Buena Vista County vs Mahaska County

A side-by-side comparison of Buena Vista County and Mahaska County: population, income, housing, and more.

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

Mahaska County has the higher population (22,045 vs 20,684 in Buena Vista County). Mahaska County has the higher median household income ($69,019 vs $66,564 in Buena Vista County). Buena Vista County has the higher median home value ($146,900 vs $140,900 in Mahaska County).

Population, income & housing

	Buena Vista County	Mahaska County
Population	20,684	22,045
Median age	35.7 yrs	39.1 yrs
Median household income	$66,564	$69,019
Median home value	$146,900	$140,900
Median gross rent	$835	$821
Housing units	8,241	9,708
Homeownership rate	72.5%	67.8%
Bachelor's degree or higher	22.1%	23.0%
Unemployment rate	5.0%	3.3%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Buena Vista County	Mahaska County
Population	20,058 → 20,684 (+3.1%)	22,164 → 22,045 (-0.5%)
Median household income	$57,125 → $66,564 (+16.5%)	$54,825 → $69,019 (+25.9%)
Median home value	$115,600 → $146,900 (+27.1%)	$115,300 → $140,900 (+22.2%)
Median gross rent	$706 → $835 (+18.3%)	$652 → $821 (+25.9%)

Buena Vista County

Population

20,05820,684

Median household income

$57,125$66,564

Median home value

$115,600$146,900

Median gross rent

$706$835

Mahaska County

Population

22,16422,045

Median household income

$54,825$69,019

Median home value

$115,300$140,900

Median gross rent

$652$821

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Buena Vista County	Mahaska County
Under 5	7.0%	6.1%
5 to 17	19.7%	17.8%
18 to 24	10.1%	9.8%
25 to 34	11.9%	11.2%
35 to 44	12.3%	11.9%
45 to 54	10.8%	11.1%
55 to 64	12.1%	13.1%
65 to 74	9.4%	10.9%
75 and over	6.6%	8.1%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Buena Vista County	Mahaska County
White (non-Hispanic)	53.5%	92.2%
Black or African American	3.1%	1.5%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.1%	0.0%
Asian	10.0%	1.2%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	2.5%	0.0%
Some other race	0.3%	0.1%
Two or more races	1.9%	2.6%
Hispanic or Latino	28.6%	2.4%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Buena Vista County	Mahaska County
No high school diploma	19.5%	6.0%
High school graduate	31.8%	38.7%
Some college or associate's	26.7%	32.3%
Bachelor's degree	15.1%	17.0%
Graduate or professional degree	7.0%	6.0%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Buena Vista County	Mahaska County
Drove alone	69.9%	80.2%
Carpooled	17.3%	9.4%
Public transit	0.0%	0.1%
Walked	5.9%	3.7%
Bicycle	0.3%	0.0%
Worked from home	6.3%	6.3%
Other means	0.3%	0.3%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Buena Vista County	Mahaska County
1-unit, detached	75.1%	78.1%
1-unit, attached	2.9%	1.0%
2 to 4 units	6.2%	8.9%
5 to 19 units	9.9%	5.3%
20 or more units	3.7%	1.4%
Mobile home & other	2.3%	5.3%

Poverty & households

	Buena Vista County	Mahaska County
Poverty rate	8.2%	11.9%
Average household size	2.61	2.40
Mean commute (minutes)	15	18
Median year structure built	1963	1963