Hamilton County vs Jefferson County

A side-by-side comparison of Hamilton County and Jefferson County: population, income, housing, and more.

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

Jefferson County has the higher population (15,676 vs 14,893 in Hamilton County). Hamilton County has the higher median household income ($71,750 vs $56,824 in Jefferson County). Jefferson County has the higher median home value ($161,200 vs $132,300 in Hamilton County).

Population, income & housing

	Hamilton County	Jefferson County
Population	14,893	15,676
Median age	42.2 yrs	43.5 yrs
Median household income	$71,750	$56,824
Median home value	$132,300	$161,200
Median gross rent	$853	$881
Housing units	7,056	7,707
Homeownership rate	73.8%	65.1%
Bachelor's degree or higher	22.0%	41.6%
Unemployment rate	3.9%	5.3%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Hamilton County	Jefferson County
Population	14,997 → 14,893 (-0.7%)	18,148 → 15,676 (-13.6%)
Median household income	$60,910 → $71,750 (+17.8%)	$47,708 → $56,824 (+19.1%)
Median home value	$106,100 → $132,300 (+24.7%)	$118,300 → $161,200 (+36.3%)
Median gross rent	$709 → $853 (+20.3%)	$685 → $881 (+28.6%)

Hamilton County

Population

14,99714,893

Median household income

$60,910$71,750

Median home value

$106,100$132,300

Median gross rent

$709$853

Jefferson County

Population

18,14815,676

Median household income

$47,708$56,824

Median home value

$118,300$161,200

Median gross rent

$685$881

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Hamilton County	Jefferson County
Under 5	5.0%	4.7%
5 to 17	18.4%	12.4%
18 to 24	6.4%	7.8%
25 to 34	10.6%	15.1%
35 to 44	13.3%	11.6%
45 to 54	11.1%	10.1%
55 to 64	14.0%	12.6%
65 to 74	11.6%	16.8%
75 and over	9.7%	9.0%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Hamilton County	Jefferson County
White (non-Hispanic)	84.2%	82.7%
Black or African American	1.2%	5.7%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.0%	0.0%
Asian	1.9%	4.6%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.2%	0.0%
Some other race	0.3%	0.5%
Two or more races	2.5%	2.4%
Hispanic or Latino	9.7%	4.0%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Hamilton County	Jefferson County
No high school diploma	7.4%	4.6%
High school graduate	31.9%	23.6%
Some college or associate's	38.7%	30.1%
Bachelor's degree	16.1%	23.3%
Graduate or professional degree	5.9%	18.3%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Hamilton County	Jefferson County
Drove alone	83.9%	67.8%
Carpooled	5.6%	6.7%
Public transit	0.1%	0.6%
Walked	3.4%	3.6%
Bicycle	0.1%	0.2%
Worked from home	6.4%	18.2%
Other means	0.5%	2.9%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Hamilton County	Jefferson County
1-unit, detached	80.0%	69.7%
1-unit, attached	1.7%	3.6%
2 to 4 units	4.8%	11.7%
5 to 19 units	7.5%	4.6%
20 or more units	3.9%	1.8%
Mobile home & other	2.1%	8.5%

Poverty & households

	Hamilton County	Jefferson County
Poverty rate	8.0%	14.6%
Average household size	2.33	2.14
Mean commute (minutes)	22	15
Median year structure built	1955	1967