Letcher County, Kentucky

• White (non-Hispanic) 20,089 96.5%
• Hispanic or Latino (any race) 160 0.8%
• Black or African American (non-Hispanic) 128 0.6%
• Asian (non-Hispanic) 40 0.2%
• Two or more races (non-Hispanic) 317 1.5%
• American Indian / Alaska Native (non-Hispanic) 8 0.0%
• Native Hawaiian / Pacific Islander (non-Hispanic) 0 0.0%
• Some other race (non-Hispanic) 66 0.3%

• Under 18 4,542 21.8%
• 18–24 1,357 6.5%
• 25–44 4,824 23.2%
• 45–64 5,745 27.6%
• 65 and over 4,340 20.9%

Median household income

$44,339

90% interval $39,565–$49,113

−$20,142 vs KY · 106th of 120

Below poverty line

25.3%

90% interval 20.5%–30.1%

+9.9 pp vs KY · 18th of 120

Unemployment (12-mo)

5.3%

+0.89 pp vs. state

County GDP

$538.8M

0.18% of state

Avg. annual pay

$46,982

Establishments

498

• Education & health services 1,314 31.8%
• Trade, transportation & utilities 885 21.4%
• Leisure & hospitality 326 7.9%
• Public administration 272 6.6%
• Professional & business services 224 5.4%
• Natural resources & mining 146 3.5%
• Financial activities 103 2.5%
• Other services 85 2.1%
• Construction 71 1.7%
• Manufacturing 50 1.2%
• Information 21 0.5%
• Unclassified 3 0.1%

The sectors listed cover 84.7% of covered employment; BLS withholds the rest to avoid disclosing individual employers.

Home ownership

74.1%

+5.8 pp vs KY · 64th of 120

Median gross rent

$669

−$298 vs KY · 99th of 120

Owner-occupied

6,274

Renter-occupied

2,189

• Moderately concentrated

  Top three sectors employ 61% of the county workforce. Substantial intra-sector overlap among panelists is likely; confirm employer relationships before sector-specific framing.

• Moderate wage spread

  Highest-paid sector (Natural resources & mining, $68,425/yr) pays 3.5× the lowest (Leisure & hospitality, $19,481/yr). Expect meaningful income variation across the panel.

• Small-business scale

  Average establishment employs only 8.3 workers, a small-business-dominated local economy. Expect more self-employed and small-business-owner panelists than in institutional-employer venues.

• Republican 6,848 81.2%
• Democratic 1,457 17.3%
• Other / third-party 125 1.5%

• Spanish 109 0.6%
• German or other West Germanic 57 0.3%
• Chinese 10 0.1%
• French, Haitian, or Cajun 8 0.0%
• Vietnamese 2 0.0%

Households

8,463

Family households

5,626

66.5% of households

Married couples w/ children

1,530

27.2% of families

Single-mother families

358

6.4% of families

Veterans

1,012

6.2% of civilians 18+

• Evangelical Protestant 5,297 24.6%
• Mainline Protestant 598 2.8%
• Black Protestant 528 2.5%
• Other (non-Christian + minor traditions) 234 1.1%
• Catholic 30 0.1%

Health insured

96.6%

±1 pp

Uninsured

3.4%

±1 pp

109th of 120

With a disability

29.8%

±2.1 pp

7th of 120

Bachelor's or higher

12.5%

±1.9 pp

−15.1 pp vs KY · 105th of 120

Uninsured, under 65 (2024)

8.7%

90% interval 7.6%–9.8% · Census SAHIE

The under-65 uninsured rate is not comparable to the ACS insurance figures, which cover all ages.

Trial court

47th Judicial Circuit Court

Judges

1 (Circuit Court judges per circuit (general civil + felony criminal jurisdiction; civil amount-in-controversy > $5,000); District Court judges (limited jurisdiction) separate. Vintage 2026 kycourts.gov; shaded-bench counts per Wikipedia 'Kentucky Circuit Courts' judge-count map, with the three '6 or more' circuits (16th Kenton, 22nd Fayette, 30th Jefferson) hard-pinned to 6, 9, and 23 respectively per Wikipedia footnote 4. Mid-range single-county metro and exurban-cluster circuits are conservative midpoints; verify against KRS § 23A.040 before relying on exact counts.)

Court seats

Whitesburg

Traffic fatalities

4

24.59 per 100k adults (18+)

Fatal crashes

4