Fayette County vs Jersey County

A side-by-side comparison of Fayette County and Jersey County: population, income, housing, and more.

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

Fayette County has the higher population (21,380 vs 21,336 in Jersey County). Jersey County has the higher median household income ($79,104 vs $57,113 in Fayette County). Jersey County has the higher median home value ($168,800 vs $114,700 in Fayette County).

Population, income & housing

	Fayette County	Jersey County
Population	21,380	21,336
Median age	41.7 yrs	43.2 yrs
Median household income	$57,113	$79,104
Median home value	$114,700	$168,800
Median gross rent	$740	$794
Housing units	8,849	9,884
Homeownership rate	80.2%	77.9%
Bachelor's degree or higher	16.6%	20.5%
Unemployment rate	3.4%	4.4%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Fayette County	Jersey County
Population	21,565 → 21,380 (-0.9%)	21,937 → 21,336 (-2.7%)
Median household income	$46,650 → $57,113 (+22.4%)	$63,028 → $79,104 (+25.5%)
Median home value	$88,300 → $114,700 (+29.9%)	$147,900 → $168,800 (+14.1%)
Median gross rent	$612 → $740 (+20.9%)	$645 → $794 (+23.1%)

Fayette County

Population

21,56521,380

Median household income

$46,650$57,113

Median home value

$88,300$114,700

Median gross rent

$612$740

Jersey County

Population

21,93721,336

Median household income

$63,028$79,104

Median home value

$147,900$168,800

Median gross rent

$645$794

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Fayette County	Jersey County
Under 5	5.7%	4.6%
5 to 17	14.8%	15.3%
18 to 24	8.8%	9.9%
25 to 34	12.9%	10.6%
35 to 44	12.1%	11.8%
45 to 54	13.0%	12.2%
55 to 64	13.5%	15.5%
65 to 74	10.9%	11.7%
75 and over	8.4%	8.4%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Fayette County	Jersey County
White (non-Hispanic)	88.6%	95.0%
Black or African American	3.8%	0.6%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.4%	0.0%
Asian	0.1%	0.5%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.2%	0.1%
Some other race	0.0%	0.1%
Two or more races	3.9%	2.2%
Hispanic or Latino	2.9%	1.5%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Fayette County	Jersey County
No high school diploma	12.7%	6.3%
High school graduate	40.5%	37.4%
Some college or associate's	30.2%	35.8%
Bachelor's degree	11.6%	13.5%
Graduate or professional degree	5.0%	7.0%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Fayette County	Jersey County
Drove alone	81.3%	76.5%
Carpooled	9.0%	7.5%
Public transit	0.3%	0.3%
Walked	1.8%	3.5%
Bicycle	0.0%	0.0%
Worked from home	6.7%	11.4%
Other means	0.9%	0.8%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Fayette County	Jersey County
1-unit, detached	78.1%	86.1%
1-unit, attached	0.8%	0.3%
2 to 4 units	4.5%	4.6%
5 to 19 units	1.2%	2.3%
20 or more units	1.2%	0.5%
Mobile home & other	14.3%	6.3%

Poverty & households

	Fayette County	Jersey County
Poverty rate	16.5%	10.0%
Average household size	2.59	2.55
Mean commute (minutes)	24	27
Median year structure built	1970	1975