Bell City vs Essex

A side-by-side comparison of Bell City and Essex: population, income, housing, and more.

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

Bell City has the higher population (554 vs 373 in Essex). Essex has the higher median household income ($63,854 vs $31,058 in Bell City). Essex has the higher median home value ($115,600 vs $50,000 in Bell City).

Population, income & housing

	Bell City	Essex
Population	554	373
Median age	37.2 yrs	44.8 yrs
Median household income	$31,058	$63,854
Median home value	$50,000	$115,600
Median gross rent	$367	$625
Housing units	236	259
Homeownership rate	56.2%	74.9%
Bachelor's degree or higher	12.1%	4.4%
Unemployment rate	27.5%	1.7%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Bell City	Essex
Population	489 → 554 (+13.3%)	524 → 373 (-28.8%)
Median household income	$28,333 → $31,058 (+9.6%)	$45,000 → $63,854 (+41.9%)
Median home value	$41,800 → $50,000 (+19.6%)	$76,800 → $115,600 (+50.5%)
Median gross rent	$525 → $367 (-30.1%)	$638 → $625 (-2.0%)

Bell City

Population

489554

Median household income

$28,333$31,058

Median home value

$41,800$50,000

Median gross rent

$525$367

Essex

Population

524373

Median household income

$45,000$63,854

Median home value

$76,800$115,600

Median gross rent

$638$625

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Bell City	Essex
Under 5	2.2%	1.6%
5 to 17	14.6%	18.2%
18 to 24	20.8%	6.7%
25 to 34	9.4%	8.0%
35 to 44	13.5%	16.1%
45 to 54	17.1%	22.3%
55 to 64	12.1%	10.7%
65 to 74	7.9%	12.3%
75 and over	2.3%	4.0%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Bell City	Essex
White (non-Hispanic)	86.6%	98.1%
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	8.8%	1.9%
Hispanic or Latino	4.5%	0.0%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Bell City	Essex
No high school diploma	21.4%	22.6%
High school graduate	50.3%	51.5%
Some college or associate's	16.2%	21.5%
Bachelor's degree	8.7%	4.4%
Graduate or professional degree	3.5%	0.0%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Bell City	Essex
Drove alone	73.3%	97.9%
Carpooled	18.0%	1.7%
Public transit	0.0%	0.0%
Walked	6.0%	0.0%
Bicycle	0.0%	0.0%
Worked from home	2.8%	0.4%
Other means	0.0%	0.0%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Bell City	Essex
1-unit, detached	51.3%	67.6%
1-unit, attached	0.0%	0.0%
2 to 4 units	27.5%	25.9%
5 to 19 units	6.4%	0.8%
20 or more units	0.0%	0.0%
Mobile home & other	14.8%	5.8%

Poverty & households

	Bell City	Essex
Poverty rate	30.7%	17.3%
Average household size	2.55	2.23
Mean commute (minutes)	24	20
Median year structure built	1980	1977