Places/KY/Barren County, KY
County profile

Barren County, KY

United States · GDP 2024
#1340 of 3,127 US counties by GDP58th-percentile growthmore diversified than 47% of counties
EA Place Score
methodology in progress
GDP 2024 (USD)
$1.9B
BEA · 2024
GDP growth (YoY)
+5.1%
BEA · 2024
Jobs tracked
12,882
Census CBP · 2023
Employers
853
Census CBP · 2023
Avg. wage
$46.7k
BLS QCEW · 2023
Population
45,641
Census PEP · 2025
Labor, income & education
Unemployment
5.8%
Median HH income
$50.6k±$2.9k
Bachelor's degree+
18.3%±1.8%
Poverty rate
19.4%±2.5%
Business applications
474 · 2025
Retail establishments
198
43.6/10k pop

Public companies headquartered here

SEC EDGAR · FMP
CompanySectorRevenueEA

No public companies loaded for this state yet — universe expands with the full ingest.

HQ-based placement with total (global) headcount — local employment attribution needs firmographic data; the industry mix at right is measured county data (CBP).

Industry mix · employment
Retail trade25%
Health care24%
Manufacturing21%
Food & accommodation19%
Wholesale trade7%
Construction5%
share of top-6 sector employment · CBP 2023
Population & migration
Census PEP · 20202025
45,641
residents · 2025 · +2.5% since 2020
Income per capita $46.6k · BEA 2024
COMPONENTS OF CHANGE · 20212025
Domestic migration+1,186
International migration+451
Natural change524

GDP trend

20192024 · nominal
$1.5B
2019
$1.5B
2020
$1.6B
2021
$1.7B
2022
$1.8B
2023
$1.9B
2024

Real estate & risk

FHFA · ACS · FEMA
Median home value
$178.0k±$7.8k
Median gross rent
$796/mo±$36/mo
Vacancy rate
11.2%±1.7%
Affordability
3.8× wages
Residential permits
$56.0M
204 units · 4.5/1k pop
FEMA risk score
67.9
HUD Fair Market Rent (2BR):$868/mo · 2026
TOP PERILS · FEMA NRI
Hail 90Strong wind 89Tornado 85
FHFA HOUSE PRICE INDEX · 20162025
246
2016
255
2017
260
2018
272
2019
283
2020
319
2021
378
2022
406
2023
443
2024
448
2025
RESIDENTIAL PERMITS · 20212025
-32% since 2021
302
2021
175
2022
131
2023
283
2024
204
2025

Transport access

BTS · FAA · USACE
Nearest interstate
17.6 km
I-65
Nearest freight rail
3.7 km
CSXT
Nearest port
46.2 km
KENTUCKY 214 MONROE COUNTY "MCMILLIAN FERRY"
Nearest commercial airport
43.3 km
BOWLING GREEN-WARREN COUNTY RGNL
Wage trend
BLS QCEW · 20192023
$46.7k
avg. annual pay · +26% since 2019
The read

What is the GDP of Barren?

Barren's economy produced $1.9B in 2024, growing 5.1% year over yearabout the middle of the pack among US counties. Its largest employment sector is retail trade.

GDP: BEA (2024), USD-normalized · Jobs/employers/wages & industry mix: Census CBP (2023) · Population & migration: Census PEP · Income: BEA CAINC1 · Companies: SEC EDGAR + FMP, by HQ.