Hempstead County vs Polk County

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

Hempstead 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.

Hempstead County has the higher population (19,778 vs 19,348 in Polk County). Polk County has the higher median household income ($49,252 vs $47,654 in Hempstead County). Polk County has the higher median home value ($122,600 vs $100,200 in Hempstead County).

Population, income & housing

	Hempstead County	Polk County
Population	19,778	19,348
Median age	41.1 yrs	44.4 yrs
Median household income	$47,654	$49,252
Median home value	$100,200	$122,600
Median gross rent	$781	$699
Housing units	9,638	9,647
Homeownership rate	69.6%	82.2%
Bachelor's degree or higher	14.6%	17.2%
Unemployment rate	3.9%	8.4%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Hempstead County	Polk County
Population	21,842 → 19,778 (-9.4%)	20,094 → 19,348 (-3.7%)
Median household income	$42,860 → $47,654 (+11.2%)	$37,974 → $49,252 (+29.7%)
Median home value	$81,100 → $100,200 (+23.6%)	$99,300 → $122,600 (+23.5%)
Median gross rent	$694 → $781 (+12.5%)	$639 → $699 (+9.4%)

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

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)

	Hempstead County	Polk County
Under 5	6.5%	5.3%
5 to 17	19.0%	17.2%
18 to 24	7.6%	7.5%
25 to 34	11.0%	10.1%
35 to 44	11.1%	10.6%
45 to 54	12.3%	11.9%
55 to 64	13.8%	14.9%
65 to 74	10.8%	12.9%
75 and over	7.8%	9.7%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Hempstead County	Polk County
White (non-Hispanic)	51.9%	86.7%
Black or African American	29.7%	0.1%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.3%	1.3%
Asian	0.5%	0.0%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.0%	0.2%
Some other race	0.1%	0.4%
Two or more races	2.5%	4.5%
Hispanic or Latino	14.9%	6.8%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Hempstead County	Polk County
No high school diploma	16.6%	12.6%
High school graduate	39.5%	35.8%
Some college or associate's	29.3%	34.4%
Bachelor's degree	9.1%	11.8%
Graduate or professional degree	5.5%	5.4%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Hempstead County	Polk County
Drove alone	85.6%	77.5%
Carpooled	10.6%	14.1%
Public transit	0.3%	0.0%
Walked	0.4%	1.8%
Bicycle	0.0%	0.4%
Worked from home	2.6%	5.2%
Other means	0.5%	1.1%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Hempstead County	Polk County
1-unit, detached	69.0%	75.6%
1-unit, attached	0.0%	1.5%
2 to 4 units	4.9%	2.1%
5 to 19 units	2.3%	2.1%
20 or more units	0.8%	0.4%
Mobile home & other	22.9%	18.4%

Poverty & households

	Hempstead County	Polk County
Poverty rate	19.0%	19.0%
Average household size	2.61	2.44
Mean commute (minutes)	23	20
Median year structure built	1980	1985