Jay County vs Spencer County

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

Jay County and Spencer 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 19,871 in Spencer County). Spencer County has the higher median household income ($70,890 vs $54,114 in Jay County). Spencer County has the higher median home value ($180,200 vs $110,100 in Jay County).

Population, income & housing

	Jay County	Spencer County
Population	20,281	19,871
Median age	39.6 yrs	44.2 yrs
Median household income	$54,114	$70,890
Median home value	$110,100	$180,200
Median gross rent	$766	$697
Housing units	8,908	8,685
Homeownership rate	78.0%	81.2%
Bachelor's degree or higher	12.7%	21.2%
Unemployment rate	3.8%	3.4%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Jay County	Spencer County
Population	20,840 → 20,281 (-2.7%)	20,447 → 19,871 (-2.8%)
Median household income	$47,658 → $54,114 (+13.5%)	$57,305 → $70,890 (+23.7%)
Median home value	$91,400 → $110,100 (+20.5%)	$127,700 → $180,200 (+41.1%)
Median gross rent	$677 → $766 (+13.1%)	$708 → $697 (-1.6%)

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

Spencer County

Population

20,44719,871

Median household income

$57,305$70,890

Median home value

$127,700$180,200

Median gross rent

$708$697

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Jay County	Spencer County
Under 5	6.9%	5.0%
5 to 17	18.8%	16.7%
18 to 24	8.1%	7.0%
25 to 34	11.1%	11.2%
35 to 44	11.0%	11.7%
45 to 54	12.7%	12.5%
55 to 64	13.3%	15.6%
65 to 74	10.7%	12.4%
75 and over	7.4%	7.9%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Jay County	Spencer County
White (non-Hispanic)	93.0%	93.4%
Black or African American	0.3%	0.6%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.1%	0.0%
Asian	0.3%	0.3%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.0%	0.0%
Some other race	0.0%	0.4%
Two or more races	1.8%	1.8%
Hispanic or Latino	4.5%	3.5%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Jay County	Spencer County
No high school diploma	13.1%	6.9%
High school graduate	47.0%	38.4%
Some college or associate's	27.2%	33.5%
Bachelor's degree	7.6%	13.4%
Graduate or professional degree	5.1%	7.8%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Jay County	Spencer County
Drove alone	77.1%	86.6%
Carpooled	10.8%	6.0%
Public transit	0.5%	0.0%
Walked	2.3%	1.8%
Bicycle	0.2%	0.0%
Worked from home	7.3%	4.8%
Other means	2.0%	0.7%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Jay County	Spencer County
1-unit, detached	84.1%	81.0%
1-unit, attached	0.9%	0.6%
2 to 4 units	5.3%	5.2%
5 to 19 units	2.6%	2.2%
20 or more units	1.4%	1.3%
Mobile home & other	5.8%	9.7%

Poverty & households

	Jay County	Spencer County
Poverty rate	13.2%	6.6%
Average household size	2.52	2.45
Mean commute (minutes)	22	26
Median year structure built	1958	1979