Powell County vs Union County

A side-by-side comparison of Powell County and Union County: population, income, housing, and more.

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

Union County has the higher population (13,379 vs 13,057 in Powell County). Union County has the higher median household income ($60,989 vs $39,811 in Powell County). Powell County has the higher median home value ($142,400 vs $109,000 in Union County).

Population, income & housing

	Powell County	Union County
Population	13,057	13,379
Median age	39.3 yrs	41.3 yrs
Median household income	$39,811	$60,989
Median home value	$142,400	$109,000
Median gross rent	$743	$787
Housing units	5,619	5,868
Homeownership rate	69.2%	71.7%
Bachelor's degree or higher	17.3%	11.8%
Unemployment rate	7.1%	3.1%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Powell County	Union County
Population	12,304 → 13,057 (+6.1%)	14,638 → 13,379 (-8.6%)
Median household income	$37,469 → $39,811 (+6.3%)	$46,673 → $60,989 (+30.7%)
Median home value	$89,800 → $142,400 (+58.6%)	$92,100 → $109,000 (+18.3%)
Median gross rent	$669 → $743 (+11.1%)	$597 → $787 (+31.8%)

Powell County

Population

12,30413,057

Median household income

$37,469$39,811

Median home value

$89,800$142,400

Median gross rent

$669$743

Union County

Population

14,63813,379

Median household income

$46,673$60,989

Median home value

$92,100$109,000

Median gross rent

$597$787

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Powell County	Union County
Under 5	6.1%	5.4%
5 to 17	18.5%	14.0%
18 to 24	7.7%	10.3%
25 to 34	12.3%	11.6%
35 to 44	12.8%	12.1%
45 to 54	13.1%	12.4%
55 to 64	13.9%	14.6%
65 to 74	10.3%	12.8%
75 and over	5.3%	6.8%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Powell County	Union County
White (non-Hispanic)	93.8%	88.1%
Black or African American	1.7%	8.1%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.0%	0.0%
Asian	0.0%	0.3%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.0%	0.0%
Some other race	0.5%	0.0%
Two or more races	2.6%	1.8%
Hispanic or Latino	1.4%	1.6%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Powell County	Union County
No high school diploma	17.4%	8.0%
High school graduate	40.8%	45.3%
Some college or associate's	24.5%	35.0%
Bachelor's degree	10.5%	7.7%
Graduate or professional degree	6.9%	4.1%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Powell County	Union County
Drove alone	88.7%	83.1%
Carpooled	5.5%	8.0%
Public transit	0.0%	0.0%
Walked	0.8%	2.0%
Bicycle	0.0%	0.0%
Worked from home	4.6%	5.0%
Other means	0.3%	1.9%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Powell County	Union County
1-unit, detached	61.9%	77.2%
1-unit, attached	0.4%	0.5%
2 to 4 units	4.5%	4.3%
5 to 19 units	6.8%	2.2%
20 or more units	0.3%	0.6%
Mobile home & other	26.0%	15.1%

Poverty & households

	Powell County	Union County
Poverty rate	21.7%	17.4%
Average household size	2.75	2.42
Mean commute (minutes)	28	23
Median year structure built	1984	1975