Elkhart County vs Hamilton County

A side-by-side comparison of Elkhart County and Hamilton County: population, income, housing, and more.

Elkhart County and Hamilton County are counties in Indiana. This page compares them across population, income, housing, education, commuting, and how each has changed since 2019.

Hamilton County has the higher population (357,176 vs 206,868 in Elkhart County). Hamilton County has the higher median household income ($117,957 vs $65,617 in Elkhart County). Hamilton County has the higher median home value ($379,100 vs $194,400 in Elkhart County).

Population, income & housing

	Elkhart County	Hamilton County
Population	206,868	357,176
Median age	35.5 yrs	38.0 yrs
Median household income	$65,617	$117,957
Median home value	$194,400	$379,100
Median gross rent	$1,023	$1,468
Housing units	80,102	140,389
Homeownership rate	71.2%	76.3%
Bachelor's degree or higher	19.7%	61.8%
Unemployment rate	3.4%	2.8%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Elkhart County	Hamilton County
Population	204,558 → 206,868 (+1.1%)	323,117 → 357,176 (+10.5%)
Median household income	$57,021 → $65,617 (+15.1%)	$98,173 → $117,957 (+20.2%)
Median home value	$144,300 → $194,400 (+34.7%)	$263,300 → $379,100 (+44.0%)
Median gross rent	$810 → $1,023 (+26.3%)	$1,176 → $1,468 (+24.8%)

Elkhart County

Population

204,558206,868

Median household income

$57,021$65,617

Median home value

$144,300$194,400

Median gross rent

$810$1,023

Hamilton County

Population

323,117357,176

Median household income

$98,173$117,957

Median home value

$263,300$379,100

Median gross rent

$1,176$1,468

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Elkhart County	Hamilton County
Under 5	7.3%	6.0%
5 to 17	20.4%	19.9%
18 to 24	9.1%	7.9%
25 to 34	12.7%	11.8%
35 to 44	12.1%	15.1%
45 to 54	11.7%	14.0%
55 to 64	11.6%	11.9%
65 to 74	8.8%	8.3%
75 and over	6.4%	5.2%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Elkhart County	Hamilton County
White (non-Hispanic)	70.7%	79.7%
Black or African American	4.8%	4.1%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.2%	0.0%
Asian	1.1%	6.7%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.0%	0.0%
Some other race	0.5%	0.6%
Two or more races	3.2%	3.5%
Hispanic or Latino	19.5%	5.4%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Elkhart County	Hamilton County
No high school diploma	17.8%	2.7%
High school graduate	36.9%	14.2%
Some college or associate's	25.6%	21.3%
Bachelor's degree	12.8%	38.9%
Graduate or professional degree	6.9%	23.0%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Elkhart County	Hamilton County
Drove alone	75.1%	71.0%
Carpooled	15.5%	6.7%
Public transit	0.3%	0.0%
Walked	2.1%	0.8%
Bicycle	1.3%	0.2%
Worked from home	4.8%	20.7%
Other means	0.8%	0.6%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Elkhart County	Hamilton County
1-unit, detached	69.7%	75.2%
1-unit, attached	2.7%	4.6%
2 to 4 units	6.1%	3.9%
5 to 19 units	7.8%	9.5%
20 or more units	4.8%	5.3%
Mobile home & other	8.9%	1.5%

Poverty & households

	Elkhart County	Hamilton County
Poverty rate	12.5%	4.3%
Average household size	2.84	2.67
Mean commute (minutes)	19	26
Median year structure built	1977	2000