Elkhart County vs Marion County

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

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

Marion County has the higher population (971,822 vs 206,868 in Elkhart County). Elkhart County has the higher median household income ($65,617 vs $63,450 in Marion County). Marion County has the higher median home value ($207,000 vs $194,400 in Elkhart County).

Population, income & housing

	Elkhart County	Marion County
Population	206,868	971,822
Median age	35.5 yrs	34.3 yrs
Median household income	$65,617	$63,450
Median home value	$194,400	$207,000
Median gross rent	$1,023	$1,107
Housing units	80,102	439,034
Homeownership rate	71.2%	55.9%
Bachelor's degree or higher	19.7%	34.1%
Unemployment rate	3.4%	5.1%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Elkhart County	Marion County
Population	204,558 → 206,868 (+1.1%)	951,869 → 971,822 (+2.1%)
Median household income	$57,021 → $65,617 (+15.1%)	$48,316 → $63,450 (+31.3%)
Median home value	$144,300 → $194,400 (+34.7%)	$136,700 → $207,000 (+51.4%)
Median gross rent	$810 → $1,023 (+26.3%)	$889 → $1,107 (+24.5%)

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

Marion County

Population

951,869971,822

Median household income

$48,316$63,450

Median home value

$136,700$207,000

Median gross rent

$889$1,107

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Elkhart County	Marion County
Under 5	7.3%	7.0%
5 to 17	20.4%	18.0%
18 to 24	9.1%	9.4%
25 to 34	12.7%	16.6%
35 to 44	12.1%	13.4%
45 to 54	11.7%	11.2%
55 to 64	11.6%	11.5%
65 to 74	8.8%	8.1%
75 and over	6.4%	4.8%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Elkhart County	Marion County
White (non-Hispanic)	70.7%	50.5%
Black or African American	4.8%	27.3%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.2%	0.1%
Asian	1.1%	3.9%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.0%	0.0%
Some other race	0.5%	0.5%
Two or more races	3.2%	4.3%
Hispanic or Latino	19.5%	13.4%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Elkhart County	Marion County
No high school diploma	17.8%	12.3%
High school graduate	36.9%	27.1%
Some college or associate's	25.6%	26.6%
Bachelor's degree	12.8%	21.7%
Graduate or professional degree	6.9%	12.4%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Elkhart County	Marion County
Drove alone	75.1%	73.8%
Carpooled	15.5%	9.7%
Public transit	0.3%	1.3%
Walked	2.1%	1.7%
Bicycle	1.3%	0.4%
Worked from home	4.8%	12.3%
Other means	0.8%	0.9%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Elkhart County	Marion County
1-unit, detached	69.7%	59.7%
1-unit, attached	2.7%	8.0%
2 to 4 units	6.1%	8.5%
5 to 19 units	7.8%	14.1%
20 or more units	4.8%	8.2%
Mobile home & other	8.9%	1.6%

Poverty & households

	Elkhart County	Marion County
Poverty rate	12.5%	15.1%
Average household size	2.84	2.41
Mean commute (minutes)	19	24
Median year structure built	1977	1972