Mason County vs Menard County

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

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

Mason County has the higher population (12,878 vs 12,169 in Menard County). Menard County has the higher median household income ($81,334 vs $62,127 in Mason County). Menard County has the higher median home value ($179,300 vs $106,100 in Mason County).

Population, income & housing

	Mason County	Menard County
Population	12,878	12,169
Median age	45.5 yrs	42.8 yrs
Median household income	$62,127	$81,334
Median home value	$106,100	$179,300
Median gross rent	$760	$780
Housing units	6,615	5,602
Homeownership rate	80.6%	79.4%
Bachelor's degree or higher	17.1%	26.5%
Unemployment rate	6.1%	3.9%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Mason County	Menard County
Population	13,621 → 12,878 (-5.5%)	12,306 → 12,169 (-1.1%)
Median household income	$48,417 → $62,127 (+28.3%)	$74,684 → $81,334 (+8.9%)
Median home value	$83,000 → $106,100 (+27.8%)	$146,900 → $179,300 (+22.1%)
Median gross rent	$664 → $760 (+14.5%)	$783 → $780 (-0.4%)

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

Menard County

Population

12,30612,169

Median household income

$74,684$81,334

Median home value

$146,900$179,300

Median gross rent

$783$780

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Mason County	Menard County
Under 5	4.6%	5.4%
5 to 17	15.9%	16.7%
18 to 24	6.9%	7.2%
25 to 34	10.8%	10.5%
35 to 44	11.2%	12.5%
45 to 54	12.5%	12.1%
55 to 64	15.2%	15.5%
65 to 74	12.8%	12.3%
75 and over	10.2%	7.9%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Mason County	Menard County
White (non-Hispanic)	95.5%	95.1%
Black or African American	0.6%	0.5%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.2%	0.0%
Asian	0.1%	0.4%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.0%	0.0%
Some other race	0.0%	0.0%
Two or more races	2.2%	2.5%
Hispanic or Latino	1.5%	1.5%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Mason County	Menard County
No high school diploma	7.9%	5.8%
High school graduate	38.1%	33.5%
Some college or associate's	36.9%	34.2%
Bachelor's degree	12.4%	16.0%
Graduate or professional degree	4.7%	10.5%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Mason County	Menard County
Drove alone	81.4%	82.9%
Carpooled	7.1%	6.3%
Public transit	0.2%	0.0%
Walked	1.5%	2.5%
Bicycle	0.1%	0.0%
Worked from home	8.2%	8.1%
Other means	1.6%	0.2%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Mason County	Menard County
1-unit, detached	90.1%	87.8%
1-unit, attached	0.7%	0.9%
2 to 4 units	2.4%	4.5%
5 to 19 units	2.8%	1.5%
20 or more units	0.2%	2.2%
Mobile home & other	3.8%	3.1%

Poverty & households

	Mason County	Menard County
Poverty rate	14.0%	9.8%
Average household size	2.21	2.32
Mean commute (minutes)	29	26
Median year structure built	1962	1975