,369 → 13,003 (-2.7%)
Median household income	$27,344 → $41,101 (+50.3%)	$32,138 → $41,410 (+28.9%)
Median home value	$54,000 → $61,800 (+14.4%)	$87,200 → $107,000 (+22.7%)
Median gross rent	$488 → $543 (+11.3%)	$519 → $758 (+46.1%)

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

Jackson County

Population

13,36913,003

Median household income

$32,138$41,410

Median home value

$87,200$107,000

Median gross rent

$519$758

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Breathitt County	Jackson County
Under 5	5.7%	6.0%
5 to 17	15.2%	17.3%
18 to 24	6.8%	7.0%
25 to 34	12.4%	11.1%
35 to 44	13.0%	13.0%
45 to 54	13.4%	13.4%
55 to 64	15.3%	14.2%
65 to 74	12.0%	11.4%
75 and over	6.3%	6.5%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Breathitt County	Jackson County
White (non-Hispanic)	96.2%	96.5%
Black or African American	0.5%	0.2%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.1%	0.2%
Asian	0.8%	0.1%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.0%	0.0%
Some other race	0.0%	0.0%
Two or more races	1.2%	2.0%
Hispanic or Latino	1.2%	1.0%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Breathitt County	Jackson County
No high school diploma	19.4%	26.7%
High school graduate	40.9%	41.8%
Some college or associate's	23.3%	21.2%
Bachelor's degree	8.3%	6.6%
Graduate or professional degree	8.2%	3.8%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Breathitt County	Jackson County
Drove alone	77.8%	78.6%
Carpooled	13.6%	10.7%
Public transit	0.1%	0.9%
Walked	3.4%	2.8%
Bicycle	0.4%	0.0%
Worked from home	4.0%	6.1%
Other means	0.8%	1.0%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Breathitt County	Jackson County
1-unit, detached	50.4%	68.5%
1-unit, attached	0.9%	0.0%
2 to 4 units	3.7%	2.4%
5 to 19 units	3.0%	2.4%
20 or more units	0.3%	1.4%
Mobile home & other	41.7%	25.2%

Poverty & households

	Breathitt County	Jackson County
Poverty rate	28.2%	23.0%
Average household size	2.38	2.56
Mean commute (minutes)	30	41
Median year structure built	1989	1992