Carroll County vs Mahaska County

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

Carroll 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 20,677 in Carroll County). Mahaska County has the higher median household income ($69,019 vs $68,528 in Carroll County). Carroll County has the higher median home value ($175,700 vs $140,900 in Mahaska County).

Population, income & housing

	Carroll County	Mahaska County
Population	20,677	22,045
Median age	41.8 yrs	39.1 yrs
Median household income	$68,528	$69,019
Median home value	$175,700	$140,900
Median gross rent	$722	$821
Housing units	9,508	9,708
Homeownership rate	75.0%	67.8%
Bachelor's degree or higher	23.4%	23.0%
Unemployment rate	2.1%	3.3%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Carroll County	Mahaska County
Population	20,281 → 20,677 (+2.0%)	22,164 → 22,045 (-0.5%)
Median household income	$59,212 → $68,528 (+15.7%)	$54,825 → $69,019 (+25.9%)
Median home value	$138,900 → $175,700 (+26.5%)	$115,300 → $140,900 (+22.2%)
Median gross rent	$621 → $722 (+16.3%)	$652 → $821 (+25.9%)

Carroll County

Population

20,28120,677

Median household income

$59,212$68,528

Median home value

$138,900$175,700

Median gross rent

$621$722

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)

	Carroll County	Mahaska County
Under 5	5.6%	6.1%
5 to 17	18.5%	17.8%
18 to 24	7.9%	9.8%
25 to 34	10.5%	11.2%
35 to 44	11.3%	11.9%
45 to 54	10.9%	11.1%
55 to 64	14.3%	13.1%
65 to 74	11.4%	10.9%
75 and over	9.6%	8.1%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Carroll County	Mahaska County
White (non-Hispanic)	92.9%	92.2%
Black or African American	0.7%	1.5%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.0%	0.0%
Asian	0.6%	1.2%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.0%	0.0%
Some other race	0.3%	0.1%
Two or more races	2.3%	2.6%
Hispanic or Latino	3.2%	2.4%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Carroll County	Mahaska County
No high school diploma	5.0%	6.0%
High school graduate	38.6%	38.7%
Some college or associate's	33.0%	32.3%
Bachelor's degree	17.8%	17.0%
Graduate or professional degree	5.6%	6.0%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Carroll County	Mahaska County
Drove alone	83.3%	80.2%
Carpooled	7.5%	9.4%
Public transit	0.5%	0.1%
Walked	1.6%	3.7%
Bicycle	0.0%	0.0%
Worked from home	6.5%	6.3%
Other means	0.7%	0.3%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Carroll County	Mahaska County
1-unit, detached	80.7%	78.1%
1-unit, attached	3.7%	1.0%
2 to 4 units	4.7%	8.9%
5 to 19 units	5.3%	5.3%
20 or more units	4.5%	1.4%
Mobile home & other	1.2%	5.3%

Poverty & households

	Carroll County	Mahaska County
Poverty rate	8.3%	11.9%
Average household size	2.31	2.40
Mean commute (minutes)	15	18
Median year structure built	1964	1963