Elkhart County vs Porter County

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

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

Elkhart County has the higher population (206,868 vs 174,150 in Porter County). Porter County has the higher median household income ($85,828 vs $65,617 in Elkhart County). Porter County has the higher median home value ($261,900 vs $194,400 in Elkhart County).

Population, income & housing

	Elkhart County	Porter County
Population	206,868	174,150
Median age	35.5 yrs	40.6 yrs
Median household income	$65,617	$85,828
Median home value	$194,400	$261,900
Median gross rent	$1,023	$1,146
Housing units	80,102	72,102
Homeownership rate	71.2%	77.2%
Bachelor's degree or higher	19.7%	30.1%
Unemployment rate	3.4%	4.4%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Elkhart County	Porter County
Population	204,558 → 206,868 (+1.1%)	168,636 → 174,150 (+3.3%)
Median household income	$57,021 → $65,617 (+15.1%)	$71,152 → $85,828 (+20.6%)
Median home value	$144,300 → $194,400 (+34.7%)	$185,400 → $261,900 (+41.3%)
Median gross rent	$810 → $1,023 (+26.3%)	$933 → $1,146 (+22.8%)

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

Porter County

Population

168,636174,150

Median household income

$71,152$85,828

Median home value

$185,400$261,900

Median gross rent

$933$1,146

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Elkhart County	Porter County
Under 5	7.3%	5.1%
5 to 17	20.4%	16.5%
18 to 24	9.1%	8.8%
25 to 34	12.7%	11.9%
35 to 44	12.1%	13.6%
45 to 54	11.7%	12.8%
55 to 64	11.6%	13.6%
65 to 74	8.8%	10.9%
75 and over	6.4%	6.8%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Elkhart County	Porter County
White (non-Hispanic)	70.7%	80.0%
Black or African American	4.8%	4.1%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.2%	0.1%
Asian	1.1%	1.3%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.0%	0.0%
Some other race	0.5%	0.2%
Two or more races	3.2%	3.0%
Hispanic or Latino	19.5%	11.3%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Elkhart County	Porter County
No high school diploma	17.8%	6.2%
High school graduate	36.9%	34.2%
Some college or associate's	25.6%	29.6%
Bachelor's degree	12.8%	19.0%
Graduate or professional degree	6.9%	11.1%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Elkhart County	Porter County
Drove alone	75.1%	81.8%
Carpooled	15.5%	7.0%
Public transit	0.3%	0.6%
Walked	2.1%	1.0%
Bicycle	1.3%	0.2%
Worked from home	4.8%	8.7%
Other means	0.8%	0.7%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Elkhart County	Porter County
1-unit, detached	69.7%	74.8%
1-unit, attached	2.7%	4.0%
2 to 4 units	6.1%	5.5%
5 to 19 units	7.8%	8.6%
20 or more units	4.8%	2.4%
Mobile home & other	8.9%	4.7%

Poverty & households

	Elkhart County	Porter County
Poverty rate	12.5%	9.2%
Average household size	2.84	2.51
Mean commute (minutes)	19	28
Median year structure built	1977	1981