Fayette County vs Poweshiek County

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

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

Fayette County has the higher population (19,393 vs 18,582 in Poweshiek County). Poweshiek County has the higher median household income ($64,837 vs $58,764 in Fayette County). Poweshiek County has the higher median home value ($184,200 vs $130,800 in Fayette County).

Population, income & housing

	Fayette County	Poweshiek County
Population	19,393	18,582
Median age	43.7 yrs	40.8 yrs
Median household income	$58,764	$64,837
Median home value	$130,800	$184,200
Median gross rent	$813	$864
Housing units	9,324	8,946
Homeownership rate	77.0%	70.7%
Bachelor's degree or higher	18.2%	28.2%
Unemployment rate	3.8%	4.9%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Fayette County	Poweshiek County
Population	19,803 → 19,393 (-2.1%)	18,388 → 18,582 (+1.1%)
Median household income	$51,128 → $58,764 (+14.9%)	$53,852 → $64,837 (+20.4%)
Median home value	$104,100 → $130,800 (+25.6%)	$141,100 → $184,200 (+30.5%)
Median gross rent	$612 → $813 (+32.8%)	$719 → $864 (+20.2%)

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

Poweshiek County

Population

18,38818,582

Median household income

$53,852$64,837

Median home value

$141,100$184,200

Median gross rent

$719$864

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Fayette County	Poweshiek County
Under 5	5.8%	4.4%
5 to 17	15.6%	15.1%
18 to 24	8.7%	15.0%
25 to 34	10.8%	9.7%
35 to 44	10.6%	10.5%
45 to 54	10.7%	11.1%
55 to 64	15.7%	13.3%
65 to 74	12.1%	11.4%
75 and over	10.0%	9.6%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Fayette County	Poweshiek County
White (non-Hispanic)	91.2%	90.7%
Black or African American	0.8%	1.1%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.5%	0.2%
Asian	0.7%	2.1%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.0%	0.0%
Some other race	0.1%	0.0%
Two or more races	3.8%	2.5%
Hispanic or Latino	2.9%	3.3%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Fayette County	Poweshiek County
No high school diploma	6.6%	5.4%
High school graduate	43.6%	39.0%
Some college or associate's	31.7%	27.4%
Bachelor's degree	12.7%	16.6%
Graduate or professional degree	5.5%	11.6%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Fayette County	Poweshiek County
Drove alone	79.3%	71.2%
Carpooled	7.9%	4.6%
Public transit	0.1%	0.0%
Walked	3.4%	10.7%
Bicycle	0.3%	2.1%
Worked from home	8.2%	10.9%
Other means	0.9%	0.5%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Fayette County	Poweshiek County
1-unit, detached	85.4%	76.5%
1-unit, attached	0.9%	3.7%
2 to 4 units	5.1%	6.8%
5 to 19 units	3.1%	5.1%
20 or more units	0.8%	2.9%
Mobile home & other	4.7%	5.0%

Poverty & households

	Fayette County	Poweshiek County
Poverty rate	12.5%	11.1%
Average household size	2.28	2.18
Mean commute (minutes)	22	19
Median year structure built	1953	1970