Linn County vs Polk County

A side-by-side comparison of Linn County and Polk County: population, income, housing, and more.

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

Polk County has the higher population (497,441 vs 229,463 in Linn County). Polk County has the higher median household income ($81,621 vs $76,421 in Linn County). Polk County has the higher median home value ($248,400 vs $204,400 in Linn County).

Population, income & housing

	Linn County	Polk County
Population	229,463	497,441
Median age	38.5 yrs	36.2 yrs
Median household income	$76,421	$81,621
Median home value	$204,400	$248,400
Median gross rent	$915	$1,113
Housing units	101,989	215,016
Homeownership rate	73.3%	67.1%
Bachelor's degree or higher	34.8%	39.5%
Unemployment rate	3.7%	4.4%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Linn County	Polk County
Population	223,861 → 229,463 (+2.5%)	479,612 → 497,441 (+3.7%)
Median household income	$64,903 → $76,421 (+17.7%)	$67,637 → $81,621 (+20.7%)
Median home value	$157,000 → $204,400 (+30.2%)	$179,900 → $248,400 (+38.1%)
Median gross rent	$761 → $915 (+20.2%)	$910 → $1,113 (+22.3%)

Linn County

Population

223,861229,463

Median household income

$64,903$76,421

Median home value

$157,000$204,400

Median gross rent

$761$915

Polk County

Population

479,612497,441

Median household income

$67,637$81,621

Median home value

$179,900$248,400

Median gross rent

$910$1,113

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Linn County	Polk County
Under 5	5.9%	6.6%
5 to 17	16.8%	18.0%
18 to 24	9.0%	8.7%
25 to 34	13.3%	15.1%
35 to 44	13.4%	14.2%
45 to 54	12.1%	12.1%
55 to 64	12.7%	11.6%
65 to 74	9.8%	8.4%
75 and over	7.0%	5.3%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Linn County	Polk County
White (non-Hispanic)	83.0%	74.1%
Black or African American	5.7%	7.4%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.1%	0.1%
Asian	2.3%	4.9%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.0%	0.0%
Some other race	0.5%	0.2%
Two or more races	4.5%	3.3%
Hispanic or Latino	4.0%	10.0%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Linn County	Polk County
No high school diploma	4.7%	7.5%
High school graduate	26.1%	24.3%
Some college or associate's	34.4%	28.7%
Bachelor's degree	23.5%	26.7%
Graduate or professional degree	11.3%	12.8%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Linn County	Polk County
Drove alone	76.4%	74.1%
Carpooled	6.3%	8.6%
Public transit	0.6%	0.6%
Walked	1.9%	1.4%
Bicycle	0.2%	0.2%
Worked from home	13.7%	13.9%
Other means	0.8%	1.2%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Linn County	Polk County
1-unit, detached	67.0%	62.4%
1-unit, attached	5.4%	7.6%
2 to 4 units	5.6%	3.6%
5 to 19 units	11.5%	9.5%
20 or more units	7.0%	14.8%
Mobile home & other	3.5%	2.1%

Poverty & households

	Linn County	Polk County
Poverty rate	9.9%	10.1%
Average household size	2.36	2.41
Mean commute (minutes)	19	20
Median year structure built	1977	1981