Jay County vs Owen County

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

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

Owen County has the higher population (21,434 vs 20,281 in Jay County). Owen County has the higher median household income ($59,586 vs $54,114 in Jay County). Owen County has the higher median home value ($162,400 vs $110,100 in Jay County).

Population, income & housing

	Jay County	Owen County
Population	20,281	21,434
Median age	39.6 yrs	45.3 yrs
Median household income	$54,114	$59,586
Median home value	$110,100	$162,400
Median gross rent	$766	$912
Housing units	8,908	9,868
Homeownership rate	78.0%	80.8%
Bachelor's degree or higher	12.7%	17.0%
Unemployment rate	3.8%	4.6%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Jay County	Owen County
Population	20,840 → 20,281 (-2.7%)	20,835 → 21,434 (+2.9%)
Median household income	$47,658 → $54,114 (+13.5%)	$49,543 → $59,586 (+20.3%)
Median home value	$91,400 → $110,100 (+20.5%)	$117,600 → $162,400 (+38.1%)
Median gross rent	$677 → $766 (+13.1%)	$696 → $912 (+31.0%)

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

Owen County

Population

20,83521,434

Median household income

$49,543$59,586

Median home value

$117,600$162,400

Median gross rent

$696$912

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Jay County	Owen County
Under 5	6.9%	5.0%
5 to 17	18.8%	14.9%
18 to 24	8.1%	7.1%
25 to 34	11.1%	11.5%
35 to 44	11.0%	11.2%
45 to 54	12.7%	12.9%
55 to 64	13.3%	16.4%
65 to 74	10.7%	12.9%
75 and over	7.4%	8.1%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Jay County	Owen County
White (non-Hispanic)	93.0%	95.2%
Black or African American	0.3%	0.6%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.1%	0.1%
Asian	0.3%	0.6%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.0%	0.0%
Some other race	0.0%	0.2%
Two or more races	1.8%	2.0%
Hispanic or Latino	4.5%	1.5%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Jay County	Owen County
No high school diploma	13.1%	13.0%
High school graduate	47.0%	43.2%
Some college or associate's	27.2%	26.9%
Bachelor's degree	7.6%	11.9%
Graduate or professional degree	5.1%	5.1%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Jay County	Owen County
Drove alone	77.1%	79.9%
Carpooled	10.8%	8.3%
Public transit	0.5%	0.0%
Walked	2.3%	2.0%
Bicycle	0.2%	0.0%
Worked from home	7.3%	9.0%
Other means	2.0%	0.8%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Jay County	Owen County
1-unit, detached	84.1%	76.1%
1-unit, attached	0.9%	1.7%
2 to 4 units	5.3%	2.2%
5 to 19 units	2.6%	1.4%
20 or more units	1.4%	0.9%
Mobile home & other	5.8%	17.6%

Poverty & households

	Jay County	Owen County
Poverty rate	13.2%	11.9%
Average household size	2.52	2.47
Mean commute (minutes)	22	35
Median year structure built	1958	1979