Howard County vs Sac County

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

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

Sac County has the higher population (9,759 vs 9,459 in Howard County). Sac County has the higher median household income ($70,991 vs $67,336 in Howard County). Sac County has the higher median home value ($138,400 vs $133,900 in Howard County).

Population, income & housing

	Howard County	Sac County
Population	9,459	9,759
Median age	39.3 yrs	45.3 yrs
Median household income	$67,336	$70,991
Median home value	$133,900	$138,400
Median gross rent	$699	$643
Housing units	4,314	5,122
Homeownership rate	76.6%	78.0%
Bachelor's degree or higher	18.7%	21.2%
Unemployment rate	1.6%	3.4%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Howard County	Sac County
Population	9,226 → 9,459 (+2.5%)	9,802 → 9,759 (-0.4%)
Median household income	$55,060 → $67,336 (+22.3%)	$58,232 → $70,991 (+21.9%)
Median home value	$107,100 → $133,900 (+25.0%)	$95,800 → $138,400 (+44.5%)
Median gross rent	$622 → $699 (+12.4%)	$625 → $643 (+2.9%)

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

Sac County

Population

9,8029,759

Median household income

$58,232$70,991

Median home value

$95,800$138,400

Median gross rent

$625$643

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Howard County	Sac County
Under 5	6.6%	6.0%
5 to 17	18.9%	16.2%
18 to 24	7.3%	6.9%
25 to 34	10.3%	10.2%
35 to 44	12.2%	10.4%
45 to 54	10.3%	11.1%
55 to 64	14.1%	15.2%
65 to 74	11.2%	13.5%
75 and over	9.1%	10.4%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Howard County	Sac County
White (non-Hispanic)	93.6%	93.1%
Black or African American	0.1%	0.5%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.3%	0.0%
Asian	0.4%	0.7%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.0%	0.5%
Some other race	0.1%	0.4%
Two or more races	2.6%	0.8%
Hispanic or Latino	3.0%	4.1%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Howard County	Sac County
No high school diploma	8.2%	7.8%
High school graduate	41.0%	33.1%
Some college or associate's	32.1%	37.9%
Bachelor's degree	14.9%	16.0%
Graduate or professional degree	3.8%	5.2%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Howard County	Sac County
Drove alone	76.0%	86.7%
Carpooled	7.9%	4.3%
Public transit	0.0%	0.4%
Walked	3.7%	3.4%
Bicycle	0.3%	0.2%
Worked from home	10.6%	4.5%
Other means	1.5%	0.6%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Howard County	Sac County
1-unit, detached	90.8%	85.7%
1-unit, attached	1.7%	1.8%
2 to 4 units	3.5%	5.2%
5 to 19 units	2.5%	2.7%
20 or more units	0.4%	1.6%
Mobile home & other	1.0%	3.1%

Poverty & households

	Howard County	Sac County
Poverty rate	8.4%	7.9%
Average household size	2.52	2.25
Mean commute (minutes)	22	20
Median year structure built	1954	1955