Cherokee County vs Hancock County

A side-by-side comparison of Cherokee County and Hancock County: population, income, housing, and more.

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

Cherokee County has the higher population (11,587 vs 10,718 in Hancock County). Hancock County has the higher median household income ($70,212 vs $64,478 in Cherokee County). Cherokee County has the higher median home value ($145,100 vs $129,300 in Hancock County).

Population, income & housing

	Cherokee County	Hancock County
Population	11,587	10,718
Median age	44.5 yrs	44.6 yrs
Median household income	$64,478	$70,212
Median home value	$145,100	$129,300
Median gross rent	$711	$784
Housing units	5,555	5,120
Homeownership rate	73.3%	82.0%
Bachelor's degree or higher	21.6%	21.4%
Unemployment rate	3.0%	2.2%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Cherokee County	Hancock County
Population	11,343 → 11,587 (+2.2%)	10,802 → 10,718 (-0.8%)
Median household income	$56,550 → $64,478 (+14.0%)	$61,761 → $70,212 (+13.7%)
Median home value	$106,700 → $145,100 (+36.0%)	$102,200 → $129,300 (+26.5%)
Median gross rent	$550 → $711 (+29.3%)	$642 → $784 (+22.1%)

Cherokee County

Population

11,34311,587

Median household income

$56,550$64,478

Median home value

$106,700$145,100

Median gross rent

$550$711

Hancock County

Population

10,80210,718

Median household income

$61,761$70,212

Median home value

$102,200$129,300

Median gross rent

$642$784

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Cherokee County	Hancock County
Under 5	4.9%	5.3%
5 to 17	16.9%	16.0%
18 to 24	6.4%	7.0%
25 to 34	9.9%	9.9%
35 to 44	12.7%	12.5%
45 to 54	9.9%	10.8%
55 to 64	14.9%	14.7%
65 to 74	13.2%	13.5%
75 and over	11.3%	10.4%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Cherokee County	Hancock County
White (non-Hispanic)	89.7%	90.5%
Black or African American	0.9%	0.9%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.0%	0.1%
Asian	0.6%	0.6%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.0%	0.0%
Some other race	0.2%	0.5%
Two or more races	3.9%	1.6%
Hispanic or Latino	4.8%	5.8%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Cherokee County	Hancock County
No high school diploma	6.9%	8.4%
High school graduate	39.5%	34.9%
Some college or associate's	32.0%	35.3%
Bachelor's degree	14.3%	17.0%
Graduate or professional degree	7.3%	4.4%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Cherokee County	Hancock County
Drove alone	80.3%	79.4%
Carpooled	8.4%	8.0%
Public transit	0.7%	0.0%
Walked	2.3%	1.8%
Bicycle	0.0%	0.5%
Worked from home	7.3%	8.6%
Other means	1.0%	1.6%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Cherokee County	Hancock County
1-unit, detached	84.9%	86.8%
1-unit, attached	1.1%	2.7%
2 to 4 units	3.9%	1.8%
5 to 19 units	3.7%	3.9%
20 or more units	4.2%	1.4%
Mobile home & other	2.2%	3.4%

Poverty & households

	Cherokee County	Hancock County
Poverty rate	15.2%	12.1%
Average household size	2.20	2.27
Mean commute (minutes)	18	20
Median year structure built	1956	1959