Gem County vs Jerome County

A side-by-side comparison of Gem County and Jerome County: population, income, housing, and more.

Gem County and Jerome County are counties in Idaho. This page compares them across population, income, housing, education, commuting, and how each has changed since 2019.

Jerome County has the higher population (24,788 vs 19,854 in Gem County). Jerome County has the higher median household income ($69,338 vs $66,245 in Gem County). Gem County has the higher median home value ($367,300 vs $254,000 in Jerome County).

Population, income & housing

	Gem County	Jerome County
Population	19,854	24,788
Median age	42.8 yrs	33.6 yrs
Median household income	$66,245	$69,338
Median home value	$367,300	$254,000
Median gross rent	$887	$862
Housing units	7,788	8,725
Homeownership rate	76.6%	75.5%
Bachelor's degree or higher	22.3%	13.4%
Unemployment rate	2.8%	3.8%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Gem County	Jerome County
Population	17,331 → 19,854 (+14.6%)	23,730 → 24,788 (+4.5%)
Median household income	$45,492 → $66,245 (+45.6%)	$52,921 → $69,338 (+31.0%)
Median home value	$168,700 → $367,300 (+117.7%)	$164,600 → $254,000 (+54.3%)
Median gross rent	$745 → $887 (+19.1%)	$772 → $862 (+11.7%)

Gem County

Population

17,33119,854

Median household income

$45,492$66,245

Median home value

$168,700$367,300

Median gross rent

$745$887

Jerome County

Population

23,73024,788

Median household income

$52,921$69,338

Median home value

$164,600$254,000

Median gross rent

$772$862

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Gem County	Jerome County
Under 5	5.3%	7.5%
5 to 17	17.1%	22.5%
18 to 24	7.4%	8.6%
25 to 34	10.6%	12.8%
35 to 44	11.7%	13.2%
45 to 54	10.9%	10.7%
55 to 64	14.3%	11.5%
65 to 74	13.7%	8.5%
75 and over	9.0%	4.8%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Gem County	Jerome County
White (non-Hispanic)	84.0%	57.5%
Black or African American	0.2%	0.1%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.4%	0.1%
Asian	0.2%	0.1%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.0%	0.1%
Some other race	0.9%	0.2%
Two or more races	5.0%	3.4%
Hispanic or Latino	9.3%	38.5%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Gem County	Jerome County
No high school diploma	11.0%	26.6%
High school graduate	32.6%	27.2%
Some college or associate's	34.2%	32.9%
Bachelor's degree	17.3%	9.0%
Graduate or professional degree	5.0%	4.3%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Gem County	Jerome County
Drove alone	75.3%	83.5%
Carpooled	8.7%	9.5%
Public transit	0.2%	0.2%
Walked	1.4%	0.7%
Bicycle	1.0%	0.0%
Worked from home	12.6%	4.9%
Other means	0.9%	1.2%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Gem County	Jerome County
1-unit, detached	80.6%	81.9%
1-unit, attached	1.4%	2.4%
2 to 4 units	2.7%	4.2%
5 to 19 units	1.2%	0.9%
20 or more units	2.6%	0.7%
Mobile home & other	11.5%	10.0%

Poverty & households

	Gem County	Jerome County
Poverty rate	10.4%	13.9%
Average household size	2.65	3.00
Mean commute (minutes)	31	21
Median year structure built	1982	1983