Jay County vs Perry County

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

Jay County and Perry 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 19,218 in Perry County). Perry County has the higher median household income ($61,099 vs $54,114 in Jay County). Perry County has the higher median home value ($146,000 vs $110,100 in Jay County).

Population, income & housing

	Jay County	Perry County
Population	20,281	19,218
Median age	39.6 yrs	41.1 yrs
Median household income	$54,114	$61,099
Median home value	$110,100	$146,000
Median gross rent	$766	$676
Housing units	8,908	8,544
Homeownership rate	78.0%	74.9%
Bachelor's degree or higher	12.7%	16.5%
Unemployment rate	3.8%	5.1%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Jay County	Perry County
Population	20,840 → 20,281 (-2.7%)	19,102 → 19,218 (+0.6%)
Median household income	$47,658 → $54,114 (+13.5%)	$52,348 → $61,099 (+16.7%)
Median home value	$91,400 → $110,100 (+20.5%)	$111,500 → $146,000 (+30.9%)
Median gross rent	$677 → $766 (+13.1%)	$571 → $676 (+18.4%)

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

Perry County

Population

19,10219,218

Median household income

$52,348$61,099

Median home value

$111,500$146,000

Median gross rent

$571$676

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Jay County	Perry County
Under 5	6.9%	5.5%
5 to 17	18.8%	15.4%
18 to 24	8.1%	7.4%
25 to 34	11.1%	13.1%
35 to 44	11.0%	13.3%
45 to 54	12.7%	12.2%
55 to 64	13.3%	14.2%
65 to 74	10.7%	11.6%
75 and over	7.4%	7.4%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Jay County	Perry County
White (non-Hispanic)	93.0%	93.0%
Black or African American	0.3%	2.1%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.1%	0.2%
Asian	0.3%	0.7%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.0%	0.0%
Some other race	0.0%	0.0%
Two or more races	1.8%	2.6%
Hispanic or Latino	4.5%	1.4%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Jay County	Perry County
No high school diploma	13.1%	8.8%
High school graduate	47.0%	46.3%
Some college or associate's	27.2%	28.4%
Bachelor's degree	7.6%	11.8%
Graduate or professional degree	5.1%	4.7%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Jay County	Perry County
Drove alone	77.1%	84.6%
Carpooled	10.8%	7.3%
Public transit	0.5%	0.2%
Walked	2.3%	0.9%
Bicycle	0.2%	0.0%
Worked from home	7.3%	5.7%
Other means	2.0%	1.3%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Jay County	Perry County
1-unit, detached	84.1%	75.4%
1-unit, attached	0.9%	0.6%
2 to 4 units	5.3%	3.7%
5 to 19 units	2.6%	3.3%
20 or more units	1.4%	4.4%
Mobile home & other	5.8%	12.6%

Poverty & households

	Jay County	Perry County
Poverty rate	13.2%	12.8%
Average household size	2.52	2.30
Mean commute (minutes)	22	25
Median year structure built	1958	1973