Lawrence County vs Mercer County

A side-by-side comparison of Lawrence County and Mercer County: population, income, housing, and more.

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

Mercer County has the higher population (15,619 vs 15,137 in Lawrence County). Mercer County has the higher median household income ($71,710 vs $53,438 in Lawrence County). Mercer County has the higher median home value ($139,300 vs $95,500 in Lawrence County).

Population, income & housing

	Lawrence County	Mercer County
Population	15,137	15,619
Median age	40.6 yrs	44.5 yrs
Median household income	$53,438	$71,710
Median home value	$95,500	$139,300
Median gross rent	$810	$757
Housing units	6,358	7,279
Homeownership rate	75.0%	82.7%
Bachelor's degree or higher	14.6%	18.9%
Unemployment rate	7.9%	3.1%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Lawrence County	Mercer County
Population	16,033 → 15,137 (-5.6%)	15,589 → 15,619 (+0.2%)
Median household income	$46,636 → $53,438 (+14.6%)	$59,787 → $71,710 (+19.9%)
Median home value	$78,400 → $95,500 (+21.8%)	$107,600 → $139,300 (+29.5%)
Median gross rent	$628 → $810 (+29.0%)	$655 → $757 (+15.6%)

Lawrence County

Population

16,03315,137

Median household income

$46,636$53,438

Median home value

$78,400$95,500

Median gross rent

$628$810

Mercer County

Population

15,58915,619

Median household income

$59,787$71,710

Median home value

$107,600$139,300

Median gross rent

$655$757

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Lawrence County	Mercer County
Under 5	4.6%	4.8%
5 to 17	14.2%	16.2%
18 to 24	8.2%	7.5%
25 to 34	14.7%	10.3%
35 to 44	14.4%	12.0%
45 to 54	12.5%	12.6%
55 to 64	13.2%	15.0%
65 to 74	10.4%	12.3%
75 and over	7.8%	9.1%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Lawrence County	Mercer County
White (non-Hispanic)	84.4%	93.5%
Black or African American	6.7%	0.6%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.2%	0.1%
Asian	0.5%	0.3%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.0%	0.0%
Some other race	0.1%	0.0%
Two or more races	5.7%	2.2%
Hispanic or Latino	2.3%	3.3%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Lawrence County	Mercer County
No high school diploma	14.9%	6.7%
High school graduate	35.0%	40.2%
Some college or associate's	35.5%	34.2%
Bachelor's degree	8.8%	12.6%
Graduate or professional degree	5.8%	6.3%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Lawrence County	Mercer County
Drove alone	81.0%	81.4%
Carpooled	8.6%	8.0%
Public transit	0.5%	0.1%
Walked	3.5%	2.2%
Bicycle	0.0%	0.0%
Worked from home	6.0%	7.8%
Other means	0.4%	0.5%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Lawrence County	Mercer County
1-unit, detached	73.4%	87.6%
1-unit, attached	0.2%	0.9%
2 to 4 units	5.3%	4.2%
5 to 19 units	0.8%	2.4%
20 or more units	2.5%	1.5%
Mobile home & other	17.9%	3.3%

Poverty & households

	Lawrence County	Mercer County
Poverty rate	14.7%	7.9%
Average household size	2.49	2.41
Mean commute (minutes)	23	28
Median year structure built	1963	1960