Appanoose County vs Union County

A side-by-side comparison of Appanoose County and Union County: population, income, housing, and more.

Appanoose County and Union County are counties in Iowa. This page compares them across population, income, housing, education, commuting, and how each has changed since 2019.

Appanoose County has the higher population (12,242 vs 12,038 in Union County). Union County has the higher median household income ($56,813 vs $51,146 in Appanoose County). Appanoose County has the higher median home value ($119,800 vs $117,800 in Union County).

Population, income & housing

	Appanoose County	Union County
Population	12,242	12,038
Median age	45.5 yrs	40.6 yrs
Median household income	$51,146	$56,813
Median home value	$119,800	$117,800
Median gross rent	$779	$683
Housing units	6,314	5,790
Homeownership rate	69.1%	72.1%
Bachelor's degree or higher	19.3%	24.1%
Unemployment rate	6.9%	4.6%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Appanoose County	Union County
Population	12,452 → 12,242 (-1.7%)	12,358 → 12,038 (-2.6%)
Median household income	$40,167 → $51,146 (+27.3%)	$49,900 → $56,813 (+13.9%)
Median home value	$81,400 → $119,800 (+47.2%)	$104,000 → $117,800 (+13.3%)
Median gross rent	$624 → $779 (+24.8%)	$609 → $683 (+12.2%)

Appanoose County

Population

12,45212,242

Median household income

$40,167$51,146

Median home value

$81,400$119,800

Median gross rent

$624$779

Union County

Population

12,35812,038

Median household income

$49,900$56,813

Median home value

$104,000$117,800

Median gross rent

$609$683

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Appanoose County	Union County
Under 5	4.9%	5.1%
5 to 17	16.5%	18.7%
18 to 24	6.7%	8.7%
25 to 34	10.3%	10.5%
35 to 44	11.2%	12.1%
45 to 54	12.6%	11.0%
55 to 64	14.4%	13.4%
65 to 74	13.2%	11.5%
75 and over	10.2%	9.0%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Appanoose County	Union County
White (non-Hispanic)	94.2%	92.6%
Black or African American	1.0%	0.5%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.1%	0.0%
Asian	0.4%	0.0%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.0%	0.0%
Some other race	0.0%	0.2%
Two or more races	2.6%	3.3%
Hispanic or Latino	1.7%	3.5%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Appanoose County	Union County
No high school diploma	10.3%	7.0%
High school graduate	36.7%	34.0%
Some college or associate's	33.7%	34.9%
Bachelor's degree	15.2%	17.3%
Graduate or professional degree	4.1%	6.8%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Appanoose County	Union County
Drove alone	79.3%	78.7%
Carpooled	10.5%	11.3%
Public transit	0.1%	0.0%
Walked	1.2%	5.7%
Bicycle	0.8%	0.1%
Worked from home	6.5%	3.7%
Other means	1.6%	0.6%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Appanoose County	Union County
1-unit, detached	77.0%	76.2%
1-unit, attached	1.0%	1.8%
2 to 4 units	6.1%	7.8%
5 to 19 units	3.4%	4.7%
20 or more units	5.7%	4.2%
Mobile home & other	6.8%	5.2%

Poverty & households

	Appanoose County	Union County
Poverty rate	20.4%	12.6%
Average household size	2.41	2.32
Mean commute (minutes)	21	15
Median year structure built	1964	1961