Brown County vs Putnam County

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

Brown 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.

Brown County has the higher population (6,320 vs 5,600 in Putnam County). Putnam County has the higher median household income ($77,526 vs $72,288 in Brown County). Putnam County has the higher median home value ($167,800 vs $142,200 in Brown County).

Population, income & housing

	Brown County	Putnam County
Population	6,320	5,600
Median age	40.9 yrs	47.2 yrs
Median household income	$72,288	$77,526
Median home value	$142,200	$167,800
Median gross rent	$724	$804
Housing units	2,321	3,069
Homeownership rate	73.6%	80.7%
Bachelor's degree or higher	15.1%	24.6%
Unemployment rate	2.2%	3.4%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Brown County	Putnam County
Population	6,628 → 6,320 (-4.6%)	5,721 → 5,600 (-2.1%)
Median household income	$61,655 → $72,288 (+17.2%)	$63,638 → $77,526 (+21.8%)
Median home value	$96,200 → $142,200 (+47.8%)	$126,800 → $167,800 (+32.3%)
Median gross rent	$615 → $724 (+17.7%)	$693 → $804 (+16.0%)

Brown County

Population

6,6286,320

Median household income

$61,655$72,288

Median home value

$96,200$142,200

Median gross rent

$615$724

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)

	Brown County	Putnam County
Under 5	4.6%	4.7%
5 to 17	12.9%	15.0%
18 to 24	7.8%	6.5%
25 to 34	14.7%	10.6%
35 to 44	16.1%	11.4%
45 to 54	15.1%	11.8%
55 to 64	12.7%	16.1%
65 to 74	9.9%	14.4%
75 and over	6.3%	9.5%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Brown County	Putnam County
White (non-Hispanic)	75.0%	90.4%
Black or African American	17.1%	0.2%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.7%	0.0%
Asian	0.0%	0.6%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.0%	0.0%
Some other race	0.0%	0.6%
Two or more races	2.1%	1.7%
Hispanic or Latino	5.1%	6.4%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Brown County	Putnam County
No high school diploma	20.4%	6.4%
High school graduate	40.3%	34.9%
Some college or associate's	24.2%	34.1%
Bachelor's degree	11.7%	16.1%
Graduate or professional degree	3.4%	8.5%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Brown County	Putnam County
Drove alone	83.1%	87.8%
Carpooled	7.6%	4.7%
Public transit	0.1%	0.1%
Walked	1.9%	0.5%
Bicycle	0.0%	0.3%
Worked from home	6.7%	5.8%
Other means	0.6%	0.9%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Brown County	Putnam County
1-unit, detached	80.8%	88.8%
1-unit, attached	0.2%	0.5%
2 to 4 units	4.7%	5.9%
5 to 19 units	5.5%	1.2%
20 or more units	1.9%	0.0%
Mobile home & other	6.9%	3.6%

Poverty & households

	Brown County	Putnam County
Poverty rate	8.9%	9.9%
Average household size	2.23	2.26
Mean commute (minutes)	16	27
Median year structure built	1960	1975