Ida County vs Van Buren County

A side-by-side comparison of Ida County and Van Buren County: population, income, housing, and more.

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

Van Buren County has the higher population (7,236 vs 6,944 in Ida County). Ida County has the higher median household income ($62,841 vs $60,183 in Van Buren County). Van Buren County has the higher median home value ($118,800 vs $108,800 in Ida County).

Population, income & housing

	Ida County	Van Buren County
Population	6,944	7,236
Median age	42.3 yrs	44.8 yrs
Median household income	$62,841	$60,183
Median home value	$108,800	$118,800
Median gross rent	$669	$686
Housing units	3,365	3,506
Homeownership rate	77.6%	83.1%
Bachelor's degree or higher	20.7%	19.4%
Unemployment rate	1.9%	4.2%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Ida County	Van Buren County
Population	6,901 → 6,944 (+0.6%)	7,150 → 7,236 (+1.2%)
Median household income	$58,427 → $62,841 (+7.6%)	$48,591 → $60,183 (+23.9%)
Median home value	$100,900 → $108,800 (+7.8%)	$92,800 → $118,800 (+28.0%)
Median gross rent	$532 → $669 (+25.8%)	$571 → $686 (+20.1%)

Ida County

Population

6,9016,944

Median household income

$58,427$62,841

Median home value

$100,900$108,800

Median gross rent

$532$669

Van Buren County

Population

7,1507,236

Median household income

$48,591$60,183

Median home value

$92,800$118,800

Median gross rent

$571$686

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Ida County	Van Buren County
Under 5	5.5%	6.4%
5 to 17	19.0%	16.8%
18 to 24	7.6%	6.8%
25 to 34	9.3%	9.7%
35 to 44	11.8%	10.8%
45 to 54	10.0%	11.3%
55 to 64	14.7%	15.0%
65 to 74	12.2%	13.8%
75 and over	9.9%	9.5%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Ida County	Van Buren County
White (non-Hispanic)	92.2%	94.6%
Black or African American	0.8%	0.2%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.1%	0.0%
Asian	0.4%	0.2%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.0%	0.0%
Some other race	0.3%	0.9%
Two or more races	2.3%	2.4%
Hispanic or Latino	3.9%	1.7%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Ida County	Van Buren County
No high school diploma	6.6%	10.7%
High school graduate	38.2%	36.7%
Some college or associate's	34.5%	33.2%
Bachelor's degree	16.2%	13.5%
Graduate or professional degree	4.5%	5.9%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Ida County	Van Buren County
Drove alone	81.3%	73.3%
Carpooled	5.8%	10.9%
Public transit	0.0%	0.3%
Walked	2.7%	3.7%
Bicycle	0.1%	0.3%
Worked from home	9.7%	10.7%
Other means	0.4%	0.9%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Ida County	Van Buren County
1-unit, detached	85.9%	84.5%
1-unit, attached	2.0%	0.7%
2 to 4 units	4.7%	5.4%
5 to 19 units	4.0%	0.8%
20 or more units	2.1%	0.1%
Mobile home & other	1.3%	8.6%

Poverty & households

	Ida County	Van Buren County
Poverty rate	10.4%	12.2%
Average household size	2.27	2.47
Mean commute (minutes)	17	23
Median year structure built	1952	1971