Phillips County vs Van Buren County

A side-by-side comparison of Phillips County and Van Buren County: population, income, housing, and more.

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

Van Buren County has the higher population (15,936 vs 15,910 in Phillips County). Van Buren County has the higher median household income ($47,266 vs $38,874 in Phillips County). Van Buren County has the higher median home value ($122,300 vs $76,200 in Phillips County).

Population, income & housing

	Phillips County	Van Buren County
Population	15,910	15,936
Median age	39.9 yrs	49.6 yrs
Median household income	$38,874	$47,266
Median home value	$76,200	$122,300
Median gross rent	$756	$727
Housing units	8,386	9,724
Homeownership rate	54.0%	78.0%
Bachelor's degree or higher	14.5%	15.8%
Unemployment rate	15.8%	4.3%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Phillips County	Van Buren County
Population	18,606 → 15,910 (-14.5%)	16,642 → 15,936 (-4.2%)
Median household income	$29,320 → $38,874 (+32.6%)	$38,499 → $47,266 (+22.8%)
Median home value	$70,700 → $76,200 (+7.8%)	$101,700 → $122,300 (+20.3%)
Median gross rent	$586 → $756 (+29.0%)	$644 → $727 (+12.9%)

Phillips County

Population

18,60615,910

Median household income

$29,320$38,874

Median home value

$70,700$76,200

Median gross rent

$586$756

Van Buren County

Population

16,64215,936

Median household income

$38,499$47,266

Median home value

$101,700$122,300

Median gross rent

$644$727

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Phillips County	Van Buren County
Under 5	6.9%	4.5%
5 to 17	19.9%	14.7%
18 to 24	7.7%	6.3%
25 to 34	9.9%	8.5%
35 to 44	11.3%	10.4%
45 to 54	10.4%	12.4%
55 to 64	13.8%	16.6%
65 to 74	12.3%	14.9%
75 and over	7.9%	11.8%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Phillips County	Van Buren County
White (non-Hispanic)	33.2%	91.9%
Black or African American	61.3%	0.6%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.0%	0.8%
Asian	0.9%	0.4%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.0%	0.1%
Some other race	0.2%	0.0%
Two or more races	2.4%	2.9%
Hispanic or Latino	1.9%	3.3%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Phillips County	Van Buren County
No high school diploma	17.4%	13.6%
High school graduate	33.6%	44.1%
Some college or associate's	34.5%	26.5%
Bachelor's degree	9.7%	10.5%
Graduate or professional degree	4.9%	5.3%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Phillips County	Van Buren County
Drove alone	79.9%	75.9%
Carpooled	11.7%	13.1%
Public transit	0.7%	0.0%
Walked	1.5%	1.3%
Bicycle	0.1%	0.0%
Worked from home	4.0%	6.1%
Other means	2.1%	3.6%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Phillips County	Van Buren County
1-unit, detached	69.0%	69.5%
1-unit, attached	0.8%	1.1%
2 to 4 units	11.8%	2.6%
5 to 19 units	5.6%	4.1%
20 or more units	1.6%	1.2%
Mobile home & other	11.3%	21.6%

Poverty & households

	Phillips County	Van Buren County
Poverty rate	28.7%	19.5%
Average household size	2.54	2.21
Mean commute (minutes)	21	32
Median year structure built	1975	1986