Johnson County vs Mercer County

A side-by-side comparison of Johnson County and Mercer County: population, income, housing, and more.

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

Mercer County has the higher population (22,824 vs 22,464 in Johnson County). Mercer County has the higher median household income ($63,115 vs $43,014 in Johnson County). Mercer County has the higher median home value ($189,700 vs $125,300 in Johnson County).

Population, income & housing

	Johnson County	Mercer County
Population	22,464	22,824
Median age	42.0 yrs	42.8 yrs
Median household income	$43,014	$63,115
Median home value	$125,300	$189,700
Median gross rent	$698	$802
Housing units	10,530	10,410
Homeownership rate	66.4%	77.1%
Bachelor's degree or higher	16.6%	22.5%
Unemployment rate	4.7%	2.9%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Johnson County	Mercer County
Population	22,634 → 22,464 (-0.8%)	21,592 → 22,824 (+5.7%)
Median household income	$37,055 → $43,014 (+16.1%)	$55,093 → $63,115 (+14.6%)
Median home value	$101,300 → $125,300 (+23.7%)	$147,300 → $189,700 (+28.8%)
Median gross rent	$616 → $698 (+13.3%)	$624 → $802 (+28.5%)

Johnson County

Population

22,63422,464

Median household income

$37,055$43,014

Median home value

$101,300$125,300

Median gross rent

$616$698

Mercer County

Population

21,59222,824

Median household income

$55,093$63,115

Median home value

$147,300$189,700

Median gross rent

$624$802

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Johnson County	Mercer County
Under 5	5.3%	6.2%
5 to 17	17.0%	16.0%
18 to 24	7.3%	8.0%
25 to 34	11.0%	11.9%
35 to 44	12.8%	11.0%
45 to 54	13.4%	12.6%
55 to 64	14.4%	15.2%
65 to 74	11.7%	11.0%
75 and over	7.1%	8.2%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Johnson County	Mercer County
White (non-Hispanic)	95.3%	90.3%
Black or African American	0.6%	3.6%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.1%	0.1%
Asian	1.1%	0.3%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.0%	0.0%
Some other race	0.0%	0.1%
Two or more races	2.3%	2.5%
Hispanic or Latino	0.5%	3.2%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Johnson County	Mercer County
No high school diploma	17.7%	8.9%
High school graduate	39.9%	34.6%
Some college or associate's	25.9%	34.0%
Bachelor's degree	9.1%	13.6%
Graduate or professional degree	7.5%	8.9%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Johnson County	Mercer County
Drove alone	82.1%	79.2%
Carpooled	8.4%	11.2%
Public transit	0.0%	0.0%
Walked	0.6%	0.0%
Bicycle	0.0%	0.0%
Worked from home	7.6%	8.8%
Other means	1.3%	0.8%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Johnson County	Mercer County
1-unit, detached	59.6%	80.0%
1-unit, attached	0.6%	1.6%
2 to 4 units	3.8%	5.5%
5 to 19 units	6.3%	4.9%
20 or more units	2.6%	0.8%
Mobile home & other	27.1%	7.2%

Poverty & households

	Johnson County	Mercer County
Poverty rate	23.4%	11.4%
Average household size	2.48	2.48
Mean commute (minutes)	26	28
Median year structure built	1984	1978