Monona County vs Palo Alto County

A side-by-side comparison of Monona County and Palo Alto County: population, income, housing, and more.

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

Palo Alto County has the higher population (8,902 vs 8,619 in Monona County). Palo Alto County has the higher median household income ($68,963 vs $62,944 in Monona County). Monona County has the higher median home value ($122,600 vs $119,300 in Palo Alto County).

Population, income & housing

	Monona County	Palo Alto County
Population	8,619	8,902
Median age	44.7 yrs	41.5 yrs
Median household income	$62,944	$68,963
Median home value	$122,600	$119,300
Median gross rent	$795	$599
Housing units	4,390	4,517
Homeownership rate	76.4%	75.7%
Bachelor's degree or higher	18.7%	20.5%
Unemployment rate	2.1%	2.7%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Monona County	Palo Alto County
Population	8,730 → 8,619 (-1.3%)	9,003 → 8,902 (-1.1%)
Median household income	$47,605 → $62,944 (+32.2%)	$52,932 → $68,963 (+30.3%)
Median home value	$86,900 → $122,600 (+41.1%)	$102,200 → $119,300 (+16.7%)
Median gross rent	$613 → $795 (+29.7%)	$580 → $599 (+3.3%)

Monona County

Population

8,7308,619

Median household income

$47,605$62,944

Median home value

$86,900$122,600

Median gross rent

$613$795

Palo Alto County

Population

9,0038,902

Median household income

$52,932$68,963

Median home value

$102,200$119,300

Median gross rent

$580$599

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Monona County	Palo Alto County
Under 5	5.6%	6.1%
5 to 17	16.8%	17.3%
18 to 24	6.2%	8.3%
25 to 34	10.7%	10.7%
35 to 44	10.7%	11.7%
45 to 54	11.3%	10.1%
55 to 64	14.8%	13.8%
65 to 74	12.6%	12.0%
75 and over	11.2%	9.9%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Monona County	Palo Alto County
White (non-Hispanic)	93.3%	91.6%
Black or African American	0.2%	1.7%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.6%	0.1%
Asian	0.0%	0.6%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.1%	0.0%
Some other race	0.0%	0.0%
Two or more races	3.3%	2.7%
Hispanic or Latino	2.5%	3.3%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Monona County	Palo Alto County
No high school diploma	6.4%	6.1%
High school graduate	39.4%	32.3%
Some college or associate's	35.4%	41.1%
Bachelor's degree	12.7%	15.5%
Graduate or professional degree	6.0%	5.0%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Monona County	Palo Alto County
Drove alone	80.9%	77.1%
Carpooled	7.3%	10.0%
Public transit	0.5%	0.6%
Walked	1.6%	4.3%
Bicycle	0.0%	0.7%
Worked from home	9.0%	6.2%
Other means	0.8%	1.1%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Monona County	Palo Alto County
1-unit, detached	84.6%	84.1%
1-unit, attached	0.6%	0.9%
2 to 4 units	2.3%	5.5%
5 to 19 units	3.3%	5.4%
20 or more units	3.1%	2.1%
Mobile home & other	6.0%	2.1%

Poverty & households

	Monona County	Palo Alto County
Poverty rate	11.2%	11.7%
Average household size	2.16	2.29
Mean commute (minutes)	23	18
Median year structure built	1955	1957