Delaware County vs Madison County

A side-by-side comparison of Delaware County and Madison County: population, income, housing, and more.

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

Delaware County has the higher population (17,549 vs 16,760 in Madison County). Madison County has the higher median household income ($89,542 vs $76,205 in Delaware County). Madison County has the higher median home value ($236,900 vs $168,700 in Delaware County).

Population, income & housing

	Delaware County	Madison County
Population	17,549	16,760
Median age	44.0 yrs	41.0 yrs
Median household income	$76,205	$89,542
Median home value	$168,700	$236,900
Median gross rent	$743	$938
Housing units	8,142	7,031
Homeownership rate	82.4%	81.3%
Bachelor's degree or higher	19.7%	25.5%
Unemployment rate	2.1%	2.7%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Delaware County	Madison County
Population	17,183 → 17,549 (+2.1%)	16,012 → 16,760 (+4.7%)
Median household income	$63,750 → $76,205 (+19.5%)	$66,316 → $89,542 (+35.0%)
Median home value	$136,100 → $168,700 (+24.0%)	$177,500 → $236,900 (+33.5%)
Median gross rent	$621 → $743 (+19.6%)	$789 → $938 (+18.9%)

Delaware County

Population

17,18317,549

Median household income

$63,750$76,205

Median home value

$136,100$168,700

Median gross rent

$621$743

Madison County

Population

16,01216,760

Median household income

$66,316$89,542

Median home value

$177,500$236,900

Median gross rent

$789$938

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Delaware County	Madison County
Under 5	5.7%	5.3%
5 to 17	17.7%	19.6%
18 to 24	7.2%	7.0%
25 to 34	9.4%	9.6%
35 to 44	11.3%	13.3%
45 to 54	11.4%	13.4%
55 to 64	16.3%	13.7%
65 to 74	11.9%	11.4%
75 and over	9.0%	6.7%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Delaware County	Madison County
White (non-Hispanic)	95.1%	94.3%
Black or African American	0.0%	0.8%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.1%	0.0%
Asian	0.1%	0.3%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.0%	0.1%
Some other race	0.3%	0.1%
Two or more races	2.8%	2.2%
Hispanic or Latino	1.6%	2.2%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Delaware County	Madison County
No high school diploma	7.8%	4.7%
High school graduate	43.6%	33.7%
Some college or associate's	28.9%	36.1%
Bachelor's degree	13.8%	19.3%
Graduate or professional degree	6.0%	6.2%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Delaware County	Madison County
Drove alone	81.3%	75.7%
Carpooled	6.7%	5.6%
Public transit	0.5%	0.1%
Walked	1.9%	3.3%
Bicycle	0.0%	0.0%
Worked from home	8.4%	14.8%
Other means	1.2%	0.5%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Delaware County	Madison County
1-unit, detached	86.8%	84.6%
1-unit, attached	1.2%	3.0%
2 to 4 units	5.0%	4.5%
5 to 19 units	1.4%	2.0%
20 or more units	2.8%	1.8%
Mobile home & other	2.8%	4.0%

Poverty & households

	Delaware County	Madison County
Poverty rate	7.9%	6.8%
Average household size	2.41	2.50
Mean commute (minutes)	19	27
Median year structure built	1965	1977