Butler County vs Hamilton County

A side-by-side comparison of Butler County and Hamilton County: population, income, housing, and more.

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

Hamilton County has the higher population (14,893 vs 14,301 in Butler County). Hamilton County has the higher median household income ($71,750 vs $69,651 in Butler County). Butler County has the higher median home value ($156,500 vs $132,300 in Hamilton County).

Population, income & housing

	Butler County	Hamilton County
Population	14,301	14,893
Median age	43.7 yrs	42.2 yrs
Median household income	$69,651	$71,750
Median home value	$156,500	$132,300
Median gross rent	$780	$853
Housing units	6,569	7,056
Homeownership rate	80.0%	73.8%
Bachelor's degree or higher	20.4%	22.0%
Unemployment rate	3.4%	3.9%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Butler County	Hamilton County
Population	14,628 → 14,301 (-2.2%)	14,997 → 14,893 (-0.7%)
Median household income	$57,115 → $69,651 (+21.9%)	$60,910 → $71,750 (+17.8%)
Median home value	$116,700 → $156,500 (+34.1%)	$106,100 → $132,300 (+24.7%)
Median gross rent	$598 → $780 (+30.4%)	$709 → $853 (+20.3%)

Butler County

Population

14,62814,301

Median household income

$57,115$69,651

Median home value

$116,700$156,500

Median gross rent

$598$780

Hamilton County

Population

14,99714,893

Median household income

$60,910$71,750

Median home value

$106,100$132,300

Median gross rent

$709$853

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Butler County	Hamilton County
Under 5	5.1%	5.0%
5 to 17	17.4%	18.4%
18 to 24	6.7%	6.4%
25 to 34	10.3%	10.6%
35 to 44	12.1%	13.3%
45 to 54	11.6%	11.1%
55 to 64	13.9%	14.0%
65 to 74	12.7%	11.6%
75 and over	10.1%	9.7%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Butler County	Hamilton County
White (non-Hispanic)	94.9%	84.2%
Black or African American	0.2%	1.2%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.1%	0.0%
Asian	1.2%	1.9%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.0%	0.2%
Some other race	0.6%	0.3%
Two or more races	1.4%	2.5%
Hispanic or Latino	1.6%	9.7%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Butler County	Hamilton County
No high school diploma	6.4%	7.4%
High school graduate	36.9%	31.9%
Some college or associate's	36.2%	38.7%
Bachelor's degree	15.6%	16.1%
Graduate or professional degree	4.8%	5.9%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Butler County	Hamilton County
Drove alone	83.2%	83.9%
Carpooled	7.8%	5.6%
Public transit	0.0%	0.1%
Walked	2.3%	3.4%
Bicycle	0.2%	0.1%
Worked from home	5.9%	6.4%
Other means	0.5%	0.5%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Butler County	Hamilton County
1-unit, detached	89.1%	80.0%
1-unit, attached	0.5%	1.7%
2 to 4 units	5.2%	4.8%
5 to 19 units	2.8%	7.5%
20 or more units	0.9%	3.9%
Mobile home & other	1.6%	2.1%

Poverty & households

	Butler County	Hamilton County
Poverty rate	10.7%	8.0%
Average household size	2.39	2.33
Mean commute (minutes)	25	22
Median year structure built	1956	1955