Marion County vs Spencer County

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

Marion 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.

Spencer County has the higher population (19,875 vs 19,680 in Marion County). Spencer County has the higher median household income ($98,333 vs $55,404 in Marion County). Spencer County has the higher median home value ($297,600 vs $158,700 in Marion County).

Population, income & housing

	Marion County	Spencer County
Population	19,680	19,875
Median age	39.6 yrs	43.3 yrs
Median household income	$55,404	$98,333
Median home value	$158,700	$297,600
Median gross rent	$731	$954
Housing units	8,427	7,599
Homeownership rate	77.3%	86.6%
Bachelor's degree or higher	12.7%	22.1%
Unemployment rate	5.5%	5.9%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Marion County	Spencer County
Population	19,244 → 19,680 (+2.3%)	18,680 → 19,875 (+6.4%)
Median household income	$40,107 → $55,404 (+38.1%)	$80,166 → $98,333 (+22.7%)
Median home value	$105,400 → $158,700 (+50.6%)	$213,300 → $297,600 (+39.5%)
Median gross rent	$630 → $731 (+16.0%)	$649 → $954 (+47.0%)

Marion County

Population

19,24419,680

Median household income

$40,107$55,404

Median home value

$105,400$158,700

Median gross rent

$630$731

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)

	Marion County	Spencer County
Under 5	6.3%	5.3%
5 to 17	17.7%	17.4%
18 to 24	8.0%	7.2%
25 to 34	12.7%	10.1%
35 to 44	12.1%	14.2%
45 to 54	12.3%	14.8%
55 to 64	14.0%	16.1%
65 to 74	10.1%	10.0%
75 and over	6.8%	5.0%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Marion County	Spencer County
White (non-Hispanic)	86.6%	93.2%
Black or African American	7.2%	0.9%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.0%	0.1%
Asian	0.6%	0.4%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.0%	0.0%
Some other race	0.1%	0.3%
Two or more races	1.9%	2.5%
Hispanic or Latino	3.5%	2.6%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Marion County	Spencer County
No high school diploma	13.7%	6.7%
High school graduate	45.9%	38.3%
Some college or associate's	27.7%	32.9%
Bachelor's degree	6.5%	13.7%
Graduate or professional degree	6.2%	8.4%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Marion County	Spencer County
Drove alone	88.2%	83.4%
Carpooled	6.6%	4.1%
Public transit	0.0%	0.1%
Walked	0.4%	0.7%
Bicycle	0.0%	0.2%
Worked from home	2.9%	10.5%
Other means	1.8%	1.0%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Marion County	Spencer County
1-unit, detached	75.2%	89.6%
1-unit, attached	0.5%	0.1%
2 to 4 units	5.4%	1.9%
5 to 19 units	3.6%	2.1%
20 or more units	1.5%	0.8%
Mobile home & other	13.8%	5.6%

Poverty & households

	Marion County	Spencer County
Poverty rate	19.5%	7.4%
Average household size	2.46	2.80
Mean commute (minutes)	21	32
Median year structure built	1982	1998