Simpson County vs Spencer County

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

Simpson 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 19,786 in Simpson County). Spencer County has the higher median household income ($98,333 vs $57,392 in Simpson County). Spencer County has the higher median home value ($297,600 vs $195,700 in Simpson County).

Population, income & housing

	Simpson County	Spencer County
Population	19,786	19,875
Median age	39.0 yrs	43.3 yrs
Median household income	$57,392	$98,333
Median home value	$195,700	$297,600
Median gross rent	$1,011	$954
Housing units	8,456	7,599
Homeownership rate	66.3%	86.6%
Bachelor's degree or higher	16.8%	22.1%
Unemployment rate	3.9%	5.9%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Simpson County	Spencer County
Population	18,183 → 19,786 (+8.8%)	18,680 → 19,875 (+6.4%)
Median household income	$48,623 → $57,392 (+18.0%)	$80,166 → $98,333 (+22.7%)
Median home value	$135,200 → $195,700 (+44.7%)	$213,300 → $297,600 (+39.5%)
Median gross rent	$804 → $1,011 (+25.7%)	$649 → $954 (+47.0%)

Simpson County

Population

18,18319,786

Median household income

$48,623$57,392

Median home value

$135,200$195,700

Median gross rent

$804$1,011

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)

	Simpson County	Spencer County
Under 5	5.8%	5.3%
5 to 17	17.7%	17.4%
18 to 24	8.9%	7.2%
25 to 34	13.1%	10.1%
35 to 44	12.1%	14.2%
45 to 54	12.2%	14.8%
55 to 64	14.3%	16.1%
65 to 74	9.7%	10.0%
75 and over	6.3%	5.0%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Simpson County	Spencer County
White (non-Hispanic)	84.2%	93.2%
Black or African American	6.9%	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	0.1%	0.3%
Two or more races	5.2%	2.5%
Hispanic or Latino	3.4%	2.6%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Simpson County	Spencer County
No high school diploma	10.8%	6.7%
High school graduate	40.5%	38.3%
Some college or associate's	32.0%	32.9%
Bachelor's degree	10.5%	13.7%
Graduate or professional degree	6.3%	8.4%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Simpson County	Spencer County
Drove alone	79.5%	83.4%
Carpooled	12.8%	4.1%
Public transit	0.3%	0.1%
Walked	1.6%	0.7%
Bicycle	0.0%	0.2%
Worked from home	5.2%	10.5%
Other means	0.7%	1.0%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Simpson County	Spencer County
1-unit, detached	79.0%	89.6%
1-unit, attached	0.7%	0.1%
2 to 4 units	6.1%	1.9%
5 to 19 units	6.1%	2.1%
20 or more units	0.5%	0.8%
Mobile home & other	7.6%	5.6%

Poverty & households

	Simpson County	Spencer County
Poverty rate	15.1%	7.4%
Average household size	2.52	2.80
Mean commute (minutes)	22	32
Median year structure built	1979	1998