Jefferson County vs Madison County

A side-by-side comparison of Jefferson County and Madison County: population, income, housing, and more.

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

Madison County has the higher population (53,578 vs 32,234 in Jefferson County). Jefferson County has the higher median household income ($82,952 vs $58,259 in Madison County). Madison County has the higher median home value ($365,000 vs $335,000 in Jefferson County).

Population, income & housing

	Jefferson County	Madison County
Population	32,234	53,578
Median age	32.3 yrs	21.4 yrs
Median household income	$82,952	$58,259
Median home value	$335,000	$365,000
Median gross rent	$1,098	$965
Housing units	10,499	14,769
Homeownership rate	82.4%	40.2%
Bachelor's degree or higher	27.2%	40.3%
Unemployment rate	2.5%	8.8%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Jefferson County	Madison County
Population	28,534 → 32,234 (+13.0%)	39,100 → 53,578 (+37.0%)
Median household income	$63,048 → $82,952 (+31.6%)	$39,160 → $58,259 (+48.8%)
Median home value	$203,700 → $335,000 (+64.5%)	$219,100 → $365,000 (+66.6%)
Median gross rent	$796 → $1,098 (+37.9%)	$723 → $965 (+33.5%)

Jefferson County

Population

28,53432,234

Median household income

$63,048$82,952

Median home value

$203,700$335,000

Median gross rent

$796$1,098

Madison County

Population

39,10053,578

Median household income

$39,160$58,259

Median home value

$219,100$365,000

Median gross rent

$723$965

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Jefferson County	Madison County
Under 5	7.4%	6.9%
5 to 17	25.4%	13.7%
18 to 24	9.0%	45.8%
25 to 34	10.9%	13.7%
35 to 44	14.3%	5.6%
45 to 54	10.7%	4.9%
55 to 64	10.6%	4.2%
65 to 74	7.5%	3.1%
75 and over	4.1%	2.2%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Jefferson County	Madison County
White (non-Hispanic)	86.1%	84.5%
Black or African American	0.1%	0.9%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.6%	0.3%
Asian	0.1%	1.4%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.0%	0.3%
Some other race	0.2%	0.3%
Two or more races	2.2%	2.4%
Hispanic or Latino	10.8%	9.7%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Jefferson County	Madison County
No high school diploma	6.7%	3.0%
High school graduate	26.7%	15.0%
Some college or associate's	39.4%	41.7%
Bachelor's degree	19.3%	28.4%
Graduate or professional degree	7.8%	11.9%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Jefferson County	Madison County
Drove alone	78.6%	59.2%
Carpooled	9.5%	14.7%
Public transit	2.4%	1.1%
Walked	1.5%	12.2%
Bicycle	0.0%	0.9%
Worked from home	7.3%	11.6%
Other means	0.6%	0.4%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Jefferson County	Madison County
1-unit, detached	84.9%	38.0%
1-unit, attached	2.1%	4.1%
2 to 4 units	3.8%	12.0%
5 to 19 units	1.4%	19.6%
20 or more units	0.4%	21.7%
Mobile home & other	7.3%	4.8%

Poverty & households

	Jefferson County	Madison County
Poverty rate	9.2%	26.8%
Average household size	3.24	3.45
Mean commute (minutes)	25	17
Median year structure built	1991	2002