Alexander County vs Pope County

A side-by-side comparison of Alexander County and Pope County: population, income, housing, and more.

Alexander County and Pope County are counties in Illinois. This page compares them across population, income, housing, education, commuting, and how each has changed since 2019.

Alexander County has the higher population (5,042 vs 3,757 in Pope County). Pope County has the higher median household income ($62,500 vs $43,523 in Alexander County). Pope County has the higher median home value ($165,300 vs $58,700 in Alexander County).

Population, income & housing

	Alexander County	Pope County
Population	5,042	3,757
Median age	45.8 yrs	50.8 yrs
Median household income	$43,523	$62,500
Median home value	$58,700	$165,300
Median gross rent	$540	$438
Housing units	2,964	2,273
Homeownership rate	77.7%	86.1%
Bachelor's degree or higher	12.6%	16.8%
Unemployment rate	9.4%	3.0%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Alexander County	Pope County
Population	6,260 → 5,042 (-19.5%)	4,203 → 3,757 (-10.6%)
Median household income	$36,806 → $43,523 (+18.2%)	$38,056 → $62,500 (+64.2%)
Median home value	$56,000 → $58,700 (+4.8%)	$93,000 → $165,300 (+77.7%)
Median gross rent	$526 → $540 (+2.7%)	$313 → $438 (+39.9%)

Alexander County

Population

6,2605,042

Median household income

$36,806$43,523

Median home value

$56,000$58,700

Median gross rent

$526$540

Pope County

Population

4,2033,757

Median household income

$38,056$62,500

Median home value

$93,000$165,300

Median gross rent

$313$438

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Alexander County	Pope County
Under 5	4.7%	5.3%
5 to 17	17.0%	10.4%
18 to 24	7.7%	8.0%
25 to 34	7.4%	7.3%
35 to 44	12.3%	10.6%
45 to 54	10.4%	13.1%
55 to 64	16.3%	19.2%
65 to 74	14.7%	16.9%
75 and over	9.5%	9.1%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Alexander County	Pope County
White (non-Hispanic)	63.1%	89.2%
Black or African American	31.9%	5.0%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.0%	0.7%
Asian	0.3%	0.0%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.0%	0.0%
Some other race	0.0%	0.0%
Two or more races	3.4%	2.6%
Hispanic or Latino	1.3%	2.6%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Alexander County	Pope County
No high school diploma	13.3%	8.3%
High school graduate	40.9%	38.1%
Some college or associate's	33.2%	36.8%
Bachelor's degree	7.3%	11.0%
Graduate or professional degree	5.3%	5.9%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Alexander County	Pope County
Drove alone	85.4%	82.3%
Carpooled	7.4%	8.5%
Public transit	0.0%	0.0%
Walked	0.9%	0.0%
Bicycle	0.0%	0.0%
Worked from home	3.5%	8.5%
Other means	2.7%	0.7%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Alexander County	Pope County
1-unit, detached	76.1%	72.5%
1-unit, attached	0.2%	0.2%
2 to 4 units	2.0%	3.1%
5 to 19 units	2.9%	0.9%
20 or more units	5.1%	0.0%
Mobile home & other	13.7%	23.3%

Poverty & households

	Alexander County	Pope County
Poverty rate	21.0%	14.3%
Average household size	2.69	2.63
Mean commute (minutes)	31	28
Median year structure built	1969	1989