Emmet County vs Palo Alto County

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

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

Emmet County has the higher population (9,316 vs 8,902 in Palo Alto County). Palo Alto County has the higher median household income ($68,963 vs $65,181 in Emmet County). Palo Alto County has the higher median home value ($119,300 vs $106,200 in Emmet County).

Population, income & housing

	Emmet County	Palo Alto County
Population	9,316	8,902
Median age	43.3 yrs	41.5 yrs
Median household income	$65,181	$68,963
Median home value	$106,200	$119,300
Median gross rent	$731	$599
Housing units	4,517	4,517
Homeownership rate	77.7%	75.7%
Bachelor's degree or higher	15.7%	20.5%
Unemployment rate	2.0%	2.7%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Emmet County	Palo Alto County
Population	9,438 → 9,316 (-1.3%)	9,003 → 8,902 (-1.1%)
Median household income	$51,563 → $65,181 (+26.4%)	$52,932 → $68,963 (+30.3%)
Median home value	$89,300 → $106,200 (+18.9%)	$102,200 → $119,300 (+16.7%)
Median gross rent	$694 → $731 (+5.3%)	$580 → $599 (+3.3%)

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

Palo Alto County

Population

9,0038,902

Median household income

$52,932$68,963

Median home value

$102,200$119,300

Median gross rent

$580$599

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Emmet County	Palo Alto County
Under 5	4.3%	6.1%
5 to 17	15.2%	17.3%
18 to 24	9.7%	8.3%
25 to 34	10.3%	10.7%
35 to 44	11.4%	11.7%
45 to 54	10.8%	10.1%
55 to 64	14.7%	13.8%
65 to 74	13.8%	12.0%
75 and over	9.7%	9.9%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Emmet County	Palo Alto County
White (non-Hispanic)	85.6%	91.6%
Black or African American	2.0%	1.7%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.2%	0.1%
Asian	0.2%	0.6%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.0%	0.0%
Some other race	0.3%	0.0%
Two or more races	1.9%	2.7%
Hispanic or Latino	9.9%	3.3%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Emmet County	Palo Alto County
No high school diploma	12.3%	6.1%
High school graduate	34.5%	32.3%
Some college or associate's	37.6%	41.1%
Bachelor's degree	11.3%	15.5%
Graduate or professional degree	4.3%	5.0%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Emmet County	Palo Alto County
Drove alone	76.9%	77.1%
Carpooled	8.1%	10.0%
Public transit	0.0%	0.6%
Walked	5.7%	4.3%
Bicycle	0.6%	0.7%
Worked from home	6.9%	6.2%
Other means	1.9%	1.1%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Emmet County	Palo Alto County
1-unit, detached	84.0%	84.1%
1-unit, attached	1.8%	0.9%
2 to 4 units	5.4%	5.5%
5 to 19 units	4.2%	5.4%
20 or more units	1.5%	2.1%
Mobile home & other	3.1%	2.1%

Poverty & households

	Emmet County	Palo Alto County
Poverty rate	10.4%	11.7%
Average household size	2.22	2.29
Mean commute (minutes)	22	18
Median year structure built	1955	1957