Emmet County vs Howard County

A side-by-side comparison of Emmet County and Howard County: population, income, housing, and more.

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

Howard County has the higher population (9,459 vs 9,316 in Emmet County). Howard County has the higher median household income ($67,336 vs $65,181 in Emmet County). Howard County has the higher median home value ($133,900 vs $106,200 in Emmet County).

Population, income & housing

	Emmet County	Howard County
Population	9,316	9,459
Median age	43.3 yrs	39.3 yrs
Median household income	$65,181	$67,336
Median home value	$106,200	$133,900
Median gross rent	$731	$699
Housing units	4,517	4,314
Homeownership rate	77.7%	76.6%
Bachelor's degree or higher	15.7%	18.7%
Unemployment rate	2.0%	1.6%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Emmet County	Howard County
Population	9,438 → 9,316 (-1.3%)	9,226 → 9,459 (+2.5%)
Median household income	$51,563 → $65,181 (+26.4%)	$55,060 → $67,336 (+22.3%)
Median home value	$89,300 → $106,200 (+18.9%)	$107,100 → $133,900 (+25.0%)
Median gross rent	$694 → $731 (+5.3%)	$622 → $699 (+12.4%)

Emmet County

Population

9,4389,316

Median household income

$51,563$65,181

Median home value

$89,300$106,200

Median gross rent

$694$731

Howard County

Population

9,2269,459

Median household income

$55,060$67,336

Median home value

$107,100$133,900

Median gross rent

$622$699

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Emmet County	Howard County
Under 5	4.3%	6.6%
5 to 17	15.2%	18.9%
18 to 24	9.7%	7.3%
25 to 34	10.3%	10.3%
35 to 44	11.4%	12.2%
45 to 54	10.8%	10.3%
55 to 64	14.7%	14.1%
65 to 74	13.8%	11.2%
75 and over	9.7%	9.1%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Emmet County	Howard County
White (non-Hispanic)	85.6%	93.6%
Black or African American	2.0%	0.1%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.2%	0.3%
Asian	0.2%	0.4%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.0%	0.0%
Some other race	0.3%	0.1%
Two or more races	1.9%	2.6%
Hispanic or Latino	9.9%	3.0%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Emmet County	Howard County
No high school diploma	12.3%	8.2%
High school graduate	34.5%	41.0%
Some college or associate's	37.6%	32.1%
Bachelor's degree	11.3%	14.9%
Graduate or professional degree	4.3%	3.8%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Emmet County	Howard County
Drove alone	76.9%	76.0%
Carpooled	8.1%	7.9%
Public transit	0.0%	0.0%
Walked	5.7%	3.7%
Bicycle	0.6%	0.3%
Worked from home	6.9%	10.6%
Other means	1.9%	1.5%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Emmet County	Howard County
1-unit, detached	84.0%	90.8%
1-unit, attached	1.8%	1.7%
2 to 4 units	5.4%	3.5%
5 to 19 units	4.2%	2.5%
20 or more units	1.5%	0.4%
Mobile home & other	3.1%	1.0%

Poverty & households

	Emmet County	Howard County
Poverty rate	10.4%	8.4%
Average household size	2.22	2.52
Mean commute (minutes)	22	22
Median year structure built	1955	1954