Henderson County vs Shelby County

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

Henderson 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.

Shelby County has the higher population (48,599 vs 44,493 in Henderson County). Shelby County has the higher median household income ($82,671 vs $58,239 in Henderson County). Shelby County has the higher median home value ($277,500 vs $165,700 in Henderson County).

Population, income & housing

	Henderson County	Shelby County
Population	44,493	48,599
Median age	41.0 yrs	40.9 yrs
Median household income	$58,239	$82,671
Median home value	$165,700	$277,500
Median gross rent	$794	$998
Housing units	20,109	19,216
Homeownership rate	64.3%	74.1%
Bachelor's degree or higher	19.0%	31.0%
Unemployment rate	3.0%	2.8%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Henderson County	Shelby County
Population	45,829 → 44,493 (-2.9%)	47,325 → 48,599 (+2.7%)
Median household income	$48,926 → $58,239 (+19.0%)	$67,056 → $82,671 (+23.3%)
Median home value	$128,400 → $165,700 (+29.0%)	$197,300 → $277,500 (+40.6%)
Median gross rent	$689 → $794 (+15.2%)	$849 → $998 (+17.6%)

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

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)

	Henderson County	Shelby County
Under 5	5.6%	5.8%
5 to 17	17.2%	16.5%
18 to 24	7.4%	8.1%
25 to 34	12.1%	11.7%
35 to 44	12.6%	12.9%
45 to 54	12.4%	14.2%
55 to 64	14.0%	13.9%
65 to 74	11.4%	10.6%
75 and over	7.4%	6.3%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Henderson County	Shelby County
White (non-Hispanic)	84.4%	78.1%
Black or African American	6.8%	4.5%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.3%	0.1%
Asian	0.2%	1.1%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.2%	0.0%
Some other race	0.0%	0.4%
Two or more races	4.8%	5.0%
Hispanic or Latino	3.2%	10.8%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Henderson County	Shelby County
No high school diploma	10.9%	11.8%
High school graduate	38.4%	28.9%
Some college or associate's	31.7%	28.2%
Bachelor's degree	12.5%	19.7%
Graduate or professional degree	6.5%	11.4%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Henderson County	Shelby County
Drove alone	80.2%	75.3%
Carpooled	11.6%	11.2%
Public transit	0.2%	0.5%
Walked	1.6%	0.7%
Bicycle	0.4%	0.1%
Worked from home	4.9%	11.4%
Other means	1.3%	0.9%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Henderson County	Shelby County
1-unit, detached	67.1%	79.5%
1-unit, attached	1.6%	3.7%
2 to 4 units	9.4%	4.6%
5 to 19 units	7.7%	8.2%
20 or more units	4.5%	1.5%
Mobile home & other	9.8%	2.6%

Poverty & households

	Henderson County	Shelby County
Poverty rate	15.4%	8.6%
Average household size	2.36	2.64
Mean commute (minutes)	23	27
Median year structure built	1976	1992