Decatur County vs Ness County

A side-by-side comparison of Decatur County and Ness County: population, income, housing, and more.

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

Decatur County has the higher population (2,746 vs 2,659 in Ness County). Ness County has the higher median household income ($66,107 vs $52,030 in Decatur County). Ness County has the higher median home value ($85,400 vs $78,500 in Decatur County).

Population, income & housing

	Decatur County	Ness County
Population	2,746	2,659
Median age	52.1 yrs	46.1 yrs
Median household income	$52,030	$66,107
Median home value	$78,500	$85,400
Median gross rent	$695	$653
Housing units	1,643	1,475
Homeownership rate	79.4%	79.3%
Bachelor's degree or higher	27.8%	23.0%
Unemployment rate	3.7%	1.0%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Decatur County	Ness County
Population	2,860 → 2,746 (-4.0%)	2,876 → 2,659 (-7.5%)
Median household income	$48,125 → $52,030 (+8.1%)	$56,492 → $66,107 (+17.0%)
Median home value	$67,900 → $78,500 (+15.6%)	$73,300 → $85,400 (+16.5%)
Median gross rent	$669 → $695 (+3.9%)	$627 → $653 (+4.1%)

Decatur County

Population

2,8602,746

Median household income

$48,125$52,030

Median home value

$67,900$78,500

Median gross rent

$669$695

Ness County

Population

2,8762,659

Median household income

$56,492$66,107

Median home value

$73,300$85,400

Median gross rent

$627$653

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Decatur County	Ness County
Under 5	5.3%	3.6%
5 to 17	14.6%	16.5%
18 to 24	1.0%	10.9%
25 to 34	13.5%	9.8%
35 to 44	11.3%	8.2%
45 to 54	8.0%	9.6%
55 to 64	17.0%	16.8%
65 to 74	16.1%	13.8%
75 and over	13.2%	10.8%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Decatur County	Ness County
White (non-Hispanic)	91.1%	79.7%
Black or African American	1.7%	0.0%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.5%	0.0%
Asian	0.3%	0.3%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.0%	0.0%
Some other race	0.7%	0.2%
Two or more races	1.6%	4.6%
Hispanic or Latino	4.1%	15.2%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Decatur County	Ness County
No high school diploma	5.8%	8.5%
High school graduate	29.5%	35.4%
Some college or associate's	36.8%	33.2%
Bachelor's degree	21.9%	18.8%
Graduate or professional degree	5.9%	4.3%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Decatur County	Ness County
Drove alone	64.9%	73.4%
Carpooled	4.9%	12.0%
Public transit	3.6%	0.0%
Walked	5.5%	5.2%
Bicycle	0.0%	0.0%
Worked from home	21.2%	7.3%
Other means	0.0%	2.0%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Decatur County	Ness County
1-unit, detached	90.4%	90.9%
1-unit, attached	1.2%	0.2%
2 to 4 units	2.1%	2.1%
5 to 19 units	1.8%	1.8%
20 or more units	0.0%	1.7%
Mobile home & other	4.4%	3.3%

Poverty & households

	Decatur County	Ness County
Poverty rate	13.0%	11.4%
Average household size	1.96	2.23
Mean commute (minutes)	17	16
Median year structure built	1954	1959