Buchanan County vs Jones County

A side-by-side comparison of Buchanan County and Jones County: population, income, housing, and more.

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

Jones County has the higher population (20,799 vs 20,645 in Buchanan County). Buchanan County has the higher median household income ($78,430 vs $73,071 in Jones County). Jones County has the higher median home value ($183,400 vs $171,400 in Buchanan County).

Population, income & housing

	Buchanan County	Jones County
Population	20,645	20,799
Median age	39.9 yrs	43.0 yrs
Median household income	$78,430	$73,071
Median home value	$171,400	$183,400
Median gross rent	$802	$759
Housing units	8,946	8,882
Homeownership rate	81.1%	80.7%
Bachelor's degree or higher	22.3%	20.7%
Unemployment rate	2.7%	2.9%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Buchanan County	Jones County
Population	21,118 → 20,645 (-2.2%)	20,559 → 20,799 (+1.2%)
Median household income	$64,837 → $78,430 (+21.0%)	$57,549 → $73,071 (+27.0%)
Median home value	$142,500 → $171,400 (+20.3%)	$138,400 → $183,400 (+32.5%)
Median gross rent	$678 → $802 (+18.3%)	$641 → $759 (+18.4%)

Buchanan County

Population

21,11820,645

Median household income

$64,837$78,430

Median home value

$142,500$171,400

Median gross rent

$678$802

Jones County

Population

20,55920,799

Median household income

$57,549$73,071

Median home value

$138,400$183,400

Median gross rent

$641$759

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Buchanan County	Jones County
Under 5	6.6%	5.2%
5 to 17	19.1%	15.7%
18 to 24	7.1%	6.9%
25 to 34	10.9%	11.7%
35 to 44	12.6%	12.5%
45 to 54	11.5%	12.0%
55 to 64	13.9%	15.0%
65 to 74	10.9%	12.2%
75 and over	7.4%	8.9%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Buchanan County	Jones County
White (non-Hispanic)	95.2%	91.9%
Black or African American	0.7%	2.0%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.1%	0.1%
Asian	0.2%	0.6%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.1%	0.0%
Some other race	0.0%	0.0%
Two or more races	1.8%	2.9%
Hispanic or Latino	1.8%	2.5%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Buchanan County	Jones County
No high school diploma	5.4%	5.6%
High school graduate	36.1%	39.3%
Some college or associate's	36.2%	34.3%
Bachelor's degree	15.9%	14.4%
Graduate or professional degree	6.4%	6.4%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Buchanan County	Jones County
Drove alone	78.2%	77.2%
Carpooled	8.9%	8.8%
Public transit	0.3%	0.2%
Walked	3.1%	1.8%
Bicycle	0.4%	0.0%
Worked from home	8.9%	11.3%
Other means	0.3%	0.6%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Buchanan County	Jones County
1-unit, detached	81.8%	80.6%
1-unit, attached	1.7%	3.7%
2 to 4 units	7.3%	6.0%
5 to 19 units	2.1%	3.3%
20 or more units	1.6%	1.7%
Mobile home & other	5.5%	4.7%

Poverty & households

	Buchanan County	Jones County
Poverty rate	7.0%	10.4%
Average household size	2.51	2.42
Mean commute (minutes)	23	26
Median year structure built	1971	1969