Butler County vs Mills County

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

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

Mills County has the higher population (14,563 vs 14,301 in Butler County). Mills County has the higher median household income ($87,810 vs $69,651 in Butler County). Mills County has the higher median home value ($228,700 vs $156,500 in Butler County).

Population, income & housing

	Butler County	Mills County
Population	14,301	14,563
Median age	43.7 yrs	42.6 yrs
Median household income	$69,651	$87,810
Median home value	$156,500	$228,700
Median gross rent	$780	$888
Housing units	6,569	6,119
Homeownership rate	80.0%	84.2%
Bachelor's degree or higher	20.4%	32.0%
Unemployment rate	3.4%	2.8%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Butler County	Mills County
Population	14,628 → 14,301 (-2.2%)	15,034 → 14,563 (-3.1%)
Median household income	$57,115 → $69,651 (+21.9%)	$72,079 → $87,810 (+21.8%)
Median home value	$116,700 → $156,500 (+34.1%)	$168,900 → $228,700 (+35.4%)
Median gross rent	$598 → $780 (+30.4%)	$826 → $888 (+7.5%)

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

Mills County

Population

15,03414,563

Median household income

$72,079$87,810

Median home value

$168,900$228,700

Median gross rent

$826$888

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Butler County	Mills County
Under 5	5.1%	4.8%
5 to 17	17.4%	18.3%
18 to 24	6.7%	6.8%
25 to 34	10.3%	11.3%
35 to 44	12.1%	12.0%
45 to 54	11.6%	12.6%
55 to 64	13.9%	14.4%
65 to 74	12.7%	12.3%
75 and over	10.1%	7.6%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Butler County	Mills County
White (non-Hispanic)	94.9%	93.3%
Black or African American	0.2%	0.4%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.1%	0.1%
Asian	1.2%	0.4%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.0%	0.0%
Some other race	0.6%	0.1%
Two or more races	1.4%	2.1%
Hispanic or Latino	1.6%	3.6%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Butler County	Mills County
No high school diploma	6.4%	4.4%
High school graduate	36.9%	27.4%
Some college or associate's	36.2%	36.2%
Bachelor's degree	15.6%	22.3%
Graduate or professional degree	4.8%	9.8%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Butler County	Mills County
Drove alone	83.2%	76.9%
Carpooled	7.8%	8.4%
Public transit	0.0%	0.0%
Walked	2.3%	5.0%
Bicycle	0.2%	0.1%
Worked from home	5.9%	9.5%
Other means	0.5%	0.2%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Butler County	Mills County
1-unit, detached	89.1%	84.3%
1-unit, attached	0.5%	1.8%
2 to 4 units	5.2%	7.2%
5 to 19 units	2.8%	1.9%
20 or more units	0.9%	1.4%
Mobile home & other	1.6%	3.4%

Poverty & households

	Butler County	Mills County
Poverty rate	10.7%	6.9%
Average household size	2.39	2.64
Mean commute (minutes)	25	25
Median year structure built	1956	1973