Fayette County vs Shelby County

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

Fayette County and Shelby 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 20,867 in Shelby County). Shelby County has the higher median household income ($68,457 vs $57,113 in Fayette County). Shelby County has the higher median home value ($130,400 vs $114,700 in Fayette County).

Population, income & housing

	Fayette County	Shelby County
Population	21,380	20,867
Median age	41.7 yrs	45.5 yrs
Median household income	$57,113	$68,457
Median home value	$114,700	$130,400
Median gross rent	$740	$762
Housing units	8,849	10,054
Homeownership rate	80.2%	78.5%
Bachelor's degree or higher	16.6%	17.6%
Unemployment rate	3.4%	3.0%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Fayette County	Shelby County
Population	21,565 → 21,380 (-0.9%)	21,737 → 20,867 (-4.0%)
Median household income	$46,650 → $57,113 (+22.4%)	$52,953 → $68,457 (+29.3%)
Median home value	$88,300 → $114,700 (+29.9%)	$96,500 → $130,400 (+35.1%)
Median gross rent	$612 → $740 (+20.9%)	$653 → $762 (+16.7%)

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

Shelby County

Population

21,73720,867

Median household income

$52,953$68,457

Median home value

$96,500$130,400

Median gross rent

$653$762

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Fayette County	Shelby County
Under 5	5.7%	5.4%
5 to 17	14.8%	16.0%
18 to 24	8.8%	6.4%
25 to 34	12.9%	10.5%
35 to 44	12.1%	11.4%
45 to 54	13.0%	11.9%
55 to 64	13.5%	15.0%
65 to 74	10.9%	13.4%
75 and over	8.4%	10.0%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Fayette County	Shelby County
White (non-Hispanic)	88.6%	96.3%
Black or African American	3.8%	0.1%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.4%	0.4%
Asian	0.1%	0.3%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.2%	0.0%
Some other race	0.0%	0.1%
Two or more races	3.9%	1.6%
Hispanic or Latino	2.9%	1.2%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Fayette County	Shelby County
No high school diploma	12.7%	5.5%
High school graduate	40.5%	42.5%
Some college or associate's	30.2%	34.4%
Bachelor's degree	11.6%	13.2%
Graduate or professional degree	5.0%	4.4%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Fayette County	Shelby County
Drove alone	81.3%	83.7%
Carpooled	9.0%	6.6%
Public transit	0.3%	0.2%
Walked	1.8%	2.1%
Bicycle	0.0%	1.0%
Worked from home	6.7%	5.8%
Other means	0.9%	0.6%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Fayette County	Shelby County
1-unit, detached	78.1%	84.7%
1-unit, attached	0.8%	1.7%
2 to 4 units	4.5%	2.3%
5 to 19 units	1.2%	3.2%
20 or more units	1.2%	0.7%
Mobile home & other	14.3%	7.4%

Poverty & households

	Fayette County	Shelby County
Poverty rate	16.5%	10.0%
Average household size	2.59	2.35
Mean commute (minutes)	24	21
Median year structure built	1970	1965