Fayette County vs Jackson County

A side-by-side comparison of Fayette County and Jackson County: population, income, housing, and more.

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

Jackson County has the higher population (19,429 vs 19,393 in Fayette County). Jackson County has the higher median household income ($71,605 vs $58,764 in Fayette County). Jackson County has the higher median home value ($170,000 vs $130,800 in Fayette County).

Population, income & housing

	Fayette County	Jackson County
Population	19,393	19,429
Median age	43.7 yrs	44.2 yrs
Median household income	$58,764	$71,605
Median home value	$130,800	$170,000
Median gross rent	$813	$800
Housing units	9,324	9,272
Homeownership rate	77.0%	78.6%
Bachelor's degree or higher	18.2%	18.4%
Unemployment rate	3.8%	4.7%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Fayette County	Jackson County
Population	19,803 → 19,393 (-2.1%)	19,401 → 19,429 (+0.1%)
Median household income	$51,128 → $58,764 (+14.9%)	$55,967 → $71,605 (+27.9%)
Median home value	$104,100 → $130,800 (+25.6%)	$128,200 → $170,000 (+32.6%)
Median gross rent	$612 → $813 (+32.8%)	$624 → $800 (+28.2%)

Fayette County

Population

19,80319,393

Median household income

$51,128$58,764

Median home value

$104,100$130,800

Median gross rent

$612$813

Jackson County

Population

19,40119,429

Median household income

$55,967$71,605

Median home value

$128,200$170,000

Median gross rent

$624$800

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Fayette County	Jackson County
Under 5	5.8%	5.7%
5 to 17	15.6%	16.5%
18 to 24	8.7%	6.9%
25 to 34	10.8%	10.2%
35 to 44	10.6%	11.2%
45 to 54	10.7%	11.7%
55 to 64	15.7%	16.1%
65 to 74	12.1%	12.7%
75 and over	10.0%	9.0%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Fayette County	Jackson County
White (non-Hispanic)	91.2%	94.6%
Black or African American	0.8%	0.8%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.5%	0.2%
Asian	0.7%	0.4%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.0%	0.2%
Some other race	0.1%	0.4%
Two or more races	3.8%	2.0%
Hispanic or Latino	2.9%	1.5%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Fayette County	Jackson County
No high school diploma	6.6%	6.2%
High school graduate	43.6%	41.6%
Some college or associate's	31.7%	33.9%
Bachelor's degree	12.7%	13.8%
Graduate or professional degree	5.5%	4.5%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Fayette County	Jackson County
Drove alone	79.3%	81.7%
Carpooled	7.9%	5.6%
Public transit	0.1%	0.1%
Walked	3.4%	2.2%
Bicycle	0.3%	0.4%
Worked from home	8.2%	9.6%
Other means	0.9%	0.5%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Fayette County	Jackson County
1-unit, detached	85.4%	82.1%
1-unit, attached	0.9%	2.3%
2 to 4 units	5.1%	4.3%
5 to 19 units	3.1%	3.1%
20 or more units	0.8%	1.1%
Mobile home & other	4.7%	7.1%

Poverty & households

	Fayette County	Jackson County
Poverty rate	12.5%	10.3%
Average household size	2.28	2.31
Mean commute (minutes)	22	25
Median year structure built	1953	1967