Ashley County vs Polk County

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

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

Polk County has the higher population (19,348 vs 18,722 in Ashley County). Polk County has the higher median household income ($49,252 vs $44,481 in Ashley County). Polk County has the higher median home value ($122,600 vs $88,800 in Ashley County).

Population, income & housing

	Ashley County	Polk County
Population	18,722	19,348
Median age	42.7 yrs	44.4 yrs
Median household income	$44,481	$49,252
Median home value	$88,800	$122,600
Median gross rent	$640	$699
Housing units	9,401	9,647
Homeownership rate	72.1%	82.2%
Bachelor's degree or higher	12.2%	17.2%
Unemployment rate	6.1%	8.4%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Ashley County	Polk County
Population	20,270 → 18,722 (-7.6%)	20,094 → 19,348 (-3.7%)
Median household income	$44,744 → $44,481 (-0.6%)	$37,974 → $49,252 (+29.7%)
Median home value	$76,400 → $88,800 (+16.2%)	$99,300 → $122,600 (+23.5%)
Median gross rent	$533 → $640 (+20.1%)	$639 → $699 (+9.4%)

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

Polk County

Population

20,09419,348

Median household income

$37,974$49,252

Median home value

$99,300$122,600

Median gross rent

$639$699

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Ashley County	Polk County
Under 5	6.1%	5.3%
5 to 17	16.6%	17.2%
18 to 24	7.6%	7.5%
25 to 34	11.1%	10.1%
35 to 44	10.7%	10.6%
45 to 54	12.7%	11.9%
55 to 64	13.9%	14.9%
65 to 74	12.1%	12.9%
75 and over	9.2%	9.7%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Ashley County	Polk County
White (non-Hispanic)	67.5%	86.7%
Black or African American	24.6%	0.1%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.0%	1.3%
Asian	0.0%	0.0%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.3%	0.2%
Some other race	0.1%	0.4%
Two or more races	1.3%	4.5%
Hispanic or Latino	6.2%	6.8%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Ashley County	Polk County
No high school diploma	12.2%	12.6%
High school graduate	52.1%	35.8%
Some college or associate's	23.6%	34.4%
Bachelor's degree	8.7%	11.8%
Graduate or professional degree	3.5%	5.4%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Ashley County	Polk County
Drove alone	86.9%	77.5%
Carpooled	6.6%	14.1%
Public transit	0.3%	0.0%
Walked	0.8%	1.8%
Bicycle	0.4%	0.4%
Worked from home	3.0%	5.2%
Other means	2.1%	1.1%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Ashley County	Polk County
1-unit, detached	70.9%	75.6%
1-unit, attached	0.2%	1.5%
2 to 4 units	5.8%	2.1%
5 to 19 units	1.4%	2.1%
20 or more units	1.5%	0.4%
Mobile home & other	20.2%	18.4%

Poverty & households

	Ashley County	Polk County
Poverty rate	22.7%	19.0%
Average household size	2.58	2.44
Mean commute (minutes)	23	20
Median year structure built	1977	1985