Carroll County vs Mercer County

A side-by-side comparison of Carroll County and Mercer County: population, income, housing, and more.

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

Carroll County has the higher population (15,621 vs 15,619 in Mercer County). Mercer County has the higher median household income ($71,710 vs $60,871 in Carroll County). Mercer County has the higher median home value ($139,300 vs $113,500 in Carroll County).

Population, income & housing

	Carroll County	Mercer County
Population	15,621	15,619
Median age	44.9 yrs	44.5 yrs
Median household income	$60,871	$71,710
Median home value	$113,500	$139,300
Median gross rent	$784	$757
Housing units	8,190	7,279
Homeownership rate	77.8%	82.7%
Bachelor's degree or higher	18.2%	18.9%
Unemployment rate	4.3%	3.1%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Carroll County	Mercer County
Population	14,466 → 15,621 (+8.0%)	15,589 → 15,619 (+0.2%)
Median household income	$52,410 → $60,871 (+16.1%)	$59,787 → $71,710 (+19.9%)
Median home value	$106,100 → $113,500 (+7.0%)	$107,600 → $139,300 (+29.5%)
Median gross rent	$631 → $784 (+24.2%)	$655 → $757 (+15.6%)

Carroll County

Population

14,46615,621

Median household income

$52,410$60,871

Median home value

$106,100$113,500

Median gross rent

$631$784

Mercer County

Population

15,58915,619

Median household income

$59,787$71,710

Median home value

$107,600$139,300

Median gross rent

$655$757

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Carroll County	Mercer County
Under 5	4.3%	4.8%
5 to 17	13.8%	16.2%
18 to 24	8.3%	7.5%
25 to 34	11.4%	10.3%
35 to 44	12.4%	12.0%
45 to 54	11.6%	12.6%
55 to 64	14.2%	15.0%
65 to 74	13.9%	12.3%
75 and over	10.1%	9.1%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Carroll County	Mercer County
White (non-Hispanic)	88.4%	93.5%
Black or African American	3.7%	0.6%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.3%	0.1%
Asian	0.7%	0.3%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.0%	0.0%
Some other race	0.1%	0.0%
Two or more races	1.8%	2.2%
Hispanic or Latino	5.1%	3.3%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Carroll County	Mercer County
No high school diploma	12.3%	6.7%
High school graduate	35.8%	40.2%
Some college or associate's	33.7%	34.2%
Bachelor's degree	13.4%	12.6%
Graduate or professional degree	4.8%	6.3%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Carroll County	Mercer County
Drove alone	80.9%	81.4%
Carpooled	7.5%	8.0%
Public transit	0.9%	0.1%
Walked	3.6%	2.2%
Bicycle	0.2%	0.0%
Worked from home	6.3%	7.8%
Other means	0.5%	0.5%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Carroll County	Mercer County
1-unit, detached	85.5%	87.6%
1-unit, attached	0.7%	0.9%
2 to 4 units	4.0%	4.2%
5 to 19 units	3.0%	2.4%
20 or more units	2.5%	1.5%
Mobile home & other	4.3%	3.3%

Poverty & households

	Carroll County	Mercer County
Poverty rate	13.6%	7.9%
Average household size	2.22	2.41
Mean commute (minutes)	22	28
Median year structure built	1959	1960