South Fork vs West Plains

A side-by-side comparison of South Fork and West Plains: population, income, housing, and more.

South Fork and West Plains are places in Missouri. This page compares them across population, income, housing, education, commuting, and how each has changed since 2019.

West Plains has the higher population (12,341 vs 67 in South Fork). South Fork has the higher median household income ($63,750 vs $39,897 in West Plains). Since 2019, South Fork's population has grown faster (+31.4% vs +0.9%).

Population, income & housing

	South Fork	West Plains
Population	67	12,341
Median age	52.3 yrs	34.2 yrs
Median household income	$63,750	$39,897
Median home value	—	$158,700
Median gross rent	—	$762
Housing units	77	5,571
Homeownership rate	100.0%	48.2%
Bachelor's degree or higher	23.1%	17.7%
Unemployment rate	0.0%	4.5%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	South Fork	West Plains
Population	51 → 67 (+31.4%)	12,233 → 12,341 (+0.9%)
Median household income	$142,941 → $63,750 (-55.4%)	$36,865 → $39,897 (+8.2%)
Median home value	—	$99,700 → $158,700 (+59.2%)
Median gross rent	—	$624 → $762 (+22.1%)

South Fork

Population

5167

Median household income

$142,941$63,750

West Plains

Population

12,23312,341

Median household income

$36,865$39,897

Median home value

$99,700$158,700

Median gross rent

$624$762

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	South Fork	West Plains
Under 5	0.0%	7.1%
5 to 17	22.4%	18.7%
18 to 24	0.0%	9.1%
25 to 34	0.0%	16.1%
35 to 44	0.0%	11.0%
45 to 54	41.8%	11.0%
55 to 64	17.9%	9.7%
65 to 74	0.0%	7.7%
75 and over	17.9%	9.4%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	South Fork	West Plains
White (non-Hispanic)	100.0%	95.0%
Black or African American	0.0%	0.7%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.0%	0.1%
Asian	0.0%	0.4%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.0%	0.0%
Some other race	0.0%	0.0%
Two or more races	0.0%	3.2%
Hispanic or Latino	0.0%	0.5%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	South Fork	West Plains
No high school diploma	0.0%	14.7%
High school graduate	25.0%	40.8%
Some college or associate's	51.9%	26.7%
Bachelor's degree	0.0%	10.7%
Graduate or professional degree	23.1%	7.0%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	South Fork	West Plains
Drove alone	100.0%	84.0%
Carpooled	0.0%	8.4%
Public transit	0.0%	0.0%
Walked	0.0%	1.0%
Bicycle	0.0%	0.0%
Worked from home	0.0%	3.6%
Other means	0.0%	3.0%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	South Fork	West Plains
1-unit, detached	100.0%	70.4%
1-unit, attached	0.0%	2.4%
2 to 4 units	0.0%	13.2%
5 to 19 units	0.0%	7.9%
20 or more units	0.0%	3.2%
Mobile home & other	0.0%	3.0%

Poverty & households

	South Fork	West Plains
Poverty rate	0.0%	31.0%
Average household size	1.81	2.38
Mean commute (minutes)	—	17
Median year structure built	1960	1979