Pocahontas County vs Van Buren County

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

Pocahontas 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 7,040 in Pocahontas County). Pocahontas County has the higher median household income ($63,423 vs $60,183 in Van Buren County). Van Buren County has the higher median home value ($118,800 vs $93,300 in Pocahontas County).

Population, income & housing

	Pocahontas County	Van Buren County
Population	7,040	7,236
Median age	43.9 yrs	44.8 yrs
Median household income	$63,423	$60,183
Median home value	$93,300	$118,800
Median gross rent	$743	$686
Housing units	3,658	3,506
Homeownership rate	78.6%	83.1%
Bachelor's degree or higher	18.7%	19.4%
Unemployment rate	5.5%	4.2%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Pocahontas County	Van Buren County
Population	6,797 → 7,040 (+3.6%)	7,150 → 7,236 (+1.2%)
Median household income	$52,448 → $63,423 (+20.9%)	$48,591 → $60,183 (+23.9%)
Median home value	$76,000 → $93,300 (+22.8%)	$92,800 → $118,800 (+28.0%)
Median gross rent	$597 → $743 (+24.5%)	$571 → $686 (+20.1%)

Pocahontas County

Population

6,7977,040

Median household income

$52,448$63,423

Median home value

$76,000$93,300

Median gross rent

$597$743

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)

	Pocahontas County	Van Buren County
Under 5	6.1%	6.4%
5 to 17	17.0%	16.8%
18 to 24	7.7%	6.8%
25 to 34	9.8%	9.7%
35 to 44	10.1%	10.8%
45 to 54	9.7%	11.3%
55 to 64	16.3%	15.0%
65 to 74	12.6%	13.8%
75 and over	10.9%	9.5%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Pocahontas County	Van Buren County
White (non-Hispanic)	90.0%	94.6%
Black or African American	0.6%	0.2%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.0%	0.0%
Asian	0.0%	0.2%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	1.0%	0.0%
Some other race	0.0%	0.9%
Two or more races	2.9%	2.4%
Hispanic or Latino	5.4%	1.7%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Pocahontas County	Van Buren County
No high school diploma	8.6%	10.7%
High school graduate	36.0%	36.7%
Some college or associate's	36.7%	33.2%
Bachelor's degree	15.0%	13.5%
Graduate or professional degree	3.6%	5.9%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Pocahontas County	Van Buren County
Drove alone	77.8%	73.3%
Carpooled	11.8%	10.9%
Public transit	0.0%	0.3%
Walked	2.5%	3.7%
Bicycle	0.3%	0.3%
Worked from home	6.7%	10.7%
Other means	1.0%	0.9%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Pocahontas County	Van Buren County
1-unit, detached	89.4%	84.5%
1-unit, attached	1.2%	0.7%
2 to 4 units	4.0%	5.4%
5 to 19 units	2.4%	0.8%
20 or more units	1.0%	0.1%
Mobile home & other	2.1%	8.6%

Poverty & households

	Pocahontas County	Van Buren County
Poverty rate	8.7%	12.2%
Average household size	2.24	2.47
Mean commute (minutes)	20	23
Median year structure built	1951	1971