Ashley County vs Hempstead County

A side-by-side comparison of Ashley County and Hempstead County: population, income, housing, and more.

Ashley County and Hempstead County are counties in Arkansas. This page compares them across population, income, housing, education, commuting, and how each has changed since 2019.

Hempstead County has the higher population (19,778 vs 18,722 in Ashley County). Hempstead County has the higher median household income ($47,654 vs $44,481 in Ashley County). Hempstead County has the higher median home value ($100,200 vs $88,800 in Ashley County).

Population, income & housing

	Ashley County	Hempstead County
Population	18,722	19,778
Median age	42.7 yrs	41.1 yrs
Median household income	$44,481	$47,654
Median home value	$88,800	$100,200
Median gross rent	$640	$781
Housing units	9,401	9,638
Homeownership rate	72.1%	69.6%
Bachelor's degree or higher	12.2%	14.6%
Unemployment rate	6.1%	3.9%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Ashley County	Hempstead County
Population	20,270 → 18,722 (-7.6%)	21,842 → 19,778 (-9.4%)
Median household income	$44,744 → $44,481 (-0.6%)	$42,860 → $47,654 (+11.2%)
Median home value	$76,400 → $88,800 (+16.2%)	$81,100 → $100,200 (+23.6%)
Median gross rent	$533 → $640 (+20.1%)	$694 → $781 (+12.5%)

Ashley County

Population

20,27018,722

Median household income

$44,744$44,481

Median home value

$76,400$88,800

Median gross rent

$533$640

Hempstead County

Population

21,84219,778

Median household income

$42,860$47,654

Median home value

$81,100$100,200

Median gross rent

$694$781

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Ashley County	Hempstead County
Under 5	6.1%	6.5%
5 to 17	16.6%	19.0%
18 to 24	7.6%	7.6%
25 to 34	11.1%	11.0%
35 to 44	10.7%	11.1%
45 to 54	12.7%	12.3%
55 to 64	13.9%	13.8%
65 to 74	12.1%	10.8%
75 and over	9.2%	7.8%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Ashley County	Hempstead County
White (non-Hispanic)	67.5%	51.9%
Black or African American	24.6%	29.7%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.0%	0.3%
Asian	0.0%	0.5%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.3%	0.0%
Some other race	0.1%	0.1%
Two or more races	1.3%	2.5%
Hispanic or Latino	6.2%	14.9%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Ashley County	Hempstead County
No high school diploma	12.2%	16.6%
High school graduate	52.1%	39.5%
Some college or associate's	23.6%	29.3%
Bachelor's degree	8.7%	9.1%
Graduate or professional degree	3.5%	5.5%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Ashley County	Hempstead County
Drove alone	86.9%	85.6%
Carpooled	6.6%	10.6%
Public transit	0.3%	0.3%
Walked	0.8%	0.4%
Bicycle	0.4%	0.0%
Worked from home	3.0%	2.6%
Other means	2.1%	0.5%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Ashley County	Hempstead County
1-unit, detached	70.9%	69.0%
1-unit, attached	0.2%	0.0%
2 to 4 units	5.8%	4.9%
5 to 19 units	1.4%	2.3%
20 or more units	1.5%	0.8%
Mobile home & other	20.2%	22.9%

Poverty & households

	Ashley County	Hempstead County
Poverty rate	22.7%	19.0%
Average household size	2.58	2.61
Mean commute (minutes)	23	23
Median year structure built	1977	1980