Franklin County vs Shelby County

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

Franklin 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.

Franklin County has the higher population (51,563 vs 48,599 in Shelby County). Shelby County has the higher median household income ($82,671 vs $66,470 in Franklin County). Shelby County has the higher median home value ($277,500 vs $198,700 in Franklin County).

Population, income & housing

	Franklin County	Shelby County
Population	51,563	48,599
Median age	40.6 yrs	40.9 yrs
Median household income	$66,470	$82,671
Median home value	$198,700	$277,500
Median gross rent	$946	$998
Housing units	24,082	19,216
Homeownership rate	64.4%	74.1%
Bachelor's degree or higher	31.8%	31.0%
Unemployment rate	5.6%	2.8%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Franklin County	Shelby County
Population	50,529 → 51,563 (+2.0%)	47,325 → 48,599 (+2.7%)
Median household income	$56,274 → $66,470 (+18.1%)	$67,056 → $82,671 (+23.3%)
Median home value	$142,900 → $198,700 (+39.0%)	$197,300 → $277,500 (+40.6%)
Median gross rent	$762 → $946 (+24.1%)	$849 → $998 (+17.6%)

Franklin County

Population

50,52951,563

Median household income

$56,274$66,470

Median home value

$142,900$198,700

Median gross rent

$762$946

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)

	Franklin County	Shelby County
Under 5	5.5%	5.8%
5 to 17	15.6%	16.5%
18 to 24	8.7%	8.1%
25 to 34	13.5%	11.7%
35 to 44	12.3%	12.9%
45 to 54	12.7%	14.2%
55 to 64	13.4%	13.9%
65 to 74	11.6%	10.6%
75 and over	6.8%	6.3%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Franklin County	Shelby County
White (non-Hispanic)	80.9%	78.1%
Black or African American	9.2%	4.5%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.1%	0.1%
Asian	1.9%	1.1%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.2%	0.0%
Some other race	0.1%	0.4%
Two or more races	3.6%	5.0%
Hispanic or Latino	4.1%	10.8%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Franklin County	Shelby County
No high school diploma	7.5%	11.8%
High school graduate	30.5%	28.9%
Some college or associate's	30.1%	28.2%
Bachelor's degree	18.5%	19.7%
Graduate or professional degree	13.4%	11.4%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Franklin County	Shelby County
Drove alone	74.1%	75.3%
Carpooled	9.1%	11.2%
Public transit	1.1%	0.5%
Walked	1.9%	0.7%
Bicycle	0.0%	0.1%
Worked from home	13.2%	11.4%
Other means	0.6%	0.9%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Franklin County	Shelby County
1-unit, detached	65.9%	79.5%
1-unit, attached	2.8%	3.7%
2 to 4 units	11.2%	4.6%
5 to 19 units	10.9%	8.2%
20 or more units	3.7%	1.5%
Mobile home & other	5.5%	2.6%

Poverty & households

	Franklin County	Shelby County
Poverty rate	13.4%	8.6%
Average household size	2.21	2.64
Mean commute (minutes)	20	27
Median year structure built	1977	1992