Ashland County vs Shelby County

A side-by-side comparison of Ashland County and Shelby County: population, income, housing, and more.

Ashland County and Shelby County are counties in Ohio. This page compares them across population, income, housing, education, commuting, and how each has changed since 2019.

Ashland County has the higher population (52,296 vs 48,007 in Shelby County). Shelby County has the higher median household income ($72,822 vs $64,991 in Ashland County). Shelby County has the higher median home value ($190,300 vs $175,900 in Ashland County).

Population, income & housing

	Ashland County	Shelby County
Population	52,296	48,007
Median age	41.4 yrs	40.1 yrs
Median household income	$64,991	$72,822
Median home value	$175,900	$190,300
Median gross rent	$841	$904
Housing units	22,517	20,113
Homeownership rate	78.9%	73.7%
Bachelor's degree or higher	22.1%	20.6%
Unemployment rate	3.7%	4.6%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Ashland County	Shelby County
Population	53,536 → 52,296 (-2.3%)	48,749 → 48,007 (-1.5%)
Median household income	$52,823 → $64,991 (+23.0%)	$63,806 → $72,822 (+14.1%)
Median home value	$128,400 → $175,900 (+37.0%)	$145,600 → $190,300 (+30.7%)
Median gross rent	$725 → $841 (+16.0%)	$733 → $904 (+23.3%)

Ashland County

Population

53,53652,296

Median household income

$52,823$64,991

Median home value

$128,400$175,900

Median gross rent

$725$841

Shelby County

Population

48,74948,007

Median household income

$63,806$72,822

Median home value

$145,600$190,300

Median gross rent

$733$904

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Ashland County	Shelby County
Under 5	5.3%	6.4%
5 to 17	17.2%	18.3%
18 to 24	8.7%	8.4%
25 to 34	11.4%	11.6%
35 to 44	11.4%	11.5%
45 to 54	12.1%	12.4%
55 to 64	13.8%	14.0%
65 to 74	11.6%	10.7%
75 and over	8.5%	6.9%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Ashland County	Shelby County
White (non-Hispanic)	94.3%	91.8%
Black or African American	1.1%	2.1%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.1%	0.0%
Asian	0.6%	0.8%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.0%	0.0%
Some other race	0.3%	0.4%
Two or more races	2.0%	3.2%
Hispanic or Latino	1.7%	1.7%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Ashland County	Shelby County
No high school diploma	9.0%	8.6%
High school graduate	43.4%	40.9%
Some college or associate's	25.5%	29.9%
Bachelor's degree	14.6%	13.7%
Graduate or professional degree	7.4%	7.0%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Ashland County	Shelby County
Drove alone	80.2%	83.8%
Carpooled	7.6%	9.9%
Public transit	0.1%	0.2%
Walked	3.0%	0.6%
Bicycle	0.4%	0.7%
Worked from home	6.3%	4.4%
Other means	2.4%	0.4%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Ashland County	Shelby County
1-unit, detached	81.5%	78.4%
1-unit, attached	2.4%	3.3%
2 to 4 units	5.8%	9.0%
5 to 19 units	3.8%	4.2%
20 or more units	2.3%	1.4%
Mobile home & other	4.3%	3.6%

Poverty & households

	Ashland County	Shelby County
Poverty rate	13.8%	11.1%
Average household size	2.46	2.53
Mean commute (minutes)	24	19
Median year structure built	1968	1974