Mahaska vs Palmer

A side-by-side comparison of Mahaska and Palmer: population, income, housing, and more.

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

Palmer has the higher population (138 vs 40 in Mahaska). Since 2019, Palmer's population has grown faster (-5.5% vs -28.6%).

Population, income & housing

	Mahaska	Palmer
Population	40	138
Median age	55.3 yrs	35.0 yrs
Median household income	—	$46,250
Median gross rent	—	$563
Housing units	36	66
Homeownership rate	100.0%	62.1%
Bachelor's degree or higher	25.0%	24.7%
Unemployment rate	0.0%	0.0%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Mahaska	Palmer
Population	56 → 40 (-28.6%)	146 → 138 (-5.5%)
Median household income	$29,261 → $46,719 (+59.7%)	$78,750 → $46,250 (-41.3%)
Median home value	—	$83,500 → $93,800 (+12.3%)
Median gross rent	—	$683 → $563 (-17.6%)

Mahaska

Population

5640

Median household income

$29,261$46,719

Palmer

Population

146138

Median household income

$78,750$46,250

Median home value

$83,500$93,800

Median gross rent

$683$563

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Mahaska	Palmer
Under 5	0.0%	22.5%
5 to 17	0.0%	8.7%
18 to 24	0.0%	7.2%
25 to 34	0.0%	11.6%
35 to 44	2.5%	8.7%
45 to 54	40.0%	11.6%
55 to 64	40.0%	4.3%
65 to 74	10.0%	19.6%
75 and over	7.5%	5.8%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Mahaska	Palmer
White (non-Hispanic)	92.5%	75.4%
Black or African American	0.0%	0.0%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.0%	0.0%
Asian	0.0%	0.0%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.0%	0.0%
Some other race	0.0%	0.0%
Two or more races	7.5%	0.0%
Hispanic or Latino	0.0%	24.6%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Mahaska	Palmer
No high school diploma	7.5%	11.8%
High school graduate	30.0%	32.9%
Some college or associate's	37.5%	30.6%
Bachelor's degree	22.5%	23.5%
Graduate or professional degree	2.5%	1.2%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Mahaska	Palmer
Drove alone	65.0%	86.8%
Carpooled	5.0%	7.5%
Public transit	0.0%	0.0%
Walked	0.0%	1.9%
Bicycle	0.0%	0.0%
Worked from home	5.0%	1.9%
Other means	25.0%	1.9%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Mahaska	Palmer
1-unit, detached	63.9%	77.3%
1-unit, attached	0.0%	0.0%
2 to 4 units	0.0%	13.6%
5 to 19 units	36.1%	9.1%
20 or more units	0.0%	0.0%
Mobile home & other	0.0%	0.0%

Poverty & households

	Mahaska	Palmer
Poverty rate	12.5%	23.9%
Average household size	1.82	2.38
Mean commute (minutes)	33	16
Median year structure built	1938	1955