Hamilton County vs Mills County

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

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

Hamilton County has the higher population (14,893 vs 14,563 in Mills County). Mills County has the higher median household income ($87,810 vs $71,750 in Hamilton County). Mills County has the higher median home value ($228,700 vs $132,300 in Hamilton County).

Population, income & housing

	Hamilton County	Mills County
Population	14,893	14,563
Median age	42.2 yrs	42.6 yrs
Median household income	$71,750	$87,810
Median home value	$132,300	$228,700
Median gross rent	$853	$888
Housing units	7,056	6,119
Homeownership rate	73.8%	84.2%
Bachelor's degree or higher	22.0%	32.0%
Unemployment rate	3.9%	2.8%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Hamilton County	Mills County
Population	14,997 → 14,893 (-0.7%)	15,034 → 14,563 (-3.1%)
Median household income	$60,910 → $71,750 (+17.8%)	$72,079 → $87,810 (+21.8%)
Median home value	$106,100 → $132,300 (+24.7%)	$168,900 → $228,700 (+35.4%)
Median gross rent	$709 → $853 (+20.3%)	$826 → $888 (+7.5%)

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

Mills County

Population

15,03414,563

Median household income

$72,079$87,810

Median home value

$168,900$228,700

Median gross rent

$826$888

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Hamilton County	Mills County
Under 5	5.0%	4.8%
5 to 17	18.4%	18.3%
18 to 24	6.4%	6.8%
25 to 34	10.6%	11.3%
35 to 44	13.3%	12.0%
45 to 54	11.1%	12.6%
55 to 64	14.0%	14.4%
65 to 74	11.6%	12.3%
75 and over	9.7%	7.6%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Hamilton County	Mills County
White (non-Hispanic)	84.2%	93.3%
Black or African American	1.2%	0.4%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.0%	0.1%
Asian	1.9%	0.4%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.2%	0.0%
Some other race	0.3%	0.1%
Two or more races	2.5%	2.1%
Hispanic or Latino	9.7%	3.6%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Hamilton County	Mills County
No high school diploma	7.4%	4.4%
High school graduate	31.9%	27.4%
Some college or associate's	38.7%	36.2%
Bachelor's degree	16.1%	22.3%
Graduate or professional degree	5.9%	9.8%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Hamilton County	Mills County
Drove alone	83.9%	76.9%
Carpooled	5.6%	8.4%
Public transit	0.1%	0.0%
Walked	3.4%	5.0%
Bicycle	0.1%	0.1%
Worked from home	6.4%	9.5%
Other means	0.5%	0.2%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Hamilton County	Mills County
1-unit, detached	80.0%	84.3%
1-unit, attached	1.7%	1.8%
2 to 4 units	4.8%	7.2%
5 to 19 units	7.5%	1.9%
20 or more units	3.9%	1.4%
Mobile home & other	2.1%	3.4%

Poverty & households

	Hamilton County	Mills County
Poverty rate	8.0%	6.9%
Average household size	2.33	2.64
Mean commute (minutes)	22	25
Median year structure built	1955	1973