Bay County vs Indian River County

A side-by-side comparison of Bay County and Indian River County: population, income, housing, and more.

Bay County and Indian River County are counties in Florida. This page compares them across population, income, housing, education, commuting, and how each has changed since 2019.

Bay County has the higher population (181,368 vs 163,856 in Indian River County). Indian River County has the higher median household income ($71,049 vs $70,188 in Bay County). Indian River County has the higher median home value ($314,700 vs $276,900 in Bay County).

Population, income & housing

	Bay County	Indian River County
Population	181,368	163,856
Median age	41.4 yrs	55.0 yrs
Median household income	$70,188	$71,049
Median home value	$276,900	$314,700
Median gross rent	$1,424	$1,284
Housing units	106,209	85,093
Homeownership rate	68.3%	79.3%
Bachelor's degree or higher	28.0%	33.4%
Unemployment rate	3.6%	5.3%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Bay County	Indian River County
Population	182,161 → 181,368 (-0.4%)	153,989 → 163,856 (+6.4%)
Median household income	$54,316 → $70,188 (+29.2%)	$54,740 → $71,049 (+29.8%)
Median home value	$178,400 → $276,900 (+55.2%)	$202,300 → $314,700 (+55.6%)
Median gross rent	$1,049 → $1,424 (+35.7%)	$959 → $1,284 (+33.9%)

Bay County

Population

182,161181,368

Median household income

$54,316$70,188

Median home value

$178,400$276,900

Median gross rent

$1,049$1,424

Indian River County

Population

153,989163,856

Median household income

$54,740$71,049

Median home value

$202,300$314,700

Median gross rent

$959$1,284

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Bay County	Indian River County
Under 5	5.6%	3.8%
5 to 17	15.5%	11.4%
18 to 24	7.4%	6.4%
25 to 34	13.3%	8.4%
35 to 44	12.7%	9.5%
45 to 54	12.5%	10.5%
55 to 64	14.8%	15.8%
65 to 74	11.1%	17.9%
75 and over	7.1%	16.2%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Bay County	Indian River County
White (non-Hispanic)	73.7%	73.1%
Black or African American	9.8%	8.0%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.2%	0.2%
Asian	1.9%	1.4%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.1%	0.0%
Some other race	0.7%	0.5%
Two or more races	5.2%	3.3%
Hispanic or Latino	8.4%	13.4%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Bay County	Indian River County
No high school diploma	9.2%	8.0%
High school graduate	27.9%	27.7%
Some college or associate's	34.9%	30.8%
Bachelor's degree	17.8%	20.2%
Graduate or professional degree	10.2%	13.2%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Bay County	Indian River County
Drove alone	76.4%	74.0%
Carpooled	11.6%	10.4%
Public transit	0.6%	0.6%
Walked	1.1%	0.6%
Bicycle	0.4%	0.7%
Worked from home	8.8%	11.8%
Other means	1.2%	1.9%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Bay County	Indian River County
1-unit, detached	50.8%	66.1%
1-unit, attached	4.7%	4.9%
2 to 4 units	6.5%	4.5%
5 to 19 units	8.4%	10.5%
20 or more units	17.8%	6.8%
Mobile home & other	11.7%	7.2%

Poverty & households

	Bay County	Indian River County
Poverty rate	11.7%	11.4%
Average household size	2.35	2.36
Mean commute (minutes)	25	24
Median year structure built	1992	1991