Harlan County vs Woodford County

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

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

Woodford County has the higher population (27,017 vs 26,185 in Harlan County). Woodford County has the higher median household income ($80,006 vs $37,198 in Harlan County). Woodford County has the higher median home value ($270,400 vs $73,100 in Harlan County).

Population, income & housing

	Harlan County	Woodford County
Population	26,185	27,017
Median age	41.2 yrs	42.3 yrs
Median household income	$37,198	$80,006
Median home value	$73,100	$270,400
Median gross rent	$651	$1,000
Housing units	13,012	11,587
Homeownership rate	70.8%	71.6%
Bachelor's degree or higher	12.7%	41.7%
Unemployment rate	11.0%	3.5%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Harlan County	Woodford County
Population	26,699 → 26,185 (-1.9%)	26,318 → 27,017 (+2.7%)
Median household income	$26,478 → $37,198 (+40.5%)	$63,820 → $80,006 (+25.4%)
Median home value	$60,300 → $73,100 (+21.2%)	$203,000 → $270,400 (+33.2%)
Median gross rent	$528 → $651 (+23.3%)	$771 → $1,000 (+29.7%)

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

Woodford County

Population

26,31827,017

Median household income

$63,820$80,006

Median home value

$203,000$270,400

Median gross rent

$771$1,000

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Harlan County	Woodford County
Under 5	6.0%	5.6%
5 to 17	17.6%	16.3%
18 to 24	6.5%	8.6%
25 to 34	12.3%	10.8%
35 to 44	11.8%	11.5%
45 to 54	12.6%	12.7%
55 to 64	14.0%	14.3%
65 to 74	12.2%	12.3%
75 and over	6.9%	7.8%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Harlan County	Woodford County
White (non-Hispanic)	94.2%	85.1%
Black or African American	1.5%	3.9%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.1%	0.0%
Asian	0.2%	0.4%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.1%	0.0%
Some other race	0.2%	0.3%
Two or more races	3.5%	3.0%
Hispanic or Latino	0.2%	7.3%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Harlan County	Woodford County
No high school diploma	20.8%	8.6%
High school graduate	34.5%	25.5%
Some college or associate's	32.0%	24.1%
Bachelor's degree	6.2%	23.7%
Graduate or professional degree	6.5%	18.0%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Harlan County	Woodford County
Drove alone	74.9%	78.8%
Carpooled	16.7%	6.1%
Public transit	0.6%	0.1%
Walked	1.6%	1.7%
Bicycle	0.0%	0.0%
Worked from home	5.7%	13.0%
Other means	0.5%	0.2%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Harlan County	Woodford County
1-unit, detached	66.3%	81.8%
1-unit, attached	1.3%	4.9%
2 to 4 units	5.1%	7.3%
5 to 19 units	6.0%	3.1%
20 or more units	0.9%	0.7%
Mobile home & other	20.3%	2.2%

Poverty & households

	Harlan County	Woodford County
Poverty rate	27.2%	10.0%
Average household size	2.44	2.47
Mean commute (minutes)	24	25
Median year structure built	1977	1984