Gardner vs Merriam

A side-by-side comparison of Gardner and Merriam: population, income, housing, and more.

Gardner and Merriam are places in Kansas. This page compares them across population, income, housing, education, commuting, and how each has changed since 2019.

Gardner has the higher population (24,020 vs 11,036 in Merriam). Gardner has the higher median household income ($92,579 vs $71,665 in Merriam). Gardner has the higher median home value ($276,000 vs $242,400 in Merriam).

Population, income & housing

	Gardner	Merriam
Population	24,020	11,036
Median age	31.3 yrs	38.0 yrs
Median household income	$92,579	$71,665
Median home value	$276,000	$242,400
Median gross rent	$1,296	$1,161
Housing units	8,478	5,370
Homeownership rate	67.3%	61.9%
Bachelor's degree or higher	32.3%	41.5%
Unemployment rate	4.0%	5.5%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Gardner	Merriam
Population	21,528 → 24,020 (+11.6%)	11,185 → 11,036 (-1.3%)
Median household income	$78,180 → $92,579 (+18.4%)	$63,806 → $71,665 (+12.3%)
Median home value	$189,100 → $276,000 (+46.0%)	$169,400 → $242,400 (+43.1%)
Median gross rent	$1,066 → $1,296 (+21.6%)	$945 → $1,161 (+22.9%)

Gardner

Population

21,52824,020

Median household income

$78,180$92,579

Median home value

$189,100$276,000

Median gross rent

$1,066$1,296

Merriam

Population

11,18511,036

Median household income

$63,806$71,665

Median home value

$169,400$242,400

Median gross rent

$945$1,161

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Gardner	Merriam
Under 5	9.2%	4.9%
5 to 17	22.1%	13.4%
18 to 24	8.1%	7.7%
25 to 34	16.3%	20.0%
35 to 44	15.9%	11.6%
45 to 54	10.1%	9.4%
55 to 64	9.7%	15.4%
65 to 74	5.8%	10.6%
75 and over	2.6%	7.0%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Gardner	Merriam
White (non-Hispanic)	76.8%	76.8%
Black or African American	7.1%	6.6%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.2%	0.0%
Asian	1.4%	2.0%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.0%	0.0%
Some other race	0.5%	0.5%
Two or more races	4.4%	2.5%
Hispanic or Latino	9.6%	11.6%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Gardner	Merriam
No high school diploma	4.8%	3.6%
High school graduate	27.8%	22.0%
Some college or associate's	35.1%	33.0%
Bachelor's degree	22.5%	27.5%
Graduate or professional degree	9.9%	13.9%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Gardner	Merriam
Drove alone	77.7%	75.1%
Carpooled	7.4%	5.2%
Public transit	0.0%	0.0%
Walked	0.5%	1.2%
Bicycle	0.0%	0.2%
Worked from home	13.5%	17.9%
Other means	0.8%	0.3%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Gardner	Merriam
1-unit, detached	65.8%	62.6%
1-unit, attached	11.3%	6.3%
2 to 4 units	5.7%	4.1%
5 to 19 units	10.3%	21.0%
20 or more units	1.1%	5.7%
Mobile home & other	5.8%	0.3%

Poverty & households

	Gardner	Merriam
Poverty rate	7.1%	8.2%
Average household size	2.91	2.10
Mean commute (minutes)	23	19
Median year structure built	2002	1970