Lincoln County vs Mercer County

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

Lincoln 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.

Lincoln County has the higher population (24,415 vs 22,824 in Mercer County). Mercer County has the higher median household income ($63,115 vs $50,862 in Lincoln County). Mercer County has the higher median home value ($189,700 vs $139,300 in Lincoln County).

Population, income & housing

	Lincoln County	Mercer County
Population	24,415	22,824
Median age	41.9 yrs	42.8 yrs
Median household income	$50,862	$63,115
Median home value	$139,300	$189,700
Median gross rent	$730	$802
Housing units	10,869	10,410
Homeownership rate	77.8%	77.1%
Bachelor's degree or higher	15.2%	22.5%
Unemployment rate	7.6%	2.9%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Lincoln County	Mercer County
Population	24,476 → 24,415 (-0.2%)	21,592 → 22,824 (+5.7%)
Median household income	$42,919 → $50,862 (+18.5%)	$55,093 → $63,115 (+14.6%)
Median home value	$106,400 → $139,300 (+30.9%)	$147,300 → $189,700 (+28.8%)
Median gross rent	$651 → $730 (+12.1%)	$624 → $802 (+28.5%)

Lincoln County

Population

24,47624,415

Median household income

$42,919$50,862

Median home value

$106,400$139,300

Median gross rent

$651$730

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)

	Lincoln County	Mercer County
Under 5	6.4%	6.2%
5 to 17	17.2%	16.0%
18 to 24	7.3%	8.0%
25 to 34	11.8%	11.9%
35 to 44	11.9%	11.0%
45 to 54	12.8%	12.6%
55 to 64	13.7%	15.2%
65 to 74	11.1%	11.0%
75 and over	7.8%	8.2%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Lincoln County	Mercer County
White (non-Hispanic)	92.6%	90.3%
Black or African American	1.7%	3.6%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.0%	0.1%
Asian	0.3%	0.3%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.0%	0.0%
Some other race	1.0%	0.1%
Two or more races	2.4%	2.5%
Hispanic or Latino	2.0%	3.2%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Lincoln County	Mercer County
No high school diploma	16.8%	8.9%
High school graduate	43.6%	34.6%
Some college or associate's	24.3%	34.0%
Bachelor's degree	9.3%	13.6%
Graduate or professional degree	5.9%	8.9%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Lincoln County	Mercer County
Drove alone	80.9%	79.2%
Carpooled	7.0%	11.2%
Public transit	0.1%	0.0%
Walked	2.3%	0.0%
Bicycle	0.0%	0.0%
Worked from home	9.5%	8.8%
Other means	0.3%	0.8%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Lincoln County	Mercer County
1-unit, detached	73.7%	80.0%
1-unit, attached	0.8%	1.6%
2 to 4 units	3.0%	5.5%
5 to 19 units	1.8%	4.9%
20 or more units	0.0%	0.8%
Mobile home & other	20.6%	7.2%

Poverty & households

	Lincoln County	Mercer County
Poverty rate	18.5%	11.4%
Average household size	2.50	2.48
Mean commute (minutes)	30	28
Median year structure built	1985	1978