Alexander County vs Putnam County

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

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

Putnam County has the higher population (5,600 vs 5,042 in Alexander County). Putnam County has the higher median household income ($77,526 vs $43,523 in Alexander County). Putnam County has the higher median home value ($167,800 vs $58,700 in Alexander County).

Population, income & housing

	Alexander County	Putnam County
Population	5,042	5,600
Median age	45.8 yrs	47.2 yrs
Median household income	$43,523	$77,526
Median home value	$58,700	$167,800
Median gross rent	$540	$804
Housing units	2,964	3,069
Homeownership rate	77.7%	80.7%
Bachelor's degree or higher	12.6%	24.6%
Unemployment rate	9.4%	3.4%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Alexander County	Putnam County
Population	6,260 → 5,042 (-19.5%)	5,721 → 5,600 (-2.1%)
Median household income	$36,806 → $43,523 (+18.2%)	$63,638 → $77,526 (+21.8%)
Median home value	$56,000 → $58,700 (+4.8%)	$126,800 → $167,800 (+32.3%)
Median gross rent	$526 → $540 (+2.7%)	$693 → $804 (+16.0%)

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

Putnam County

Population

5,7215,600

Median household income

$63,638$77,526

Median home value

$126,800$167,800

Median gross rent

$693$804

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Alexander County	Putnam County
Under 5	4.7%	4.7%
5 to 17	17.0%	15.0%
18 to 24	7.7%	6.5%
25 to 34	7.4%	10.6%
35 to 44	12.3%	11.4%
45 to 54	10.4%	11.8%
55 to 64	16.3%	16.1%
65 to 74	14.7%	14.4%
75 and over	9.5%	9.5%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Alexander County	Putnam County
White (non-Hispanic)	63.1%	90.4%
Black or African American	31.9%	0.2%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.0%	0.0%
Asian	0.3%	0.6%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.0%	0.0%
Some other race	0.0%	0.6%
Two or more races	3.4%	1.7%
Hispanic or Latino	1.3%	6.4%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Alexander County	Putnam County
No high school diploma	13.3%	6.4%
High school graduate	40.9%	34.9%
Some college or associate's	33.2%	34.1%
Bachelor's degree	7.3%	16.1%
Graduate or professional degree	5.3%	8.5%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Alexander County	Putnam County
Drove alone	85.4%	87.8%
Carpooled	7.4%	4.7%
Public transit	0.0%	0.1%
Walked	0.9%	0.5%
Bicycle	0.0%	0.3%
Worked from home	3.5%	5.8%
Other means	2.7%	0.9%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Alexander County	Putnam County
1-unit, detached	76.1%	88.8%
1-unit, attached	0.2%	0.5%
2 to 4 units	2.0%	5.9%
5 to 19 units	2.9%	1.2%
20 or more units	5.1%	0.0%
Mobile home & other	13.7%	3.6%

Poverty & households

	Alexander County	Putnam County
Poverty rate	21.0%	9.9%
Average household size	2.69	2.26
Mean commute (minutes)	31	27
Median year structure built	1969	1975