Decatur County vs Van Buren County

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

Decatur County and Van Buren 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 7,236 in Van Buren County). Van Buren County has the higher median household income ($60,183 vs $57,146 in Decatur County). Van Buren County has the higher median home value ($118,800 vs $109,500 in Decatur County).

Population, income & housing

	Decatur County	Van Buren County
Population	7,669	7,236
Median age	36.2 yrs	44.8 yrs
Median household income	$57,146	$60,183
Median home value	$109,500	$118,800
Median gross rent	$663	$686
Housing units	3,651	3,506
Homeownership rate	68.0%	83.1%
Bachelor's degree or higher	24.3%	19.4%
Unemployment rate	3.2%	4.2%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Decatur County	Van Buren County
Population	7,979 → 7,669 (-3.9%)	7,150 → 7,236 (+1.2%)
Median household income	$44,462 → $57,146 (+28.5%)	$48,591 → $60,183 (+23.9%)
Median home value	$83,200 → $109,500 (+31.6%)	$92,800 → $118,800 (+28.0%)
Median gross rent	$567 → $663 (+16.9%)	$571 → $686 (+20.1%)

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

Van Buren County

Population

7,1507,236

Median household income

$48,591$60,183

Median home value

$92,800$118,800

Median gross rent

$571$686

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Decatur County	Van Buren County
Under 5	6.0%	6.4%
5 to 17	16.6%	16.8%
18 to 24	15.3%	6.8%
25 to 34	10.7%	9.7%
35 to 44	9.3%	10.8%
45 to 54	9.3%	11.3%
55 to 64	12.1%	15.0%
65 to 74	11.5%	13.8%
75 and over	9.3%	9.5%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Decatur County	Van Buren County
White (non-Hispanic)	90.9%	94.6%
Black or African American	1.6%	0.2%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.3%	0.0%
Asian	0.5%	0.2%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.0%	0.0%
Some other race	0.5%	0.9%
Two or more races	2.9%	2.4%
Hispanic or Latino	3.3%	1.7%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Decatur County	Van Buren County
No high school diploma	11.0%	10.7%
High school graduate	37.5%	36.7%
Some college or associate's	27.2%	33.2%
Bachelor's degree	14.2%	13.5%
Graduate or professional degree	10.1%	5.9%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Decatur County	Van Buren County
Drove alone	75.7%	73.3%
Carpooled	10.2%	10.9%
Public transit	0.0%	0.3%
Walked	5.8%	3.7%
Bicycle	0.0%	0.3%
Worked from home	7.9%	10.7%
Other means	0.4%	0.9%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Decatur County	Van Buren County
1-unit, detached	77.6%	84.5%
1-unit, attached	0.9%	0.7%
2 to 4 units	7.2%	5.4%
5 to 19 units	2.9%	0.8%
20 or more units	4.1%	0.1%
Mobile home & other	7.2%	8.6%

Poverty & households

	Decatur County	Van Buren County
Poverty rate	15.2%	12.2%
Average household size	2.32	2.47
Mean commute (minutes)	23	23
Median year structure built	1968	1971