Cherokee County vs Jefferson County

A side-by-side comparison of Cherokee County and Jefferson County: population, income, housing, and more.

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

Cherokee County has the higher population (19,236 vs 18,391 in Jefferson County). Jefferson County has the higher median household income ($77,393 vs $58,274 in Cherokee County). Jefferson County has the higher median home value ($200,800 vs $99,400 in Cherokee County).

Population, income & housing

	Cherokee County	Jefferson County
Population	19,236	18,391
Median age	42.0 yrs	43.8 yrs
Median household income	$58,274	$77,393
Median home value	$99,400	$200,800
Median gross rent	$801	$844
Housing units	9,140	8,004
Homeownership rate	72.4%	85.0%
Bachelor's degree or higher	20.1%	24.6%
Unemployment rate	3.6%	2.4%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Cherokee County	Jefferson County
Population	20,179 → 19,236 (-4.7%)	18,890 → 18,391 (-2.6%)
Median household income	$43,175 → $58,274 (+35.0%)	$64,864 → $77,393 (+19.3%)
Median home value	$82,500 → $99,400 (+20.5%)	$150,600 → $200,800 (+33.3%)
Median gross rent	$613 → $801 (+30.7%)	$760 → $844 (+11.1%)

Cherokee County

Population

20,17919,236

Median household income

$43,175$58,274

Median home value

$82,500$99,400

Median gross rent

$613$801

Jefferson County

Population

18,89018,391

Median household income

$64,864$77,393

Median home value

$150,600$200,800

Median gross rent

$760$844

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Cherokee County	Jefferson County
Under 5	6.0%	5.0%
5 to 17	16.7%	17.2%
18 to 24	7.9%	6.7%
25 to 34	10.6%	11.0%
35 to 44	11.4%	11.9%
45 to 54	12.3%	12.3%
55 to 64	15.5%	16.5%
65 to 74	11.6%	11.7%
75 and over	8.1%	7.7%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Cherokee County	Jefferson County
White (non-Hispanic)	86.0%	91.6%
Black or African American	0.8%	0.6%
American Indian & Alaska Native	1.9%	0.5%
Asian	0.6%	0.2%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.3%	0.0%
Some other race	0.6%	0.2%
Two or more races	7.0%	3.5%
Hispanic or Latino	2.8%	3.3%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Cherokee County	Jefferson County
No high school diploma	9.1%	4.8%
High school graduate	34.4%	35.6%
Some college or associate's	36.4%	35.1%
Bachelor's degree	13.9%	15.4%
Graduate or professional degree	6.2%	9.1%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Cherokee County	Jefferson County
Drove alone	84.3%	77.8%
Carpooled	7.5%	10.2%
Public transit	0.0%	0.0%
Walked	1.9%	1.6%
Bicycle	0.1%	0.0%
Worked from home	5.0%	9.5%
Other means	1.3%	0.8%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Cherokee County	Jefferson County
1-unit, detached	82.1%	87.6%
1-unit, attached	0.8%	0.4%
2 to 4 units	5.9%	3.6%
5 to 19 units	1.4%	0.8%
20 or more units	0.7%	0.2%
Mobile home & other	9.1%	7.4%

Poverty & households

	Cherokee County	Jefferson County
Poverty rate	13.1%	6.3%
Average household size	2.46	2.46
Mean commute (minutes)	20	29
Median year structure built	1968	1977