Benton County vs Plymouth County

A side-by-side comparison of Benton County and Plymouth County: population, income, housing, and more.

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

Plymouth County has the higher population (25,699 vs 25,698 in Benton County). Benton County has the higher median household income ($84,742 vs $81,600 in Plymouth County). Plymouth County has the higher median home value ($218,600 vs $198,400 in Benton County).

Population, income & housing

	Benton County	Plymouth County
Population	25,698	25,699
Median age	43.3 yrs	41.1 yrs
Median household income	$84,742	$81,600
Median home value	$198,400	$218,600
Median gross rent	$815	$865
Housing units	11,095	10,863
Homeownership rate	84.3%	73.7%
Bachelor's degree or higher	24.9%	23.9%
Unemployment rate	2.3%	1.9%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Benton County	Plymouth County
Population	25,636 → 25,698 (+0.2%)	25,068 → 25,699 (+2.5%)
Median household income	$67,729 → $84,742 (+25.1%)	$67,297 → $81,600 (+21.3%)
Median home value	$157,200 → $198,400 (+26.2%)	$163,500 → $218,600 (+33.7%)
Median gross rent	$640 → $815 (+27.3%)	$660 → $865 (+31.1%)

Benton County

Population

25,63625,698

Median household income

$67,729$84,742

Median home value

$157,200$198,400

Median gross rent

$640$815

Plymouth County

Population

25,06825,699

Median household income

$67,297$81,600

Median home value

$163,500$218,600

Median gross rent

$660$865

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Benton County	Plymouth County
Under 5	5.8%	5.7%
5 to 17	17.3%	19.3%
18 to 24	7.0%	7.1%
25 to 34	10.5%	10.8%
35 to 44	12.0%	12.2%
45 to 54	12.5%	11.9%
55 to 64	15.5%	13.7%
65 to 74	10.7%	11.1%
75 and over	8.6%	8.2%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Benton County	Plymouth County
White (non-Hispanic)	94.7%	88.8%
Black or African American	0.4%	2.4%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.1%	0.2%
Asian	0.2%	0.5%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.0%	0.1%
Some other race	0.2%	0.0%
Two or more races	2.5%	1.9%
Hispanic or Latino	1.9%	6.1%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Benton County	Plymouth County
No high school diploma	5.3%	5.8%
High school graduate	33.2%	36.3%
Some college or associate's	36.6%	34.0%
Bachelor's degree	17.0%	18.4%
Graduate or professional degree	8.0%	5.5%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Benton County	Plymouth County
Drove alone	79.9%	79.3%
Carpooled	6.8%	8.7%
Public transit	0.2%	0.4%
Walked	2.0%	2.2%
Bicycle	0.0%	0.1%
Worked from home	10.4%	8.6%
Other means	0.6%	0.7%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Benton County	Plymouth County
1-unit, detached	88.0%	77.0%
1-unit, attached	1.4%	3.2%
2 to 4 units	3.0%	5.9%
5 to 19 units	3.2%	7.8%
20 or more units	1.5%	1.8%
Mobile home & other	2.9%	4.3%

Poverty & households

	Benton County	Plymouth County
Poverty rate	7.9%	6.8%
Average household size	2.51	2.46
Mean commute (minutes)	25	19
Median year structure built	1965	1972