De Witt County vs Mercer County

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

De Witt 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.

Mercer County has the higher population (15,619 vs 15,461 in De Witt County). Mercer County has the higher median household income ($71,710 vs $64,802 in De Witt County). Mercer County has the higher median home value ($139,300 vs $124,200 in De Witt County).

Population, income & housing

	De Witt County	Mercer County
Population	15,461	15,619
Median age	44.0 yrs	44.5 yrs
Median household income	$64,802	$71,710
Median home value	$124,200	$139,300
Median gross rent	$857	$757
Housing units	7,312	7,279
Homeownership rate	76.8%	82.7%
Bachelor's degree or higher	21.4%	18.9%
Unemployment rate	4.8%	3.1%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	De Witt County	Mercer County
Population	15,932 → 15,461 (-3.0%)	15,589 → 15,619 (+0.2%)
Median household income	$55,587 → $64,802 (+16.6%)	$59,787 → $71,710 (+19.9%)
Median home value	$99,500 → $124,200 (+24.8%)	$107,600 → $139,300 (+29.5%)
Median gross rent	$629 → $857 (+36.2%)	$655 → $757 (+15.6%)

De Witt County

Population

15,93215,461

Median household income

$55,587$64,802

Median home value

$99,500$124,200

Median gross rent

$629$857

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)

	De Witt County	Mercer County
Under 5	5.9%	4.8%
5 to 17	15.6%	16.2%
18 to 24	7.1%	7.5%
25 to 34	10.8%	10.3%
35 to 44	12.1%	12.0%
45 to 54	12.8%	12.6%
55 to 64	15.6%	15.0%
65 to 74	11.6%	12.3%
75 and over	8.4%	9.1%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	De Witt County	Mercer County
White (non-Hispanic)	93.2%	93.5%
Black or African American	1.0%	0.6%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.2%	0.1%
Asian	0.2%	0.3%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.0%	0.0%
Some other race	0.0%	0.0%
Two or more races	2.1%	2.2%
Hispanic or Latino	3.4%	3.3%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	De Witt County	Mercer County
No high school diploma	7.2%	6.7%
High school graduate	40.0%	40.2%
Some college or associate's	31.4%	34.2%
Bachelor's degree	14.6%	12.6%
Graduate or professional degree	6.8%	6.3%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	De Witt County	Mercer County
Drove alone	84.5%	81.4%
Carpooled	5.2%	8.0%
Public transit	0.4%	0.1%
Walked	2.0%	2.2%
Bicycle	0.0%	0.0%
Worked from home	7.6%	7.8%
Other means	0.4%	0.5%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	De Witt County	Mercer County
1-unit, detached	85.1%	87.6%
1-unit, attached	1.3%	0.9%
2 to 4 units	4.2%	4.2%
5 to 19 units	3.0%	2.4%
20 or more units	1.1%	1.5%
Mobile home & other	5.3%	3.3%

Poverty & households

	De Witt County	Mercer County
Poverty rate	10.1%	7.9%
Average household size	2.29	2.41
Mean commute (minutes)	23	28
Median year structure built	1961	1960