Brown County vs Rice County

A side-by-side comparison of Brown County and Rice County: population, income, housing, and more.

Brown County and Rice County are counties in Kansas. This page compares them across population, income, housing, education, commuting, and how each has changed since 2019.

Brown County has the higher population (9,415 vs 9,389 in Rice County). Rice County has the higher median household income ($63,947 vs $58,886 in Brown County). Brown County has the higher median home value ($111,100 vs $105,500 in Rice County).

Population, income & housing

	Brown County	Rice County
Population	9,415	9,389
Median age	42.0 yrs	39.0 yrs
Median household income	$58,886	$63,947
Median home value	$111,100	$105,500
Median gross rent	$675	$717
Housing units	4,489	4,384
Homeownership rate	75.4%	77.1%
Bachelor's degree or higher	18.3%	24.3%
Unemployment rate	5.4%	3.3%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Brown County	Rice County
Population	9,626 → 9,415 (-2.2%)	9,658 → 9,389 (-2.8%)
Median household income	$48,333 → $58,886 (+21.8%)	$53,012 → $63,947 (+20.6%)
Median home value	$88,500 → $111,100 (+25.5%)	$74,700 → $105,500 (+41.2%)
Median gross rent	$633 → $675 (+6.6%)	$581 → $717 (+23.4%)

Brown County

Population

9,6269,415

Median household income

$48,333$58,886

Median home value

$88,500$111,100

Median gross rent

$633$675

Rice County

Population

9,6589,389

Median household income

$53,012$63,947

Median home value

$74,700$105,500

Median gross rent

$581$717

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Brown County	Rice County
Under 5	6.1%	5.7%
5 to 17	19.2%	17.7%
18 to 24	5.9%	11.7%
25 to 34	10.5%	9.9%
35 to 44	11.8%	11.7%
45 to 54	10.3%	10.4%
55 to 64	14.6%	13.3%
65 to 74	12.8%	11.4%
75 and over	8.7%	8.2%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Brown County	Rice County
White (non-Hispanic)	81.8%	78.2%
Black or African American	1.4%	1.9%
American Indian & Alaska Native	6.7%	0.5%
Asian	0.3%	0.1%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.0%	0.0%
Some other race	1.0%	0.9%
Two or more races	4.4%	4.8%
Hispanic or Latino	4.4%	13.7%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Brown County	Rice County
No high school diploma	5.0%	7.1%
High school graduate	38.9%	29.1%
Some college or associate's	37.9%	39.6%
Bachelor's degree	12.8%	16.0%
Graduate or professional degree	5.5%	8.3%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Brown County	Rice County
Drove alone	78.7%	76.6%
Carpooled	10.0%	11.2%
Public transit	0.0%	0.1%
Walked	3.1%	5.9%
Bicycle	0.0%	0.8%
Worked from home	6.5%	5.2%
Other means	1.7%	0.3%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Brown County	Rice County
1-unit, detached	84.9%	87.8%
1-unit, attached	1.0%	0.7%
2 to 4 units	7.3%	5.1%
5 to 19 units	2.0%	1.7%
20 or more units	2.4%	2.1%
Mobile home & other	2.3%	2.6%

Poverty & households

	Brown County	Rice County
Poverty rate	14.2%	7.4%
Average household size	2.50	2.37
Mean commute (minutes)	16	22
Median year structure built	1962	1955