Grain Valley vs Independence

A side-by-side comparison of Grain Valley and Independence: population, income, housing, and more.

Grain Valley and Independence are places in Missouri. This page compares them across population, income, housing, education, commuting, and how each has changed since 2019.

Independence has the higher population (121,944 vs 15,967 in Grain Valley). Grain Valley has the higher median household income ($87,266 vs $59,480 in Independence). Grain Valley has the higher median home value ($269,800 vs $166,400 in Independence).

Population, income & housing

	Grain Valley	Independence
Population	15,967	121,944
Median age	35.8 yrs	38.4 yrs
Median household income	$87,266	$59,480
Median home value	$269,800	$166,400
Median gross rent	$1,366	$1,061
Housing units	6,178	55,424
Homeownership rate	65.2%	61.0%
Bachelor's degree or higher	27.8%	20.9%
Unemployment rate	2.1%	6.0%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Grain Valley	Independence
Population	13,966 → 15,967 (+14.3%)	117,084 → 121,944 (+4.2%)
Median household income	$73,698 → $87,266 (+18.4%)	$50,592 → $59,480 (+17.6%)
Median home value	$174,400 → $269,800 (+54.7%)	$114,100 → $166,400 (+45.8%)
Median gross rent	$1,044 → $1,366 (+30.8%)	$864 → $1,061 (+22.8%)

Grain Valley

Population

13,96615,967

Median household income

$73,698$87,266

Median home value

$174,400$269,800

Median gross rent

$1,044$1,366

Independence

Population

117,084121,944

Median household income

$50,592$59,480

Median home value

$114,100$166,400

Median gross rent

$864$1,061

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Grain Valley	Independence
Under 5	6.0%	6.5%
5 to 17	23.6%	17.0%
18 to 24	8.5%	7.9%
25 to 34	10.6%	14.5%
35 to 44	19.6%	12.1%
45 to 54	12.2%	10.8%
55 to 64	9.0%	13.0%
65 to 74	5.8%	9.9%
75 and over	4.8%	8.4%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Grain Valley	Independence
White (non-Hispanic)	84.5%	69.2%
Black or African American	5.1%	10.8%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.2%	0.2%
Asian	0.3%	1.3%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.1%	0.9%
Some other race	0.3%	0.7%
Two or more races	4.0%	4.5%
Hispanic or Latino	5.5%	12.5%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Grain Valley	Independence
No high school diploma	5.3%	9.8%
High school graduate	35.5%	37.2%
Some college or associate's	31.4%	32.0%
Bachelor's degree	18.3%	13.7%
Graduate or professional degree	9.5%	7.2%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Grain Valley	Independence
Drove alone	77.2%	81.2%
Carpooled	4.4%	7.3%
Public transit	0.0%	0.3%
Walked	0.6%	0.5%
Bicycle	0.0%	0.0%
Worked from home	17.5%	10.1%
Other means	0.3%	0.6%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Grain Valley	Independence
1-unit, detached	71.3%	72.1%
1-unit, attached	17.6%	4.9%
2 to 4 units	6.8%	5.1%
5 to 19 units	0.4%	8.9%
20 or more units	3.6%	6.3%
Mobile home & other	0.4%	2.7%

Poverty & households

	Grain Valley	Independence
Poverty rate	6.3%	15.3%
Average household size	2.70	2.37
Mean commute (minutes)	25	24
Median year structure built	2002	1967