Jackson County vs Madison County

A side-by-side comparison of Jackson County and Madison County: population, income, housing, and more.

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

Madison County has the higher population (17,032 vs 16,775 in Jackson County). Madison County has the higher median household income ($53,888 vs $41,215 in Jackson County). Madison County has the higher median home value ($157,800 vs $87,300 in Jackson County).

Population, income & housing

	Jackson County	Madison County
Population	16,775	17,032
Median age	40.4 yrs	41.2 yrs
Median household income	$41,215	$53,888
Median home value	$87,300	$157,800
Median gross rent	$662	$727
Housing units	7,106	7,699
Homeownership rate	65.3%	79.0%
Bachelor's degree or higher	13.3%	12.8%
Unemployment rate	9.7%	4.3%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Jackson County	Madison County
Population	17,027 → 16,775 (-1.5%)	16,211 → 17,032 (+5.1%)
Median household income	$34,109 → $41,215 (+20.8%)	$41,682 → $53,888 (+29.3%)
Median home value	$66,600 → $87,300 (+31.1%)	$120,400 → $157,800 (+31.1%)
Median gross rent	$588 → $662 (+12.6%)	$615 → $727 (+18.2%)

Jackson County

Population

17,02716,775

Median household income

$34,109$41,215

Median home value

$66,600$87,300

Median gross rent

$588$662

Madison County

Population

16,21117,032

Median household income

$41,682$53,888

Median home value

$120,400$157,800

Median gross rent

$615$727

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Jackson County	Madison County
Under 5	5.0%	5.7%
5 to 17	14.6%	17.6%
18 to 24	9.0%	6.4%
25 to 34	13.9%	12.6%
35 to 44	14.7%	11.0%
45 to 54	12.0%	12.9%
55 to 64	12.8%	14.4%
65 to 74	10.8%	11.7%
75 and over	7.0%	7.7%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Jackson County	Madison County
White (non-Hispanic)	75.6%	72.4%
Black or African American	14.7%	0.2%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.5%	0.3%
Asian	0.3%	0.2%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.0%	0.9%
Some other race	0.0%	0.1%
Two or more races	5.8%	19.8%
Hispanic or Latino	3.1%	6.1%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Jackson County	Madison County
No high school diploma	16.2%	14.2%
High school graduate	42.9%	51.7%
Some college or associate's	27.6%	21.2%
Bachelor's degree	8.6%	8.7%
Graduate or professional degree	4.6%	4.2%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Jackson County	Madison County
Drove alone	85.2%	78.9%
Carpooled	7.7%	9.0%
Public transit	0.0%	0.0%
Walked	3.1%	3.2%
Bicycle	0.1%	0.0%
Worked from home	3.1%	8.7%
Other means	0.7%	0.2%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Jackson County	Madison County
1-unit, detached	78.3%	77.9%
1-unit, attached	0.3%	0.4%
2 to 4 units	7.2%	1.9%
5 to 19 units	2.6%	1.4%
20 or more units	1.0%	0.2%
Mobile home & other	10.6%	18.2%

Poverty & households

	Jackson County	Madison County
Poverty rate	21.2%	15.0%
Average household size	2.37	2.65
Mean commute (minutes)	21	32
Median year structure built	1974	1990