Letcher County vs Spencer County

A side-by-side comparison of Letcher County and Spencer County: population, income, housing, and more.

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

Letcher County has the higher population (21,146 vs 19,875 in Spencer County). Spencer County has the higher median household income ($98,333 vs $40,501 in Letcher County). Spencer County has the higher median home value ($297,600 vs $70,500 in Letcher County).

Population, income & housing

	Letcher County	Spencer County
Population	21,146	19,875
Median age	43.3 yrs	43.3 yrs
Median household income	$40,501	$98,333
Median home value	$70,500	$297,600
Median gross rent	$651	$954
Housing units	10,594	7,599
Homeownership rate	72.6%	86.6%
Bachelor's degree or higher	13.7%	22.1%
Unemployment rate	5.8%	5.9%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Letcher County	Spencer County
Population	22,295 → 21,146 (-5.2%)	18,680 → 19,875 (+6.4%)
Median household income	$29,886 → $40,501 (+35.5%)	$80,166 → $98,333 (+22.7%)
Median home value	$58,600 → $70,500 (+20.3%)	$213,300 → $297,600 (+39.5%)
Median gross rent	$559 → $651 (+16.5%)	$649 → $954 (+47.0%)

Letcher County

Population

22,29521,146

Median household income

$29,886$40,501

Median home value

$58,600$70,500

Median gross rent

$559$651

Spencer County

Population

18,68019,875

Median household income

$80,166$98,333

Median home value

$213,300$297,600

Median gross rent

$649$954

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Letcher County	Spencer County
Under 5	5.2%	5.3%
5 to 17	16.5%	17.4%
18 to 24	6.6%	7.2%
25 to 34	11.0%	10.1%
35 to 44	12.2%	14.2%
45 to 54	13.1%	14.8%
55 to 64	14.9%	16.1%
65 to 74	13.1%	10.0%
75 and over	7.5%	5.0%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Letcher County	Spencer County
White (non-Hispanic)	96.8%	93.2%
Black or African American	0.7%	0.9%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.0%	0.1%
Asian	0.2%	0.4%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.0%	0.0%
Some other race	0.3%	0.3%
Two or more races	1.2%	2.5%
Hispanic or Latino	0.8%	2.6%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Letcher County	Spencer County
No high school diploma	20.2%	6.7%
High school graduate	34.7%	38.3%
Some college or associate's	31.5%	32.9%
Bachelor's degree	6.9%	13.7%
Graduate or professional degree	6.8%	8.4%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Letcher County	Spencer County
Drove alone	73.9%	83.4%
Carpooled	13.9%	4.1%
Public transit	0.5%	0.1%
Walked	2.4%	0.7%
Bicycle	0.0%	0.2%
Worked from home	7.4%	10.5%
Other means	2.0%	1.0%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Letcher County	Spencer County
1-unit, detached	64.1%	89.6%
1-unit, attached	0.3%	0.1%
2 to 4 units	1.9%	1.9%
5 to 19 units	2.0%	2.1%
20 or more units	0.3%	0.8%
Mobile home & other	31.3%	5.6%

Poverty & households

	Letcher County	Spencer County
Poverty rate	26.8%	7.4%
Average household size	2.49	2.80
Mean commute (minutes)	28	32
Median year structure built	1978	1998