Edwards County vs Putnam County

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

Edwards 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.

Edwards County has the higher population (6,118 vs 5,600 in Putnam County). Putnam County has the higher median household income ($77,526 vs $59,386 in Edwards County). Putnam County has the higher median home value ($167,800 vs $97,500 in Edwards County).

Population, income & housing

	Edwards County	Putnam County
Population	6,118	5,600
Median age	44.6 yrs	47.2 yrs
Median household income	$59,386	$77,526
Median home value	$97,500	$167,800
Median gross rent	$746	$804
Housing units	3,045	3,069
Homeownership rate	79.2%	80.7%
Bachelor's degree or higher	13.9%	24.6%
Unemployment rate	6.1%	3.4%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Edwards County	Putnam County
Population	6,455 → 6,118 (-5.2%)	5,721 → 5,600 (-2.1%)
Median household income	$51,080 → $59,386 (+16.3%)	$63,638 → $77,526 (+21.8%)
Median home value	$79,300 → $97,500 (+23.0%)	$126,800 → $167,800 (+32.3%)
Median gross rent	$495 → $746 (+50.7%)	$693 → $804 (+16.0%)

Edwards County

Population

6,4556,118

Median household income

$51,080$59,386

Median home value

$79,300$97,500

Median gross rent

$495$746

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)

	Edwards County	Putnam County
Under 5	5.8%	4.7%
5 to 17	16.7%	15.0%
18 to 24	6.9%	6.5%
25 to 34	9.7%	10.6%
35 to 44	11.6%	11.4%
45 to 54	12.9%	11.8%
55 to 64	14.3%	16.1%
65 to 74	12.8%	14.4%
75 and over	9.4%	9.5%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Edwards County	Putnam County
White (non-Hispanic)	95.0%	90.4%
Black or African American	0.2%	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	0.1%	0.6%
Two or more races	3.1%	1.7%
Hispanic or Latino	1.3%	6.4%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Edwards County	Putnam County
No high school diploma	8.1%	6.4%
High school graduate	36.2%	34.9%
Some college or associate's	41.7%	34.1%
Bachelor's degree	8.9%	16.1%
Graduate or professional degree	5.0%	8.5%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Edwards County	Putnam County
Drove alone	76.1%	87.8%
Carpooled	12.3%	4.7%
Public transit	0.4%	0.1%
Walked	4.6%	0.5%
Bicycle	0.0%	0.3%
Worked from home	4.9%	5.8%
Other means	1.8%	0.9%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Edwards County	Putnam County
1-unit, detached	76.1%	88.8%
1-unit, attached	0.8%	0.5%
2 to 4 units	2.6%	5.9%
5 to 19 units	1.3%	1.2%
20 or more units	0.1%	0.0%
Mobile home & other	19.0%	3.6%

Poverty & households

	Edwards County	Putnam County
Poverty rate	17.0%	9.9%
Average household size	2.30	2.26
Mean commute (minutes)	24	27
Median year structure built	1968	1975