Richland County vs Wayne County

A side-by-side comparison of Richland County and Wayne County: population, income, housing, and more.

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

Wayne County has the higher population (15,994 vs 15,675 in Richland County). Richland County has the higher median household income ($60,404 vs $53,107 in Wayne County). Wayne County has the higher median home value ($109,400 vs $106,600 in Richland County).

Population, income & housing

	Richland County	Wayne County
Population	15,675	15,994
Median age	42.5 yrs	43.1 yrs
Median household income	$60,404	$53,107
Median home value	$106,600	$109,400
Median gross rent	$754	$632
Housing units	7,366	7,699
Homeownership rate	73.6%	78.9%
Bachelor's degree or higher	18.9%	16.2%
Unemployment rate	4.2%	3.3%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Richland County	Wayne County
Population	15,766 → 15,675 (-0.6%)	16,402 → 15,994 (-2.5%)
Median household income	$48,894 → $60,404 (+23.5%)	$50,251 → $53,107 (+5.7%)
Median home value	$89,600 → $106,600 (+19.0%)	$86,400 → $109,400 (+26.6%)
Median gross rent	$566 → $754 (+33.2%)	$626 → $632 (+1.0%)

Richland County

Population

15,76615,675

Median household income

$48,894$60,404

Median home value

$89,600$106,600

Median gross rent

$566$754

Wayne County

Population

16,40215,994

Median household income

$50,251$53,107

Median home value

$86,400$109,400

Median gross rent

$626$632

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Richland County	Wayne County
Under 5	5.8%	5.8%
5 to 17	17.2%	16.8%
18 to 24	7.3%	6.9%
25 to 34	11.2%	11.3%
35 to 44	12.0%	11.4%
45 to 54	11.7%	11.5%
55 to 64	14.3%	14.3%
65 to 74	11.2%	12.0%
75 and over	9.3%	10.0%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Richland County	Wayne County
White (non-Hispanic)	93.7%	95.7%
Black or African American	0.3%	0.2%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.1%	0.0%
Asian	0.3%	0.5%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.0%	0.0%
Some other race	0.8%	0.0%
Two or more races	3.0%	1.9%
Hispanic or Latino	1.9%	1.6%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Richland County	Wayne County
No high school diploma	8.1%	9.8%
High school graduate	33.1%	33.7%
Some college or associate's	40.0%	40.3%
Bachelor's degree	12.5%	11.0%
Graduate or professional degree	6.4%	5.2%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Richland County	Wayne County
Drove alone	81.4%	81.6%
Carpooled	8.6%	9.2%
Public transit	0.0%	0.4%
Walked	2.1%	1.1%
Bicycle	0.3%	0.2%
Worked from home	6.6%	7.0%
Other means	1.1%	0.5%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Richland County	Wayne County
1-unit, detached	78.7%	72.5%
1-unit, attached	0.6%	0.1%
2 to 4 units	3.9%	2.2%
5 to 19 units	1.1%	0.3%
20 or more units	2.5%	3.4%
Mobile home & other	13.3%	21.4%

Poverty & households

	Richland County	Wayne County
Poverty rate	11.9%	13.8%
Average household size	2.40	2.32
Mean commute (minutes)	20	24
Median year structure built	1973	1973