Hardin County vs Madison County

A side-by-side comparison of Hardin County and Madison County: population, income, housing, and more.

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

Madison County has the higher population (16,760 vs 16,729 in Hardin County). Madison County has the higher median household income ($89,542 vs $64,906 in Hardin County). Madison County has the higher median home value ($236,900 vs $113,000 in Hardin County).

Population, income & housing

	Hardin County	Madison County
Population	16,729	16,760
Median age	45.2 yrs	41.0 yrs
Median household income	$64,906	$89,542
Median home value	$113,000	$236,900
Median gross rent	$814	$938
Housing units	8,028	7,031
Homeownership rate	73.3%	81.3%
Bachelor's degree or higher	21.2%	25.5%
Unemployment rate	3.7%	2.7%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Hardin County	Madison County
Population	17,061 → 16,729 (-1.9%)	16,012 → 16,760 (+4.7%)
Median household income	$54,196 → $64,906 (+19.8%)	$66,316 → $89,542 (+35.0%)
Median home value	$94,300 → $113,000 (+19.8%)	$177,500 → $236,900 (+33.5%)
Median gross rent	$639 → $814 (+27.4%)	$789 → $938 (+18.9%)

Hardin County

Population

17,06116,729

Median household income

$54,196$64,906

Median home value

$94,300$113,000

Median gross rent

$639$814

Madison County

Population

16,01216,760

Median household income

$66,316$89,542

Median home value

$177,500$236,900

Median gross rent

$789$938

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Hardin County	Madison County
Under 5	4.6%	5.3%
5 to 17	14.7%	19.6%
18 to 24	7.8%	7.0%
25 to 34	10.3%	9.6%
35 to 44	12.5%	13.3%
45 to 54	11.7%	13.4%
55 to 64	15.5%	13.7%
65 to 74	12.7%	11.4%
75 and over	10.3%	6.7%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Hardin County	Madison County
White (non-Hispanic)	90.7%	94.3%
Black or African American	1.0%	0.8%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.3%	0.0%
Asian	0.9%	0.3%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.0%	0.1%
Some other race	0.2%	0.1%
Two or more races	1.9%	2.2%
Hispanic or Latino	5.1%	2.2%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Hardin County	Madison County
No high school diploma	6.3%	4.7%
High school graduate	33.6%	33.7%
Some college or associate's	38.9%	36.1%
Bachelor's degree	15.5%	19.3%
Graduate or professional degree	5.7%	6.2%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Hardin County	Madison County
Drove alone	79.0%	75.7%
Carpooled	5.2%	5.6%
Public transit	0.5%	0.1%
Walked	5.0%	3.3%
Bicycle	0.2%	0.0%
Worked from home	8.4%	14.8%
Other means	1.8%	0.5%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Hardin County	Madison County
1-unit, detached	84.5%	84.6%
1-unit, attached	1.1%	3.0%
2 to 4 units	8.1%	4.5%
5 to 19 units	3.6%	2.0%
20 or more units	0.7%	1.8%
Mobile home & other	2.1%	4.0%

Poverty & households

	Hardin County	Madison County
Poverty rate	8.6%	6.8%
Average household size	2.29	2.50
Mean commute (minutes)	21	27
Median year structure built	1954	1977