Lee County vs Marion County

A side-by-side comparison of Lee County and Marion County: population, income, housing, and more.

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

Marion County has the higher population (33,551 vs 33,175 in Lee County). Marion County has the higher median household income ($78,059 vs $59,803 in Lee County). Marion County has the higher median home value ($211,100 vs $123,600 in Lee County).

Population, income & housing

	Lee County	Marion County
Population	33,175	33,551
Median age	43.7 yrs	39.7 yrs
Median household income	$59,803	$78,059
Median home value	$123,600	$211,100
Median gross rent	$814	$880
Housing units	15,808	14,268
Homeownership rate	75.5%	77.7%
Bachelor's degree or higher	21.0%	33.1%
Unemployment rate	4.0%	1.9%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Lee County	Marion County
Population	34,227 → 33,175 (-3.1%)	33,172 → 33,551 (+1.1%)
Median household income	$49,564 → $59,803 (+20.7%)	$61,038 → $78,059 (+27.9%)
Median home value	$94,500 → $123,600 (+30.8%)	$157,300 → $211,100 (+34.2%)
Median gross rent	$670 → $814 (+21.5%)	$721 → $880 (+22.1%)

Lee County

Population

34,22733,175

Median household income

$49,564$59,803

Median home value

$94,500$123,600

Median gross rent

$670$814

Marion County

Population

33,17233,551

Median household income

$61,038$78,059

Median home value

$157,300$211,100

Median gross rent

$721$880

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Lee County	Marion County
Under 5	5.5%	5.6%
5 to 17	15.8%	17.7%
18 to 24	7.1%	10.0%
25 to 34	11.7%	10.4%
35 to 44	11.8%	12.2%
45 to 54	11.5%	11.5%
55 to 64	14.9%	13.5%
65 to 74	13.0%	10.4%
75 and over	8.7%	8.5%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Lee County	Marion County
White (non-Hispanic)	90.5%	93.6%
Black or African American	2.7%	0.5%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.1%	0.1%
Asian	0.4%	1.3%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.0%	0.0%
Some other race	0.1%	0.1%
Two or more races	2.8%	2.1%
Hispanic or Latino	3.4%	2.2%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Lee County	Marion County
No high school diploma	5.8%	5.4%
High school graduate	37.6%	32.7%
Some college or associate's	35.5%	28.8%
Bachelor's degree	15.6%	23.0%
Graduate or professional degree	5.4%	10.1%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Lee County	Marion County
Drove alone	81.8%	79.1%
Carpooled	8.8%	5.8%
Public transit	0.2%	0.2%
Walked	1.8%	3.7%
Bicycle	0.7%	0.3%
Worked from home	5.6%	9.7%
Other means	1.1%	1.1%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Lee County	Marion County
1-unit, detached	79.2%	78.1%
1-unit, attached	1.7%	3.0%
2 to 4 units	6.4%	5.1%
5 to 19 units	2.2%	6.8%
20 or more units	6.2%	2.5%
Mobile home & other	4.4%	4.4%

Poverty & households

	Lee County	Marion County
Poverty rate	13.0%	7.1%
Average household size	2.24	2.38
Mean commute (minutes)	20	20
Median year structure built	1959	1975