Monroe County vs Pickens County

A side-by-side comparison of Monroe County and Pickens County: population, income, housing, and more.

Monroe County and Pickens County are counties in Alabama. This page compares them across population, income, housing, education, commuting, and how each has changed since 2019.

Monroe County has the higher population (19,580 vs 18,843 in Pickens County). Pickens County has the higher median household income ($47,014 vs $40,225 in Monroe County). Pickens County has the higher median home value ($123,300 vs $114,900 in Monroe County).

Population, income & housing

	Monroe County	Pickens County
Population	19,580	18,843
Median age	43.9 yrs	42.5 yrs
Median household income	$40,225	$47,014
Median home value	$114,900	$123,300
Median gross rent	$721	$600
Housing units	10,193	8,726
Homeownership rate	70.2%	75.4%
Bachelor's degree or higher	11.4%	13.7%
Unemployment rate	11.9%	6.5%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Monroe County	Pickens County
Population	21,270 → 19,580 (-7.9%)	20,243 → 18,843 (-6.9%)
Median household income	$30,441 → $40,225 (+32.1%)	$39,848 → $47,014 (+18.0%)
Median home value	$102,200 → $114,900 (+12.4%)	$96,000 → $123,300 (+28.4%)
Median gross rent	$582 → $721 (+23.9%)	$457 → $600 (+31.3%)

Monroe County

Population

21,27019,580

Median household income

$30,441$40,225

Median home value

$102,200$114,900

Median gross rent

$582$721

Pickens County

Population

20,24318,843

Median household income

$39,848$47,014

Median home value

$96,000$123,300

Median gross rent

$457$600

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Monroe County	Pickens County
Under 5	3.5%	5.0%
5 to 17	17.8%	14.3%
18 to 24	9.8%	8.4%
25 to 34	8.8%	12.4%
35 to 44	11.6%	13.7%
45 to 54	12.6%	12.0%
55 to 64	14.8%	14.7%
65 to 74	12.5%	11.4%
75 and over	8.6%	8.1%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Monroe County	Pickens County
White (non-Hispanic)	53.6%	53.2%
Black or African American	42.2%	39.1%
American Indian & Alaska Native	1.0%	0.2%
Asian	0.3%	0.1%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.2%	0.0%
Some other race	0.0%	0.1%
Two or more races	2.4%	1.5%
Hispanic or Latino	0.1%	5.8%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Monroe County	Pickens County
No high school diploma	16.4%	16.1%
High school graduate	45.6%	43.0%
Some college or associate's	26.7%	27.1%
Bachelor's degree	6.2%	9.1%
Graduate or professional degree	5.1%	4.6%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Monroe County	Pickens County
Drove alone	90.2%	88.5%
Carpooled	4.7%	5.1%
Public transit	0.8%	1.1%
Walked	0.8%	0.3%
Bicycle	0.0%	0.0%
Worked from home	3.1%	5.0%
Other means	0.3%	0.0%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Monroe County	Pickens County
1-unit, detached	66.9%	63.4%
1-unit, attached	1.8%	0.7%
2 to 4 units	5.0%	6.7%
5 to 19 units	3.6%	2.6%
20 or more units	0.8%	0.7%
Mobile home & other	21.9%	26.0%

Poverty & households

	Monroe County	Pickens County
Poverty rate	22.6%	22.6%
Average household size	2.61	2.47
Mean commute (minutes)	24	34
Median year structure built	1983	1981