Pope County vs Scott County

A side-by-side comparison of Pope County and Scott County: population, income, housing, and more.

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

Scott County has the higher population (4,847 vs 3,757 in Pope County). Scott County has the higher median household income ($73,013 vs $62,500 in Pope County). Pope County has the higher median home value ($165,300 vs $101,700 in Scott County).

Population, income & housing

	Pope County	Scott County
Population	3,757	4,847
Median age	50.8 yrs	44.3 yrs
Median household income	$62,500	$73,013
Median home value	$165,300	$101,700
Median gross rent	$438	$669
Housing units	2,273	2,393
Homeownership rate	86.1%	79.1%
Bachelor's degree or higher	16.8%	22.2%
Unemployment rate	3.0%	2.6%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Pope County	Scott County
Population	4,203 → 3,757 (-10.6%)	5,005 → 4,847 (-3.2%)
Median household income	$38,056 → $62,500 (+64.2%)	$57,118 → $73,013 (+27.8%)
Median home value	$93,000 → $165,300 (+77.7%)	$89,200 → $101,700 (+14.0%)
Median gross rent	$313 → $438 (+39.9%)	$542 → $669 (+23.4%)

Pope County

Population

4,2033,757

Median household income

$38,056$62,500

Median home value

$93,000$165,300

Median gross rent

$313$438

Scott County

Population

5,0054,847

Median household income

$57,118$73,013

Median home value

$89,200$101,700

Median gross rent

$542$669

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Pope County	Scott County
Under 5	5.3%	4.4%
5 to 17	10.4%	17.0%
18 to 24	8.0%	7.8%
25 to 34	7.3%	9.9%
35 to 44	10.6%	11.8%
45 to 54	13.1%	12.3%
55 to 64	19.2%	16.2%
65 to 74	16.9%	11.7%
75 and over	9.1%	8.9%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Pope County	Scott County
White (non-Hispanic)	89.2%	95.7%
Black or African American	5.0%	1.1%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.7%	0.1%
Asian	0.0%	0.4%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.0%	0.0%
Some other race	0.0%	0.0%
Two or more races	2.6%	1.3%
Hispanic or Latino	2.6%	1.5%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Pope County	Scott County
No high school diploma	8.3%	6.8%
High school graduate	38.1%	45.4%
Some college or associate's	36.8%	25.5%
Bachelor's degree	11.0%	17.7%
Graduate or professional degree	5.9%	4.5%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Pope County	Scott County
Drove alone	82.3%	82.8%
Carpooled	8.5%	6.3%
Public transit	0.0%	0.3%
Walked	0.0%	0.7%
Bicycle	0.0%	0.2%
Worked from home	8.5%	9.5%
Other means	0.7%	0.2%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Pope County	Scott County
1-unit, detached	72.5%	81.9%
1-unit, attached	0.2%	0.6%
2 to 4 units	3.1%	7.7%
5 to 19 units	0.9%	0.9%
20 or more units	0.0%	0.2%
Mobile home & other	23.3%	8.7%

Poverty & households

	Pope County	Scott County
Poverty rate	14.3%	10.6%
Average household size	2.63	2.36
Mean commute (minutes)	28	25
Median year structure built	1989	1962