Hopkins County vs Shelby County

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

Hopkins 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 45,143 in Hopkins County). Shelby County has the higher median household income ($82,671 vs $57,610 in Hopkins County). Shelby County has the higher median home value ($277,500 vs $128,800 in Hopkins County).

Population, income & housing

	Hopkins County	Shelby County
Population	45,143	48,599
Median age	41.3 yrs	40.9 yrs
Median household income	$57,610	$82,671
Median home value	$128,800	$277,500
Median gross rent	$841	$998
Housing units	20,965	19,216
Homeownership rate	71.8%	74.1%
Bachelor's degree or higher	16.6%	31.0%
Unemployment rate	6.4%	2.8%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Hopkins County	Shelby County
Population	45,331 → 45,143 (-0.4%)	47,325 → 48,599 (+2.7%)
Median household income	$47,170 → $57,610 (+22.1%)	$67,056 → $82,671 (+23.3%)
Median home value	$108,700 → $128,800 (+18.5%)	$197,300 → $277,500 (+40.6%)
Median gross rent	$715 → $841 (+17.6%)	$849 → $998 (+17.6%)

Hopkins County

Population

45,33145,143

Median household income

$47,170$57,610

Median home value

$108,700$128,800

Median gross rent

$715$841

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)

	Hopkins County	Shelby County
Under 5	5.9%	5.8%
5 to 17	17.2%	16.5%
18 to 24	7.3%	8.1%
25 to 34	12.4%	11.7%
35 to 44	12.1%	12.9%
45 to 54	12.6%	14.2%
55 to 64	13.7%	13.9%
65 to 74	11.5%	10.6%
75 and over	7.4%	6.3%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Hopkins County	Shelby County
White (non-Hispanic)	87.3%	78.1%
Black or African American	6.1%	4.5%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.1%	0.1%
Asian	0.5%	1.1%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.0%	0.0%
Some other race	0.1%	0.4%
Two or more races	3.4%	5.0%
Hispanic or Latino	2.5%	10.8%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Hopkins County	Shelby County
No high school diploma	12.3%	11.8%
High school graduate	39.2%	28.9%
Some college or associate's	31.9%	28.2%
Bachelor's degree	9.1%	19.7%
Graduate or professional degree	7.5%	11.4%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Hopkins County	Shelby County
Drove alone	89.0%	75.3%
Carpooled	6.1%	11.2%
Public transit	0.0%	0.5%
Walked	0.8%	0.7%
Bicycle	0.0%	0.1%
Worked from home	3.7%	11.4%
Other means	0.3%	0.9%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Hopkins County	Shelby County
1-unit, detached	75.7%	79.5%
1-unit, attached	0.5%	3.7%
2 to 4 units	5.8%	4.6%
5 to 19 units	4.2%	8.2%
20 or more units	0.3%	1.5%
Mobile home & other	13.4%	2.6%

Poverty & households

	Hopkins County	Shelby County
Poverty rate	19.2%	8.6%
Average household size	2.43	2.64
Mean commute (minutes)	22	27
Median year structure built	1977	1992