Carthage vs Joplin

A side-by-side comparison of Carthage and Joplin: population, income, housing, and more.

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

Joplin has the higher population (52,218 vs 15,513 in Carthage). Joplin has the higher median household income ($51,154 vs $50,849 in Carthage). Joplin has the higher median home value ($159,700 vs $133,500 in Carthage).

Population, income & housing

	Carthage	Joplin
Population	15,513	52,218
Median age	31.0 yrs	37.5 yrs
Median household income	$50,849	$51,154
Median home value	$133,500	$159,700
Median gross rent	$897	$889
Housing units	6,095	24,966
Homeownership rate	51.7%	55.9%
Bachelor's degree or higher	23.0%	26.4%
Unemployment rate	2.0%	5.7%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Carthage	Joplin
Population	14,708 → 15,513 (+5.5%)	50,386 → 52,218 (+3.6%)
Median household income	$41,226 → $50,849 (+23.3%)	$45,449 → $51,154 (+12.6%)
Median home value	$88,600 → $133,500 (+50.7%)	$125,900 → $159,700 (+26.8%)
Median gross rent	$749 → $897 (+19.8%)	$789 → $889 (+12.7%)

Carthage

Population

14,70815,513

Median household income

$41,226$50,849

Median home value

$88,600$133,500

Median gross rent

$749$897

Joplin

Population

50,38652,218

Median household income

$45,449$51,154

Median home value

$125,900$159,700

Median gross rent

$789$889

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Carthage	Joplin
Under 5	7.8%	5.9%
5 to 17	24.8%	15.1%
18 to 24	8.8%	11.3%
25 to 34	12.4%	14.5%
35 to 44	16.2%	11.9%
45 to 54	9.8%	10.6%
55 to 64	8.3%	11.9%
65 to 74	6.2%	11.0%
75 and over	5.7%	7.8%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Carthage	Joplin
White (non-Hispanic)	55.7%	82.0%
Black or African American	1.4%	2.7%
American Indian & Alaska Native	1.2%	0.7%
Asian	0.8%	2.0%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.0%	0.5%
Some other race	0.3%	0.2%
Two or more races	4.2%	5.5%
Hispanic or Latino	36.4%	6.4%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Carthage	Joplin
No high school diploma	24.6%	9.9%
High school graduate	31.5%	31.9%
Some college or associate's	20.9%	31.8%
Bachelor's degree	15.1%	17.6%
Graduate or professional degree	7.9%	8.8%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Carthage	Joplin
Drove alone	74.1%	78.4%
Carpooled	14.4%	9.8%
Public transit	0.0%	0.2%
Walked	2.1%	2.3%
Bicycle	0.7%	0.1%
Worked from home	8.1%	8.5%
Other means	0.6%	0.7%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Carthage	Joplin
1-unit, detached	75.2%	71.8%
1-unit, attached	1.4%	2.4%
2 to 4 units	9.4%	10.0%
5 to 19 units	11.7%	7.6%
20 or more units	0.7%	6.8%
Mobile home & other	1.6%	1.4%

Poverty & households

	Carthage	Joplin
Poverty rate	33.0%	17.9%
Average household size	2.75	2.28
Mean commute (minutes)	16	18
Median year structure built	1973	1984