Baxter County vs Independence County

A side-by-side comparison of Baxter County and Independence County: population, income, housing, and more.

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

Baxter County has the higher population (42,150 vs 38,120 in Independence County). Independence County has the higher median household income ($56,009 vs $48,427 in Baxter County). Baxter County has the higher median home value ($165,400 vs $120,500 in Independence County).

Population, income & housing

	Baxter County	Independence County
Population	42,150	38,120
Median age	51.9 yrs	39.0 yrs
Median household income	$48,427	$56,009
Median home value	$165,400	$120,500
Median gross rent	$866	$814
Housing units	22,836	16,740
Homeownership rate	75.0%	67.6%
Bachelor's degree or higher	18.7%	16.9%
Unemployment rate	5.6%	4.6%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Baxter County	Independence County
Population	41,427 → 42,150 (+1.7%)	37,427 → 38,120 (+1.9%)
Median household income	$42,260 → $48,427 (+14.6%)	$44,319 → $56,009 (+26.4%)
Median home value	$133,400 → $165,400 (+24.0%)	$98,900 → $120,500 (+21.8%)
Median gross rent	$703 → $866 (+23.2%)	$631 → $814 (+29.0%)

Baxter County

Population

41,42742,150

Median household income

$42,260$48,427

Median home value

$133,400$165,400

Median gross rent

$703$866

Independence County

Population

37,42738,120

Median household income

$44,319$56,009

Median home value

$98,900$120,500

Median gross rent

$631$814

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Baxter County	Independence County
Under 5	4.2%	6.1%
5 to 17	13.5%	18.0%
18 to 24	6.0%	9.3%
25 to 34	9.3%	11.4%
35 to 44	10.1%	12.4%
45 to 54	10.8%	12.1%
55 to 64	14.9%	13.2%
65 to 74	16.3%	10.2%
75 and over	14.7%	7.3%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Baxter County	Independence County
White (non-Hispanic)	91.6%	82.9%
Black or African American	0.4%	1.6%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.3%	0.1%
Asian	0.6%	0.9%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.0%	0.6%
Some other race	0.0%	0.4%
Two or more races	4.2%	4.8%
Hispanic or Latino	2.7%	8.7%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Baxter County	Independence County
No high school diploma	10.6%	12.5%
High school graduate	34.6%	39.4%
Some college or associate's	36.0%	31.2%
Bachelor's degree	13.4%	11.1%
Graduate or professional degree	5.3%	5.7%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Baxter County	Independence County
Drove alone	77.4%	81.1%
Carpooled	13.3%	9.6%
Public transit	0.0%	0.1%
Walked	1.7%	2.0%
Bicycle	0.0%	0.5%
Worked from home	6.1%	5.5%
Other means	1.5%	1.3%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Baxter County	Independence County
1-unit, detached	74.6%	68.1%
1-unit, attached	3.2%	0.0%
2 to 4 units	4.3%	5.0%
5 to 19 units	2.3%	2.0%
20 or more units	2.2%	2.4%
Mobile home & other	13.3%	22.5%

Poverty & households

	Baxter County	Independence County
Poverty rate	14.5%	19.6%
Average household size	2.16	2.56
Mean commute (minutes)	18	20
Median year structure built	1983	1987