Cottonwood vs Elk City

A side-by-side comparison of Cottonwood and Elk City: population, income, housing, and more.

Cottonwood and Elk City are places in Idaho. This page compares them across population, income, housing, education, commuting, and how each has changed since 2019.

Cottonwood has the higher population (1,138 vs 270 in Elk City). Elk City has the higher median household income ($59,643 vs $56,250 in Cottonwood). Elk City has the higher median home value ($356,700 vs $206,800 in Cottonwood).

Population, income & housing

	Cottonwood	Elk City
Population	1,138	270
Median age	36.8 yrs	40.4 yrs
Median household income	$56,250	$59,643
Median home value	$206,800	$356,700
Median gross rent	$942	—
Housing units	438	188
Homeownership rate	73.0%	65.8%
Bachelor's degree or higher	23.6%	9.0%
Unemployment rate	8.6%	31.7%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Cottonwood	Elk City
Population	977 → 1,138 (+16.5%)	147 → 270 (+83.7%)
Median household income	$49,145 → $56,250 (+14.5%)	$36,438 → $59,643 (+63.7%)
Median home value	$128,600 → $206,800 (+60.8%)	$77,500 → $356,700 (+360.3%)
Median gross rent	$615 → $942 (+53.2%)	—

Cottonwood

Population

9771,138

Median household income

$49,145$56,250

Median home value

$128,600$206,800

Median gross rent

$615$942

Elk City

Population

147270

Median household income

$36,438$59,643

Median home value

$77,500$356,700

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Cottonwood	Elk City
Under 5	4.0%	18.5%
5 to 17	21.4%	7.4%
18 to 24	5.9%	0.0%
25 to 34	15.6%	23.0%
35 to 44	21.2%	2.6%
45 to 54	8.3%	3.0%
55 to 64	10.5%	34.4%
65 to 74	6.1%	11.1%
75 and over	6.9%	0.0%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Cottonwood	Elk City
White (non-Hispanic)	94.5%	90.0%
Black or African American	0.0%	0.0%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.0%	0.0%
Asian	0.1%	0.0%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.0%	0.0%
Some other race	0.0%	0.0%
Two or more races	4.0%	7.4%
Hispanic or Latino	1.4%	2.6%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Cottonwood	Elk City
No high school diploma	10.6%	14.0%
High school graduate	43.1%	13.0%
Some college or associate's	22.7%	64.0%
Bachelor's degree	20.6%	9.0%
Graduate or professional degree	2.9%	0.0%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Cottonwood	Elk City
Drove alone	92.6%	83.7%
Carpooled	1.7%	0.0%
Public transit	0.0%	0.0%
Walked	1.1%	0.0%
Bicycle	0.4%	0.0%
Worked from home	3.8%	16.3%
Other means	0.4%	0.0%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Cottonwood	Elk City
1-unit, detached	73.5%	46.3%
1-unit, attached	0.0%	0.0%
2 to 4 units	6.8%	0.0%
5 to 19 units	1.6%	0.0%
20 or more units	0.0%	0.0%
Mobile home & other	18.0%	53.7%

Poverty & households

	Cottonwood	Elk City
Poverty rate	19.4%	12.6%
Average household size	3.05	3.46
Mean commute (minutes)	21	—
Median year structure built	1963	1978