Jefferson City vs Wardsville

A side-by-side comparison of Jefferson City and Wardsville: population, income, housing, and more.

Jefferson City and Wardsville are places in Missouri. This page compares them across population, income, housing, education, commuting, and how each has changed since 2019.

Jefferson City has the higher population (42,565 vs 1,505 in Wardsville). Wardsville has the higher median household income ($117,500 vs $67,205 in Jefferson City). Wardsville has the higher median home value ($309,900 vs $208,000 in Jefferson City).

Population, income & housing

	Jefferson City	Wardsville
Population	42,565	1,505
Median age	39.1 yrs	36.4 yrs
Median household income	$67,205	$117,500
Median home value	$208,000	$309,900
Median gross rent	$766	$717
Housing units	19,051	572
Homeownership rate	58.9%	85.2%
Bachelor's degree or higher	36.9%	35.4%
Unemployment rate	3.2%	1.0%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Jefferson City	Wardsville
Population	42,919 → 42,565 (-0.8%)	1,878 → 1,505 (-19.9%)
Median household income	$52,253 → $67,205 (+28.6%)	$92,813 → $117,500 (+26.6%)
Median home value	$147,800 → $208,000 (+40.7%)	$225,300 → $309,900 (+37.5%)
Median gross rent	$634 → $766 (+20.8%)	$786 → $717 (-8.8%)

Jefferson City

Population

42,91942,565

Median household income

$52,253$67,205

Median home value

$147,800$208,000

Median gross rent

$634$766

Wardsville

Population

1,8781,505

Median household income

$92,813$117,500

Median home value

$225,300$309,900

Median gross rent

$786$717

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Jefferson City	Wardsville
Under 5	6.3%	8.0%
5 to 17	13.5%	23.5%
18 to 24	9.8%	8.2%
25 to 34	14.3%	7.4%
35 to 44	15.4%	17.1%
45 to 54	11.6%	10.8%
55 to 64	12.5%	10.0%
65 to 74	9.3%	7.2%
75 and over	7.4%	7.6%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Jefferson City	Wardsville
White (non-Hispanic)	71.2%	98.8%
Black or African American	17.3%	0.0%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.1%	0.0%
Asian	2.8%	0.0%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.0%	0.0%
Some other race	0.9%	0.0%
Two or more races	3.5%	1.1%
Hispanic or Latino	4.2%	0.1%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Jefferson City	Wardsville
No high school diploma	8.0%	4.0%
High school graduate	29.3%	26.0%
Some college or associate's	25.8%	34.6%
Bachelor's degree	21.9%	23.4%
Graduate or professional degree	14.9%	12.0%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Jefferson City	Wardsville
Drove alone	78.3%	77.1%
Carpooled	8.9%	4.0%
Public transit	0.6%	0.0%
Walked	1.7%	1.8%
Bicycle	0.1%	0.0%
Worked from home	8.2%	14.3%
Other means	2.1%	2.8%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Jefferson City	Wardsville
1-unit, detached	60.7%	86.5%
1-unit, attached	3.4%	1.7%
2 to 4 units	18.3%	7.3%
5 to 19 units	10.2%	4.4%
20 or more units	6.4%	0.0%
Mobile home & other	1.0%	0.0%

Poverty & households

	Jefferson City	Wardsville
Poverty rate	12.5%	3.1%
Average household size	2.23	2.79
Mean commute (minutes)	16	18
Median year structure built	1978	1996