Henderson County vs Nelson County

A side-by-side comparison of Henderson County and Nelson County: population, income, housing, and more.

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

Nelson County has the higher population (47,102 vs 44,493 in Henderson County). Nelson County has the higher median household income ($67,888 vs $58,239 in Henderson County). Nelson County has the higher median home value ($224,100 vs $165,700 in Henderson County).

Population, income & housing

	Henderson County	Nelson County
Population	44,493	47,102
Median age	41.0 yrs	39.7 yrs
Median household income	$58,239	$67,888
Median home value	$165,700	$224,100
Median gross rent	$794	$932
Housing units	20,109	20,062
Homeownership rate	64.3%	77.3%
Bachelor's degree or higher	19.0%	22.8%
Unemployment rate	3.0%	3.1%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Henderson County	Nelson County
Population	45,829 → 44,493 (-2.9%)	45,650 → 47,102 (+3.2%)
Median household income	$48,926 → $58,239 (+19.0%)	$60,127 → $67,888 (+12.9%)
Median home value	$128,400 → $165,700 (+29.0%)	$154,700 → $224,100 (+44.9%)
Median gross rent	$689 → $794 (+15.2%)	$761 → $932 (+22.5%)

Henderson County

Population

45,82944,493

Median household income

$48,926$58,239

Median home value

$128,400$165,700

Median gross rent

$689$794

Nelson County

Population

45,65047,102

Median household income

$60,127$67,888

Median home value

$154,700$224,100

Median gross rent

$761$932

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Henderson County	Nelson County
Under 5	5.6%	6.0%
5 to 17	17.2%	17.4%
18 to 24	7.4%	7.8%
25 to 34	12.1%	12.9%
35 to 44	12.6%	12.0%
45 to 54	12.4%	13.1%
55 to 64	14.0%	14.0%
65 to 74	11.4%	10.6%
75 and over	7.4%	6.2%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Henderson County	Nelson County
White (non-Hispanic)	84.4%	89.5%
Black or African American	6.8%	5.1%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.3%	0.0%
Asian	0.2%	0.5%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.2%	0.0%
Some other race	0.0%	0.0%
Two or more races	4.8%	2.1%
Hispanic or Latino	3.2%	2.7%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Henderson County	Nelson County
No high school diploma	10.9%	8.1%
High school graduate	38.4%	36.7%
Some college or associate's	31.7%	32.3%
Bachelor's degree	12.5%	14.2%
Graduate or professional degree	6.5%	8.6%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Henderson County	Nelson County
Drove alone	80.2%	84.6%
Carpooled	11.6%	6.9%
Public transit	0.2%	0.0%
Walked	1.6%	1.3%
Bicycle	0.4%	0.0%
Worked from home	4.9%	5.4%
Other means	1.3%	1.8%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Henderson County	Nelson County
1-unit, detached	67.1%	80.7%
1-unit, attached	1.6%	3.2%
2 to 4 units	9.4%	4.9%
5 to 19 units	7.7%	4.4%
20 or more units	4.5%	0.3%
Mobile home & other	9.8%	6.5%

Poverty & households

	Henderson County	Nelson County
Poverty rate	15.4%	9.7%
Average household size	2.36	2.48
Mean commute (minutes)	23	26
Median year structure built	1976	1990