Fayette County vs Starke County

A side-by-side comparison of Fayette County and Starke County: population, income, housing, and more.

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

Fayette County has the higher population (23,390 vs 23,300 in Starke County). Starke County has the higher median household income ($62,933 vs $56,659 in Fayette County). Starke County has the higher median home value ($148,400 vs $114,800 in Fayette County).

Population, income & housing

	Fayette County	Starke County
Population	23,390	23,300
Median age	43.9 yrs	41.9 yrs
Median household income	$56,659	$62,933
Median home value	$114,800	$148,400
Median gross rent	$779	$690
Housing units	10,900	11,214
Homeownership rate	70.6%	83.7%
Bachelor's degree or higher	16.4%	12.6%
Unemployment rate	4.1%	3.4%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Fayette County	Starke County
Population	23,194 → 23,390 (+0.8%)	22,952 → 23,300 (+1.5%)
Median household income	$46,175 → $56,659 (+22.7%)	$51,190 → $62,933 (+22.9%)
Median home value	$81,900 → $114,800 (+40.2%)	$115,500 → $148,400 (+28.5%)
Median gross rent	$705 → $779 (+10.5%)	$697 → $690 (-1.0%)

Fayette County

Population

23,19423,390

Median household income

$46,175$56,659

Median home value

$81,900$114,800

Median gross rent

$705$779

Starke County

Population

22,95223,300

Median household income

$51,190$62,933

Median home value

$115,500$148,400

Median gross rent

$697$690

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Fayette County	Starke County
Under 5	5.6%	5.9%
5 to 17	16.8%	16.9%
18 to 24	7.9%	7.2%
25 to 34	11.1%	11.6%
35 to 44	11.0%	11.6%
45 to 54	13.2%	12.5%
55 to 64	13.9%	14.4%
65 to 74	12.4%	12.3%
75 and over	8.1%	7.6%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Fayette County	Starke County
White (non-Hispanic)	93.9%	92.1%
Black or African American	1.1%	0.4%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.2%	0.0%
Asian	0.2%	0.3%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.0%	0.0%
Some other race	0.0%	0.2%
Two or more races	3.3%	2.8%
Hispanic or Latino	1.4%	4.1%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Fayette County	Starke County
No high school diploma	14.1%	14.2%
High school graduate	42.3%	43.6%
Some college or associate's	27.1%	29.7%
Bachelor's degree	12.4%	8.7%
Graduate or professional degree	4.1%	3.8%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Fayette County	Starke County
Drove alone	82.5%	81.5%
Carpooled	9.9%	11.5%
Public transit	0.1%	0.3%
Walked	2.1%	1.4%
Bicycle	0.0%	0.0%
Worked from home	4.7%	3.3%
Other means	0.7%	2.0%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Fayette County	Starke County
1-unit, detached	79.8%	85.4%
1-unit, attached	1.1%	0.8%
2 to 4 units	7.7%	2.8%
5 to 19 units	3.1%	1.7%
20 or more units	3.2%	0.8%
Mobile home & other	5.2%	8.6%

Poverty & households

	Fayette County	Starke County
Poverty rate	16.7%	14.8%
Average household size	2.42	2.65
Mean commute (minutes)	28	31
Median year structure built	1961	1973