Decatur County vs Monroe County

A side-by-side comparison of Decatur County and Monroe County: population, income, housing, and more.

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

Decatur County has the higher population (7,669 vs 7,546 in Monroe County). Monroe County has the higher median household income ($72,518 vs $57,146 in Decatur County). Monroe County has the higher median home value ($135,900 vs $109,500 in Decatur County).

Population, income & housing

	Decatur County	Monroe County
Population	7,669	7,546
Median age	36.2 yrs	42.1 yrs
Median household income	$57,146	$72,518
Median home value	$109,500	$135,900
Median gross rent	$663	$787
Housing units	3,651	3,648
Homeownership rate	68.0%	83.8%
Bachelor's degree or higher	24.3%	20.0%
Unemployment rate	3.2%	2.9%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Decatur County	Monroe County
Population	7,979 → 7,669 (-3.9%)	7,807 → 7,546 (-3.3%)
Median household income	$44,462 → $57,146 (+28.5%)	$58,269 → $72,518 (+24.5%)
Median home value	$83,200 → $109,500 (+31.6%)	$100,200 → $135,900 (+35.6%)
Median gross rent	$567 → $663 (+16.9%)	$566 → $787 (+39.0%)

Decatur County

Population

7,9797,669

Median household income

$44,462$57,146

Median home value

$83,200$109,500

Median gross rent

$567$663

Monroe County

Population

7,8077,546

Median household income

$58,269$72,518

Median home value

$100,200$135,900

Median gross rent

$566$787

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Decatur County	Monroe County
Under 5	6.0%	6.1%
5 to 17	16.6%	17.0%
18 to 24	15.3%	7.8%
25 to 34	10.7%	10.4%
35 to 44	9.3%	11.7%
45 to 54	9.3%	12.2%
55 to 64	12.1%	14.9%
65 to 74	11.5%	11.6%
75 and over	9.3%	8.2%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Decatur County	Monroe County
White (non-Hispanic)	90.9%	95.1%
Black or African American	1.6%	0.2%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.3%	0.1%
Asian	0.5%	0.8%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.0%	0.1%
Some other race	0.5%	0.1%
Two or more races	2.9%	2.7%
Hispanic or Latino	3.3%	0.8%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Decatur County	Monroe County
No high school diploma	11.0%	5.4%
High school graduate	37.5%	41.3%
Some college or associate's	27.2%	33.3%
Bachelor's degree	14.2%	15.0%
Graduate or professional degree	10.1%	5.0%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Decatur County	Monroe County
Drove alone	75.7%	83.7%
Carpooled	10.2%	5.9%
Public transit	0.0%	0.0%
Walked	5.8%	2.3%
Bicycle	0.0%	0.0%
Worked from home	7.9%	7.5%
Other means	0.4%	0.5%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Decatur County	Monroe County
1-unit, detached	77.6%	76.6%
1-unit, attached	0.9%	1.1%
2 to 4 units	7.2%	7.1%
5 to 19 units	2.9%	1.2%
20 or more units	4.1%	1.8%
Mobile home & other	7.2%	12.2%

Poverty & households

	Decatur County	Monroe County
Poverty rate	15.2%	9.2%
Average household size	2.32	2.47
Mean commute (minutes)	23	28
Median year structure built	1968	1972