Marion County vs St. Joseph County

A side-by-side comparison of Marion County and St. Joseph County: population, income, housing, and more.

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

Marion County has the higher population (971,822 vs 272,574 in St. Joseph County). St. Joseph County has the higher median household income ($64,885 vs $63,450 in Marion County). Marion County has the higher median home value ($207,000 vs $179,800 in St. Joseph County).

Population, income & housing

	Marion County	St. Joseph County
Population	971,822	272,574
Median age	34.3 yrs	36.7 yrs
Median household income	$63,450	$64,885
Median home value	$207,000	$179,800
Median gross rent	$1,107	$1,030
Housing units	439,034	118,329
Homeownership rate	55.9%	68.8%
Bachelor's degree or higher	34.1%	32.6%
Unemployment rate	5.1%	5.0%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Marion County	St. Joseph County
Population	951,869 → 971,822 (+2.1%)	270,216 → 272,574 (+0.9%)
Median household income	$48,316 → $63,450 (+31.3%)	$52,769 → $64,885 (+23.0%)
Median home value	$136,700 → $207,000 (+51.4%)	$129,000 → $179,800 (+39.4%)
Median gross rent	$889 → $1,107 (+24.5%)	$793 → $1,030 (+29.9%)

Marion County

Population

951,869971,822

Median household income

$48,316$63,450

Median home value

$136,700$207,000

Median gross rent

$889$1,107

St. Joseph County

Population

270,216272,574

Median household income

$52,769$64,885

Median home value

$129,000$179,800

Median gross rent

$793$1,030

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Marion County	St. Joseph County
Under 5	7.0%	6.2%
5 to 17	18.0%	17.1%
18 to 24	9.4%	11.4%
25 to 34	16.6%	13.3%
35 to 44	13.4%	12.2%
45 to 54	11.2%	11.3%
55 to 64	11.5%	12.0%
65 to 74	8.1%	9.9%
75 and over	4.8%	6.6%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Marion County	St. Joseph County
White (non-Hispanic)	50.5%	69.6%
Black or African American	27.3%	12.4%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.1%	0.1%
Asian	3.9%	2.5%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.0%	0.1%
Some other race	0.5%	0.5%
Two or more races	4.3%	4.6%
Hispanic or Latino	13.4%	10.2%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Marion County	St. Joseph County
No high school diploma	12.3%	8.8%
High school graduate	27.1%	29.7%
Some college or associate's	26.6%	28.9%
Bachelor's degree	21.7%	19.7%
Graduate or professional degree	12.4%	12.9%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Marion County	St. Joseph County
Drove alone	73.8%	74.9%
Carpooled	9.7%	9.0%
Public transit	1.3%	1.1%
Walked	1.7%	3.5%
Bicycle	0.4%	0.7%
Worked from home	12.3%	9.7%
Other means	0.9%	1.1%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Marion County	St. Joseph County
1-unit, detached	59.7%	74.3%
1-unit, attached	8.0%	3.0%
2 to 4 units	8.5%	5.2%
5 to 19 units	14.1%	9.5%
20 or more units	8.2%	6.3%
Mobile home & other	1.6%	1.6%

Poverty & households

	Marion County	St. Joseph County
Poverty rate	15.1%	14.6%
Average household size	2.41	2.44
Mean commute (minutes)	24	21
Median year structure built	1972	1968