Ford County vs Mason County

A side-by-side comparison of Ford County and Mason County: population, income, housing, and more.

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

Ford County has the higher population (13,396 vs 12,878 in Mason County). Mason County has the higher median household income ($62,127 vs $60,782 in Ford County). Ford County has the higher median home value ($118,100 vs $106,100 in Mason County).

Population, income & housing

	Ford County	Mason County
Population	13,396	12,878
Median age	42.5 yrs	45.5 yrs
Median household income	$60,782	$62,127
Median home value	$118,100	$106,100
Median gross rent	$836	$760
Housing units	6,263	6,615
Homeownership rate	74.1%	80.6%
Bachelor's degree or higher	19.4%	17.1%
Unemployment rate	5.4%	6.1%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Ford County	Mason County
Population	13,270 → 13,396 (+0.9%)	13,621 → 12,878 (-5.5%)
Median household income	$52,092 → $60,782 (+16.7%)	$48,417 → $62,127 (+28.3%)
Median home value	$98,300 → $118,100 (+20.1%)	$83,000 → $106,100 (+27.8%)
Median gross rent	$676 → $836 (+23.7%)	$664 → $760 (+14.5%)

Ford County

Population

13,27013,396

Median household income

$52,092$60,782

Median home value

$98,300$118,100

Median gross rent

$676$836

Mason County

Population

13,62112,878

Median household income

$48,417$62,127

Median home value

$83,000$106,100

Median gross rent

$664$760

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Ford County	Mason County
Under 5	5.7%	4.6%
5 to 17	17.6%	15.9%
18 to 24	7.3%	6.9%
25 to 34	11.0%	10.8%
35 to 44	12.4%	11.2%
45 to 54	12.3%	12.5%
55 to 64	14.5%	15.2%
65 to 74	10.9%	12.8%
75 and over	8.4%	10.2%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Ford County	Mason County
White (non-Hispanic)	90.5%	95.5%
Black or African American	0.6%	0.6%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.0%	0.2%
Asian	0.7%	0.1%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.0%	0.0%
Some other race	0.3%	0.0%
Two or more races	3.1%	2.2%
Hispanic or Latino	4.6%	1.5%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Ford County	Mason County
No high school diploma	8.1%	7.9%
High school graduate	36.1%	38.1%
Some college or associate's	36.4%	36.9%
Bachelor's degree	12.5%	12.4%
Graduate or professional degree	7.0%	4.7%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Ford County	Mason County
Drove alone	77.5%	81.4%
Carpooled	10.0%	7.1%
Public transit	0.0%	0.2%
Walked	2.7%	1.5%
Bicycle	0.4%	0.1%
Worked from home	8.8%	8.2%
Other means	0.5%	1.6%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Ford County	Mason County
1-unit, detached	81.4%	90.1%
1-unit, attached	0.6%	0.7%
2 to 4 units	8.2%	2.4%
5 to 19 units	3.6%	2.8%
20 or more units	2.9%	0.2%
Mobile home & other	3.3%	3.8%

Poverty & households

	Ford County	Mason County
Poverty rate	12.7%	14.0%
Average household size	2.27	2.21
Mean commute (minutes)	24	29
Median year structure built	1955	1962