Carter County vs Montgomery County

A side-by-side comparison of Carter County and Montgomery County: population, income, housing, and more.

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

Montgomery County has the higher population (28,271 vs 26,515 in Carter County). Montgomery County has the higher median household income ($57,468 vs $50,389 in Carter County). Montgomery County has the higher median home value ($163,800 vs $126,100 in Carter County).

Population, income & housing

	Carter County	Montgomery County
Population	26,515	28,271
Median age	41.8 yrs	40.6 yrs
Median household income	$50,389	$57,468
Median home value	$126,100	$163,800
Median gross rent	$701	$796
Housing units	12,283	12,204
Homeownership rate	78.4%	66.3%
Bachelor's degree or higher	15.4%	20.8%
Unemployment rate	4.1%	4.1%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Carter County	Montgomery County
Population	27,159 → 26,515 (-2.4%)	27,884 → 28,271 (+1.4%)
Median household income	$34,736 → $50,389 (+45.1%)	$45,516 → $57,468 (+26.3%)
Median home value	$95,000 → $126,100 (+32.7%)	$116,700 → $163,800 (+40.4%)
Median gross rent	$579 → $701 (+21.1%)	$710 → $796 (+12.1%)

Carter County

Population

27,15926,515

Median household income

$34,736$50,389

Median home value

$95,000$126,100

Median gross rent

$579$701

Montgomery County

Population

27,88428,271

Median household income

$45,516$57,468

Median home value

$116,700$163,800

Median gross rent

$710$796

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Carter County	Montgomery County
Under 5	5.8%	5.4%
5 to 17	16.6%	17.9%
18 to 24	8.7%	8.0%
25 to 34	11.3%	12.6%
35 to 44	11.2%	12.2%
45 to 54	13.0%	14.1%
55 to 64	13.5%	12.8%
65 to 74	11.9%	10.7%
75 and over	8.0%	6.3%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Carter County	Montgomery County
White (non-Hispanic)	95.2%	92.1%
Black or African American	0.3%	2.6%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.0%	0.1%
Asian	0.2%	0.5%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.0%	0.0%
Some other race	0.1%	0.3%
Two or more races	3.1%	1.1%
Hispanic or Latino	1.1%	3.3%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Carter County	Montgomery County
No high school diploma	17.2%	15.0%
High school graduate	39.4%	39.0%
Some college or associate's	28.0%	25.2%
Bachelor's degree	8.6%	11.7%
Graduate or professional degree	6.8%	9.2%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Carter County	Montgomery County
Drove alone	81.0%	83.1%
Carpooled	12.1%	8.2%
Public transit	0.0%	0.1%
Walked	3.8%	0.5%
Bicycle	0.0%	0.0%
Worked from home	2.3%	7.1%
Other means	0.7%	1.0%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Carter County	Montgomery County
1-unit, detached	67.6%	64.8%
1-unit, attached	0.8%	4.5%
2 to 4 units	2.4%	9.3%
5 to 19 units	1.8%	1.9%
20 or more units	1.1%	3.0%
Mobile home & other	26.3%	16.4%

Poverty & households

	Carter County	Montgomery County
Poverty rate	19.6%	15.2%
Average household size	2.50	2.55
Mean commute (minutes)	29	26
Median year structure built	1983	1985