Alexander County vs Stark County

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

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

Stark County has the higher population (5,324 vs 5,042 in Alexander County). Stark County has the higher median household income ($62,284 vs $43,523 in Alexander County). Stark County has the higher median home value ($103,500 vs $58,700 in Alexander County).

Population, income & housing

	Alexander County	Stark County
Population	5,042	5,324
Median age	45.8 yrs	44.6 yrs
Median household income	$43,523	$62,284
Median home value	$58,700	$103,500
Median gross rent	$540	$765
Housing units	2,964	2,584
Homeownership rate	77.7%	77.6%
Bachelor's degree or higher	12.6%	19.3%
Unemployment rate	9.4%	3.1%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Alexander County	Stark County
Population	6,260 → 5,042 (-19.5%)	5,447 → 5,324 (-2.3%)
Median household income	$36,806 → $43,523 (+18.2%)	$54,907 → $62,284 (+13.4%)
Median home value	$56,000 → $58,700 (+4.8%)	$87,700 → $103,500 (+18.0%)
Median gross rent	$526 → $540 (+2.7%)	$630 → $765 (+21.4%)

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

Stark County

Population

5,4475,324

Median household income

$54,907$62,284

Median home value

$87,700$103,500

Median gross rent

$630$765

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Alexander County	Stark County
Under 5	4.7%	5.3%
5 to 17	17.0%	16.4%
18 to 24	7.7%	7.2%
25 to 34	7.4%	10.7%
35 to 44	12.3%	11.0%
45 to 54	10.4%	12.2%
55 to 64	16.3%	14.3%
65 to 74	14.7%	13.2%
75 and over	9.5%	9.7%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Alexander County	Stark County
White (non-Hispanic)	63.1%	92.3%
Black or African American	31.9%	1.0%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.0%	0.1%
Asian	0.3%	0.7%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.0%	0.0%
Some other race	0.0%	0.0%
Two or more races	3.4%	3.4%
Hispanic or Latino	1.3%	2.5%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Alexander County	Stark County
No high school diploma	13.3%	8.3%
High school graduate	40.9%	38.1%
Some college or associate's	33.2%	34.3%
Bachelor's degree	7.3%	14.9%
Graduate or professional degree	5.3%	4.4%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Alexander County	Stark County
Drove alone	85.4%	80.3%
Carpooled	7.4%	7.5%
Public transit	0.0%	0.3%
Walked	0.9%	3.6%
Bicycle	0.0%	0.5%
Worked from home	3.5%	6.8%
Other means	2.7%	1.1%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Alexander County	Stark County
1-unit, detached	76.1%	86.4%
1-unit, attached	0.2%	0.7%
2 to 4 units	2.0%	6.9%
5 to 19 units	2.9%	2.7%
20 or more units	5.1%	0.0%
Mobile home & other	13.7%	3.3%

Poverty & households

	Alexander County	Stark County
Poverty rate	21.0%	12.0%
Average household size	2.69	2.28
Mean commute (minutes)	31	27
Median year structure built	1969	1956