Lanier County vs Wilkes County

A side-by-side comparison of Lanier County and Wilkes County: population, income, housing, and more.

Lanier County and Wilkes County are counties in Georgia. This page compares them across population, income, housing, education, commuting, and how each has changed since 2019.

Lanier County has the higher population (10,094 vs 9,553 in Wilkes County). Wilkes County has the higher median household income ($52,542 vs $44,361 in Lanier County). Lanier County has the higher median home value ($161,100 vs $105,000 in Wilkes County).

Population, income & housing

	Lanier County	Wilkes County
Population	10,094	9,553
Median age	36.7 yrs	46.3 yrs
Median household income	$44,361	$52,542
Median home value	$161,100	$105,000
Median gross rent	$878	$759
Housing units	4,134	5,210
Homeownership rate	71.8%	66.7%
Bachelor's degree or higher	19.1%	15.7%
Unemployment rate	3.4%	2.4%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Lanier County	Wilkes County
Population	10,380 → 10,094 (-2.8%)	9,844 → 9,553 (-3.0%)
Median household income	$40,986 → $44,361 (+8.2%)	$37,838 → $52,542 (+38.9%)
Median home value	$114,900 → $161,100 (+40.2%)	$87,200 → $105,000 (+20.4%)
Median gross rent	$712 → $878 (+23.3%)	$762 → $759 (-0.4%)

Lanier County

Population

10,38010,094

Median household income

$40,986$44,361

Median home value

$114,900$161,100

Median gross rent

$712$878

Wilkes County

Population

9,8449,553

Median household income

$37,838$52,542

Median home value

$87,200$105,000

Median gross rent

$762$759

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Lanier County	Wilkes County
Under 5	6.3%	5.0%
5 to 17	16.5%	15.6%
18 to 24	10.7%	5.5%
25 to 34	13.1%	12.0%
35 to 44	15.4%	10.2%
45 to 54	10.5%	12.9%
55 to 64	13.0%	15.2%
65 to 74	8.8%	11.6%
75 and over	5.7%	12.1%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Lanier County	Wilkes County
White (non-Hispanic)	65.8%	51.8%
Black or African American	24.4%	40.9%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.0%	0.2%
Asian	1.0%	0.0%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.0%	0.0%
Some other race	0.9%	0.1%
Two or more races	1.1%	2.3%
Hispanic or Latino	6.7%	4.6%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Lanier County	Wilkes County
No high school diploma	10.5%	18.0%
High school graduate	40.3%	41.5%
Some college or associate's	30.2%	24.7%
Bachelor's degree	11.9%	11.9%
Graduate or professional degree	7.1%	3.8%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Lanier County	Wilkes County
Drove alone	72.8%	81.6%
Carpooled	6.1%	10.4%
Public transit	2.2%	0.3%
Walked	5.5%	1.6%
Bicycle	2.9%	0.0%
Worked from home	8.5%	5.5%
Other means	2.0%	0.7%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Lanier County	Wilkes County
1-unit, detached	63.4%	64.9%
1-unit, attached	0.0%	0.7%
2 to 4 units	1.2%	6.4%
5 to 19 units	0.6%	3.7%
20 or more units	0.3%	0.0%
Mobile home & other	34.5%	24.3%

Poverty & households

	Lanier County	Wilkes County
Poverty rate	27.7%	17.0%
Average household size	2.83	2.29
Mean commute (minutes)	24	30
Median year structure built	1994	1976