Harlan County vs Taylor County

A side-by-side comparison of Harlan County and Taylor County: population, income, housing, and more.

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

Taylor County has the higher population (26,205 vs 26,185 in Harlan County). Taylor County has the higher median household income ($61,871 vs $37,198 in Harlan County). Taylor County has the higher median home value ($163,700 vs $73,100 in Harlan County).

Population, income & housing

	Harlan County	Taylor County
Population	26,185	26,205
Median age	41.2 yrs	37.7 yrs
Median household income	$37,198	$61,871
Median home value	$73,100	$163,700
Median gross rent	$651	$691
Housing units	13,012	11,206
Homeownership rate	70.8%	67.6%
Bachelor's degree or higher	12.7%	22.0%
Unemployment rate	11.0%	5.0%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Harlan County	Taylor County
Population	26,699 → 26,185 (-1.9%)	25,571 → 26,205 (+2.5%)
Median household income	$26,478 → $37,198 (+40.5%)	$44,522 → $61,871 (+39.0%)
Median home value	$60,300 → $73,100 (+21.2%)	$120,200 → $163,700 (+36.2%)
Median gross rent	$528 → $651 (+23.3%)	$643 → $691 (+7.5%)

Harlan County

Population

26,69926,185

Median household income

$26,478$37,198

Median home value

$60,300$73,100

Median gross rent

$528$651

Taylor County

Population

25,57126,205

Median household income

$44,522$61,871

Median home value

$120,200$163,700

Median gross rent

$643$691

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Harlan County	Taylor County
Under 5	6.0%	5.9%
5 to 17	17.6%	16.9%
18 to 24	6.5%	11.4%
25 to 34	12.3%	12.6%
35 to 44	11.8%	11.3%
45 to 54	12.6%	10.8%
55 to 64	14.0%	13.3%
65 to 74	12.2%	10.5%
75 and over	6.9%	7.3%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Harlan County	Taylor County
White (non-Hispanic)	94.2%	88.9%
Black or African American	1.5%	4.6%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.1%	0.1%
Asian	0.2%	0.9%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.1%	0.0%
Some other race	0.2%	0.0%
Two or more races	3.5%	2.7%
Hispanic or Latino	0.2%	2.9%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Harlan County	Taylor County
No high school diploma	20.8%	11.3%
High school graduate	34.5%	36.8%
Some college or associate's	32.0%	29.9%
Bachelor's degree	6.2%	13.8%
Graduate or professional degree	6.5%	8.2%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Harlan County	Taylor County
Drove alone	74.9%	75.6%
Carpooled	16.7%	8.9%
Public transit	0.6%	0.1%
Walked	1.6%	2.6%
Bicycle	0.0%	0.0%
Worked from home	5.7%	10.9%
Other means	0.5%	1.9%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Harlan County	Taylor County
1-unit, detached	66.3%	77.8%
1-unit, attached	1.3%	0.7%
2 to 4 units	5.1%	6.6%
5 to 19 units	6.0%	2.9%
20 or more units	0.9%	0.5%
Mobile home & other	20.3%	11.4%

Poverty & households

	Harlan County	Taylor County
Poverty rate	27.2%	16.6%
Average household size	2.44	2.49
Mean commute (minutes)	24	23
Median year structure built	1977	1977