Jackson County vs Knox County

A side-by-side comparison of Jackson County and Knox County: population, income, housing, and more.

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

Jackson County has the higher population (52,706 vs 49,294 in Knox County). Knox County has the higher median household income ($53,291 vs $45,572 in Jackson County). Jackson County has the higher median home value ($125,000 vs $104,900 in Knox County).

Population, income & housing

	Jackson County	Knox County
Population	52,706	49,294
Median age	32.9 yrs	42.4 yrs
Median household income	$45,572	$53,291
Median home value	$125,000	$104,900
Median gross rent	$746	$725
Housing units	27,750	23,788
Homeownership rate	49.3%	69.8%
Bachelor's degree or higher	35.1%	20.3%
Unemployment rate	7.2%	4.5%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Jackson County	Knox County
Population	57,977 → 52,706 (-9.1%)	50,508 → 49,294 (-2.4%)
Median household income	$37,241 → $45,572 (+22.4%)	$44,129 → $53,291 (+20.8%)
Median home value	$108,600 → $125,000 (+15.1%)	$83,000 → $104,900 (+26.4%)
Median gross rent	$691 → $746 (+8.0%)	$634 → $725 (+14.4%)

Jackson County

Population

57,97752,706

Median household income

$37,241$45,572

Median home value

$108,600$125,000

Median gross rent

$691$746

Knox County

Population

50,50849,294

Median household income

$44,129$53,291

Median home value

$83,000$104,900

Median gross rent

$634$725

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Jackson County	Knox County
Under 5	5.3%	5.5%
5 to 17	13.7%	14.6%
18 to 24	20.7%	9.8%
25 to 34	13.2%	11.1%
35 to 44	10.3%	11.7%
45 to 54	9.5%	11.6%
55 to 64	11.1%	13.6%
65 to 74	9.9%	12.6%
75 and over	6.4%	9.6%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Jackson County	Knox County
White (non-Hispanic)	72.2%	80.8%
Black or African American	14.3%	7.7%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.2%	0.1%
Asian	3.6%	1.0%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.1%	0.0%
Some other race	0.8%	0.3%
Two or more races	3.6%	3.8%
Hispanic or Latino	5.3%	6.3%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Jackson County	Knox County
No high school diploma	7.9%	10.7%
High school graduate	22.9%	34.9%
Some college or associate's	34.1%	34.1%
Bachelor's degree	18.2%	13.1%
Graduate or professional degree	16.8%	7.2%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Jackson County	Knox County
Drove alone	73.5%	80.5%
Carpooled	9.2%	8.9%
Public transit	1.1%	0.5%
Walked	5.4%	3.6%
Bicycle	0.4%	0.2%
Worked from home	8.7%	5.7%
Other means	1.6%	0.6%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Jackson County	Knox County
1-unit, detached	51.8%	76.9%
1-unit, attached	1.8%	0.9%
2 to 4 units	14.5%	7.6%
5 to 19 units	11.1%	6.1%
20 or more units	9.1%	4.3%
Mobile home & other	11.7%	4.2%

Poverty & households

	Jackson County	Knox County
Poverty rate	21.8%	15.9%
Average household size	2.13	2.18
Mean commute (minutes)	20	21
Median year structure built	1976	1956