Howard County vs Humboldt County

A side-by-side comparison of Howard County and Humboldt County: population, income, housing, and more.

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

Humboldt County has the higher population (9,573 vs 9,459 in Howard County). Howard County has the higher median household income ($67,336 vs $66,994 in Humboldt County). Humboldt County has the higher median home value ($146,900 vs $133,900 in Howard County).

Population, income & housing

	Howard County	Humboldt County
Population	9,459	9,573
Median age	39.3 yrs	41.8 yrs
Median household income	$67,336	$66,994
Median home value	$133,900	$146,900
Median gross rent	$699	$731
Housing units	4,314	4,600
Homeownership rate	76.6%	75.0%
Bachelor's degree or higher	18.7%	19.3%
Unemployment rate	1.6%	3.1%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Howard County	Humboldt County
Population	9,226 → 9,459 (+2.5%)	9,554 → 9,573 (+0.2%)
Median household income	$55,060 → $67,336 (+22.3%)	$54,575 → $66,994 (+22.8%)
Median home value	$107,100 → $133,900 (+25.0%)	$103,800 → $146,900 (+41.5%)
Median gross rent	$622 → $699 (+12.4%)	$568 → $731 (+28.7%)

Howard County

Population

9,2269,459

Median household income

$55,060$67,336

Median home value

$107,100$133,900

Median gross rent

$622$699

Humboldt County

Population

9,5549,573

Median household income

$54,575$66,994

Median home value

$103,800$146,900

Median gross rent

$568$731

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Howard County	Humboldt County
Under 5	6.6%	5.8%
5 to 17	18.9%	17.8%
18 to 24	7.3%	6.9%
25 to 34	10.3%	11.0%
35 to 44	12.2%	12.4%
45 to 54	10.3%	10.3%
55 to 64	14.1%	14.4%
65 to 74	11.2%	11.7%
75 and over	9.1%	9.7%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Howard County	Humboldt County
White (non-Hispanic)	93.6%	91.1%
Black or African American	0.1%	0.3%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.3%	0.1%
Asian	0.4%	0.8%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.0%	0.8%
Some other race	0.1%	0.2%
Two or more races	2.6%	1.6%
Hispanic or Latino	3.0%	5.1%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Howard County	Humboldt County
No high school diploma	8.2%	6.4%
High school graduate	41.0%	35.4%
Some college or associate's	32.1%	38.9%
Bachelor's degree	14.9%	14.8%
Graduate or professional degree	3.8%	4.5%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Howard County	Humboldt County
Drove alone	76.0%	76.8%
Carpooled	7.9%	8.3%
Public transit	0.0%	0.2%
Walked	3.7%	2.1%
Bicycle	0.3%	0.0%
Worked from home	10.6%	11.0%
Other means	1.5%	1.6%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Howard County	Humboldt County
1-unit, detached	90.8%	83.9%
1-unit, attached	1.7%	0.3%
2 to 4 units	3.5%	5.0%
5 to 19 units	2.5%	8.6%
20 or more units	0.4%	0.6%
Mobile home & other	1.0%	1.6%

Poverty & households

	Howard County	Humboldt County
Poverty rate	8.4%	13.7%
Average household size	2.52	2.23
Mean commute (minutes)	22	19
Median year structure built	1954	1958