Laurel County vs McCracken County

A side-by-side comparison of Laurel County and McCracken County: population, income, housing, and more.

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

McCracken County has the higher population (67,584 vs 62,731 in Laurel County). McCracken County has the higher median household income ($62,385 vs $56,999 in Laurel County). McCracken County has the higher median home value ($182,900 vs $143,400 in Laurel County).

Population, income & housing

	Laurel County	McCracken County
Population	62,731	67,584
Median age	39.9 yrs	42.4 yrs
Median household income	$56,999	$62,385
Median home value	$143,400	$182,900
Median gross rent	$789	$861
Housing units	26,705	32,155
Homeownership rate	71.5%	67.4%
Bachelor's degree or higher	16.5%	27.9%
Unemployment rate	3.6%	3.1%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Laurel County	McCracken County
Population	60,357 → 62,731 (+3.9%)	65,268 → 67,584 (+3.5%)
Median household income	$41,526 → $56,999 (+37.3%)	$46,080 → $62,385 (+35.4%)
Median home value	$112,000 → $143,400 (+28.0%)	$143,400 → $182,900 (+27.5%)
Median gross rent	$651 → $789 (+21.2%)	$717 → $861 (+20.1%)

Laurel County

Population

60,35762,731

Median household income

$41,526$56,999

Median home value

$112,000$143,400

Median gross rent

$651$789

McCracken County

Population

65,26867,584

Median household income

$46,080$62,385

Median home value

$143,400$182,900

Median gross rent

$717$861

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Laurel County	McCracken County
Under 5	5.9%	5.8%
5 to 17	17.0%	16.2%
18 to 24	7.8%	7.6%
25 to 34	13.1%	11.9%
35 to 44	13.1%	12.8%
45 to 54	13.2%	12.1%
55 to 64	13.3%	13.5%
65 to 74	10.4%	11.8%
75 and over	6.4%	8.4%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Laurel County	McCracken County
White (non-Hispanic)	95.1%	81.5%
Black or African American	0.5%	10.0%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.0%	0.1%
Asian	0.3%	0.9%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.2%	0.0%
Some other race	0.1%	0.4%
Two or more races	2.1%	3.8%
Hispanic or Latino	1.7%	3.3%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Laurel County	McCracken County
No high school diploma	16.9%	7.2%
High school graduate	39.5%	32.3%
Some college or associate's	27.1%	32.6%
Bachelor's degree	9.1%	16.8%
Graduate or professional degree	7.5%	11.2%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Laurel County	McCracken County
Drove alone	77.3%	83.4%
Carpooled	13.1%	5.8%
Public transit	0.2%	0.6%
Walked	1.0%	1.5%
Bicycle	0.0%	0.3%
Worked from home	7.3%	7.2%
Other means	1.1%	1.2%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Laurel County	McCracken County
1-unit, detached	61.2%	65.3%
1-unit, attached	0.6%	2.3%
2 to 4 units	6.3%	11.1%
5 to 19 units	4.4%	6.3%
20 or more units	0.7%	4.8%
Mobile home & other	26.8%	10.2%

Poverty & households

	Laurel County	McCracken County
Poverty rate	21.3%	15.3%
Average household size	2.58	2.43
Mean commute (minutes)	23	17
Median year structure built	1991	1978