Highlands County vs Monroe County

A side-by-side comparison of Highlands County and Monroe County: population, income, housing, and more.

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

Highlands County has the higher population (103,808 vs 81,840 in Monroe County). Monroe County has the higher median household income ($82,430 vs $55,581 in Highlands County). Monroe County has the higher median home value ($723,800 vs $177,900 in Highlands County).

Population, income & housing

	Highlands County	Monroe County
Population	103,808	81,840
Median age	54.2 yrs	48.9 yrs
Median household income	$55,581	$82,430
Median home value	$177,900	$723,800
Median gross rent	$980	$1,959
Housing units	58,086	54,418
Homeownership rate	78.9%	63.4%
Bachelor's degree or higher	19.7%	37.8%
Unemployment rate	5.9%	3.2%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Highlands County	Monroe County
Population	103,437 → 103,808 (+0.4%)	75,798 → 81,840 (+8.0%)
Median household income	$40,942 → $55,581 (+35.8%)	$70,033 → $82,430 (+17.7%)
Median home value	$108,100 → $177,900 (+64.6%)	$494,100 → $723,800 (+46.5%)
Median gross rent	$816 → $980 (+20.1%)	$1,627 → $1,959 (+20.4%)

Highlands County

Population

103,437103,808

Median household income

$40,942$55,581

Median home value

$108,100$177,900

Median gross rent

$816$980

Monroe County

Population

75,79881,840

Median household income

$70,033$82,430

Median home value

$494,100$723,800

Median gross rent

$1,627$1,959

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Highlands County	Monroe County
Under 5	4.1%	4.3%
5 to 17	12.7%	11.3%
18 to 24	5.6%	5.6%
25 to 34	9.1%	11.3%
35 to 44	9.7%	12.5%
45 to 54	9.6%	13.9%
55 to 64	13.2%	16.9%
65 to 74	17.3%	14.5%
75 and over	18.7%	9.8%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Highlands County	Monroe County
White (non-Hispanic)	64.2%	64.8%
Black or African American	9.2%	6.7%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.1%	0.0%
Asian	1.5%	1.1%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.0%	0.0%
Some other race	0.6%	0.7%
Two or more races	2.9%	2.8%
Hispanic or Latino	21.5%	24.0%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Highlands County	Monroe County
No high school diploma	13.6%	6.7%
High school graduate	34.5%	27.7%
Some college or associate's	32.2%	27.8%
Bachelor's degree	12.4%	22.7%
Graduate or professional degree	7.3%	15.1%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Highlands County	Monroe County
Drove alone	75.9%	65.3%
Carpooled	12.7%	8.1%
Public transit	0.2%	0.3%
Walked	1.9%	4.8%
Bicycle	0.3%	5.5%
Worked from home	7.6%	11.2%
Other means	1.6%	4.6%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Highlands County	Monroe County
1-unit, detached	61.4%	56.9%
1-unit, attached	4.9%	6.9%
2 to 4 units	5.0%	9.9%
5 to 19 units	2.6%	7.9%
20 or more units	2.3%	9.2%
Mobile home & other	23.8%	9.2%

Poverty & households

	Highlands County	Monroe County
Poverty rate	15.4%	10.4%
Average household size	2.22	2.32
Mean commute (minutes)	23	19
Median year structure built	1986	1982