Black Hawk County vs Polk County

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

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

Polk County has the higher population (497,441 vs 130,693 in Black Hawk County). Polk County has the higher median household income ($81,621 vs $64,581 in Black Hawk County). Polk County has the higher median home value ($248,400 vs $182,400 in Black Hawk County).

Population, income & housing

	Black Hawk County	Polk County
Population	130,693	497,441
Median age	35.7 yrs	36.2 yrs
Median household income	$64,581	$81,621
Median home value	$182,400	$248,400
Median gross rent	$962	$1,113
Housing units	58,748	215,016
Homeownership rate	65.3%	67.1%
Bachelor's degree or higher	30.1%	39.5%
Unemployment rate	4.8%	4.4%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Black Hawk County	Polk County
Population	132,393 → 130,693 (-1.3%)	479,612 → 497,441 (+3.7%)
Median household income	$53,539 → $64,581 (+20.6%)	$67,637 → $81,621 (+20.7%)
Median home value	$147,500 → $182,400 (+23.7%)	$179,900 → $248,400 (+38.1%)
Median gross rent	$801 → $962 (+20.1%)	$910 → $1,113 (+22.3%)

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

Polk County

Population

479,612497,441

Median household income

$67,637$81,621

Median home value

$179,900$248,400

Median gross rent

$910$1,113

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Black Hawk County	Polk County
Under 5	6.1%	6.6%
5 to 17	15.8%	18.0%
18 to 24	14.5%	8.7%
25 to 34	12.6%	15.1%
35 to 44	12.1%	14.2%
45 to 54	10.0%	12.1%
55 to 64	11.4%	11.6%
65 to 74	10.3%	8.4%
75 and over	7.1%	5.3%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Black Hawk County	Polk County
White (non-Hispanic)	78.8%	74.1%
Black or African American	9.5%	7.4%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.1%	0.1%
Asian	2.4%	4.9%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.5%	0.0%
Some other race	0.1%	0.2%
Two or more races	3.5%	3.3%
Hispanic or Latino	5.0%	10.0%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Black Hawk County	Polk County
No high school diploma	6.7%	7.5%
High school graduate	30.8%	24.3%
Some college or associate's	32.3%	28.7%
Bachelor's degree	19.3%	26.7%
Graduate or professional degree	10.8%	12.8%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Black Hawk County	Polk County
Drove alone	77.9%	74.1%
Carpooled	9.1%	8.6%
Public transit	0.2%	0.6%
Walked	3.3%	1.4%
Bicycle	0.4%	0.2%
Worked from home	8.5%	13.9%
Other means	0.6%	1.2%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Black Hawk County	Polk County
1-unit, detached	69.7%	62.4%
1-unit, attached	4.5%	7.6%
2 to 4 units	6.3%	3.6%
5 to 19 units	10.3%	9.5%
20 or more units	6.4%	14.8%
Mobile home & other	2.8%	2.1%

Poverty & households

	Black Hawk County	Polk County
Poverty rate	14.7%	10.1%
Average household size	2.34	2.41
Mean commute (minutes)	16	20
Median year structure built	1966	1981