Jay County vs Orange County

A side-by-side comparison of Jay County and Orange County: population, income, housing, and more.

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

Jay County has the higher population (20,281 vs 19,746 in Orange County). Orange County has the higher median household income ($64,758 vs $54,114 in Jay County). Orange County has the higher median home value ($143,900 vs $110,100 in Jay County).

Population, income & housing

	Jay County	Orange County
Population	20,281	19,746
Median age	39.6 yrs	43.0 yrs
Median household income	$54,114	$64,758
Median home value	$110,100	$143,900
Median gross rent	$766	$838
Housing units	8,908	9,083
Homeownership rate	78.0%	78.8%
Bachelor's degree or higher	12.7%	15.2%
Unemployment rate	3.8%	2.9%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Jay County	Orange County
Population	20,840 → 20,281 (-2.7%)	19,545 → 19,746 (+1.0%)
Median household income	$47,658 → $54,114 (+13.5%)	$47,917 → $64,758 (+35.1%)
Median home value	$91,400 → $110,100 (+20.5%)	$94,700 → $143,900 (+52.0%)
Median gross rent	$677 → $766 (+13.1%)	$623 → $838 (+34.5%)

Jay County

Population

20,84020,281

Median household income

$47,658$54,114

Median home value

$91,400$110,100

Median gross rent

$677$766

Orange County

Population

19,54519,746

Median household income

$47,917$64,758

Median home value

$94,700$143,900

Median gross rent

$623$838

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Jay County	Orange County
Under 5	6.9%	6.2%
5 to 17	18.8%	16.7%
18 to 24	8.1%	7.4%
25 to 34	11.1%	10.9%
35 to 44	11.0%	12.0%
45 to 54	12.7%	12.1%
55 to 64	13.3%	14.4%
65 to 74	10.7%	12.4%
75 and over	7.4%	7.9%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Jay County	Orange County
White (non-Hispanic)	93.0%	93.1%
Black or African American	0.3%	1.5%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.1%	0.0%
Asian	0.3%	0.4%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.0%	0.0%
Some other race	0.0%	0.0%
Two or more races	1.8%	3.2%
Hispanic or Latino	4.5%	1.7%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Jay County	Orange County
No high school diploma	13.1%	14.2%
High school graduate	47.0%	43.1%
Some college or associate's	27.2%	27.5%
Bachelor's degree	7.6%	10.2%
Graduate or professional degree	5.1%	5.0%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Jay County	Orange County
Drove alone	77.1%	79.6%
Carpooled	10.8%	11.1%
Public transit	0.5%	0.1%
Walked	2.3%	2.3%
Bicycle	0.2%	0.1%
Worked from home	7.3%	5.2%
Other means	2.0%	1.6%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Jay County	Orange County
1-unit, detached	84.1%	74.9%
1-unit, attached	0.9%	1.0%
2 to 4 units	5.3%	3.7%
5 to 19 units	2.6%	2.6%
20 or more units	1.4%	1.4%
Mobile home & other	5.8%	16.3%

Poverty & households

	Jay County	Orange County
Poverty rate	13.2%	13.3%
Average household size	2.52	2.43
Mean commute (minutes)	22	25
Median year structure built	1958	1978