Black Hawk County vs Linn County

A side-by-side comparison of Black Hawk County and Linn County: population, income, housing, and more.

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

Linn County has the higher population (229,463 vs 130,693 in Black Hawk County). Linn County has the higher median household income ($76,421 vs $64,581 in Black Hawk County). Linn County has the higher median home value ($204,400 vs $182,400 in Black Hawk County).

Population, income & housing

	Black Hawk County	Linn County
Population	130,693	229,463
Median age	35.7 yrs	38.5 yrs
Median household income	$64,581	$76,421
Median home value	$182,400	$204,400
Median gross rent	$962	$915
Housing units	58,748	101,989
Homeownership rate	65.3%	73.3%
Bachelor's degree or higher	30.1%	34.8%
Unemployment rate	4.8%	3.7%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Black Hawk County	Linn County
Population	132,393 → 130,693 (-1.3%)	223,861 → 229,463 (+2.5%)
Median household income	$53,539 → $64,581 (+20.6%)	$64,903 → $76,421 (+17.7%)
Median home value	$147,500 → $182,400 (+23.7%)	$157,000 → $204,400 (+30.2%)
Median gross rent	$801 → $962 (+20.1%)	$761 → $915 (+20.2%)

Black Hawk County

Population

132,393130,693

Median household income

$53,539$64,581

Median home value

$147,500$182,400

Median gross rent

$801$962

Linn County

Population

223,861229,463

Median household income

$64,903$76,421

Median home value

$157,000$204,400

Median gross rent

$761$915

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Black Hawk County	Linn County
Under 5	6.1%	5.9%
5 to 17	15.8%	16.8%
18 to 24	14.5%	9.0%
25 to 34	12.6%	13.3%
35 to 44	12.1%	13.4%
45 to 54	10.0%	12.1%
55 to 64	11.4%	12.7%
65 to 74	10.3%	9.8%
75 and over	7.1%	7.0%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Black Hawk County	Linn County
White (non-Hispanic)	78.8%	83.0%
Black or African American	9.5%	5.7%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.1%	0.1%
Asian	2.4%	2.3%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.5%	0.0%
Some other race	0.1%	0.5%
Two or more races	3.5%	4.5%
Hispanic or Latino	5.0%	4.0%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Black Hawk County	Linn County
No high school diploma	6.7%	4.7%
High school graduate	30.8%	26.1%
Some college or associate's	32.3%	34.4%
Bachelor's degree	19.3%	23.5%
Graduate or professional degree	10.8%	11.3%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Black Hawk County	Linn County
Drove alone	77.9%	76.4%
Carpooled	9.1%	6.3%
Public transit	0.2%	0.6%
Walked	3.3%	1.9%
Bicycle	0.4%	0.2%
Worked from home	8.5%	13.7%
Other means	0.6%	0.8%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Black Hawk County	Linn County
1-unit, detached	69.7%	67.0%
1-unit, attached	4.5%	5.4%
2 to 4 units	6.3%	5.6%
5 to 19 units	10.3%	11.5%
20 or more units	6.4%	7.0%
Mobile home & other	2.8%	3.5%

Poverty & households

	Black Hawk County	Linn County
Poverty rate	14.7%	9.9%
Average household size	2.34	2.36
Mean commute (minutes)	16	19
Median year structure built	1966	1977