Breathitt County vs Union County

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

Breathitt County and Union 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 13,379 in Union County). Union County has the higher median household income ($60,989 vs $41,101 in Breathitt County). Union County has the higher median home value ($109,000 vs $61,800 in Breathitt County).

Population, income & housing

	Breathitt County	Union County
Population	13,438	13,379
Median age	43.0 yrs	41.3 yrs
Median household income	$41,101	$60,989
Median home value	$61,800	$109,000
Median gross rent	$543	$787
Housing units	6,559	5,868
Homeownership rate	74.3%	71.7%
Bachelor's degree or higher	16.5%	11.8%
Unemployment rate	9.3%	3.1%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Breathitt County	Union County
Population	12,977 → 13,438 (+3.6%)	14,638 → 13,379 (-8.6%)
Median household income	$27,344 → $41,101 (+50.3%)	$46,673 → $60,989 (+30.7%)
Median home value	$54,000 → $61,800 (+14.4%)	$92,100 → $109,000 (+18.3%)
Median gross rent	$488 → $543 (+11.3%)	$597 → $787 (+31.8%)

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

Union County

Population

14,63813,379

Median household income

$46,673$60,989

Median home value

$92,100$109,000

Median gross rent

$597$787

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Breathitt County	Union County
Under 5	5.7%	5.4%
5 to 17	15.2%	14.0%
18 to 24	6.8%	10.3%
25 to 34	12.4%	11.6%
35 to 44	13.0%	12.1%
45 to 54	13.4%	12.4%
55 to 64	15.3%	14.6%
65 to 74	12.0%	12.8%
75 and over	6.3%	6.8%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Breathitt County	Union County
White (non-Hispanic)	96.2%	88.1%
Black or African American	0.5%	8.1%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.1%	0.0%
Asian	0.8%	0.3%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.0%	0.0%
Some other race	0.0%	0.0%
Two or more races	1.2%	1.8%
Hispanic or Latino	1.2%	1.6%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Breathitt County	Union County
No high school diploma	19.4%	8.0%
High school graduate	40.9%	45.3%
Some college or associate's	23.3%	35.0%
Bachelor's degree	8.3%	7.7%
Graduate or professional degree	8.2%	4.1%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Breathitt County	Union County
Drove alone	77.8%	83.1%
Carpooled	13.6%	8.0%
Public transit	0.1%	0.0%
Walked	3.4%	2.0%
Bicycle	0.4%	0.0%
Worked from home	4.0%	5.0%
Other means	0.8%	1.9%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Breathitt County	Union County
1-unit, detached	50.4%	77.2%
1-unit, attached	0.9%	0.5%
2 to 4 units	3.7%	4.3%
5 to 19 units	3.0%	2.2%
20 or more units	0.3%	0.6%
Mobile home & other	41.7%	15.1%

Poverty & households

	Breathitt County	Union County
Poverty rate	28.2%	17.4%
Average household size	2.38	2.42
Mean commute (minutes)	30	23
Median year structure built	1989	1975