Ford County vs McPherson County

A side-by-side comparison of Ford County and McPherson County: population, income, housing, and more.

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

Ford County has the higher population (34,133 vs 30,130 in McPherson County). McPherson County has the higher median household income ($77,701 vs $70,495 in Ford County). McPherson County has the higher median home value ($198,400 vs $132,700 in Ford County).

Population, income & housing

	Ford County	McPherson County
Population	34,133	30,130
Median age	31.9 yrs	39.1 yrs
Median household income	$70,495	$77,701
Median home value	$132,700	$198,400
Median gross rent	$960	$889
Housing units	12,638	13,128
Homeownership rate	64.5%	75.8%
Bachelor's degree or higher	20.7%	33.1%
Unemployment rate	4.7%	2.0%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Ford County	McPherson County
Population	34,179 → 34,133 (-0.1%)	28,567 → 30,130 (+5.5%)
Median household income	$51,711 → $70,495 (+36.3%)	$59,089 → $77,701 (+31.5%)
Median home value	$112,500 → $132,700 (+18.0%)	$151,800 → $198,400 (+30.7%)
Median gross rent	$778 → $960 (+23.4%)	$746 → $889 (+19.2%)

Ford County

Population

34,17934,133

Median household income

$51,711$70,495

Median home value

$112,500$132,700

Median gross rent

$778$960

McPherson County

Population

28,56730,130

Median household income

$59,089$77,701

Median home value

$151,800$198,400

Median gross rent

$746$889

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Ford County	McPherson County
Under 5	8.9%	5.1%
5 to 17	21.9%	16.7%
18 to 24	10.3%	11.7%
25 to 34	13.4%	11.2%
35 to 44	12.2%	12.2%
45 to 54	11.1%	10.5%
55 to 64	11.0%	12.9%
65 to 74	6.7%	10.6%
75 and over	4.6%	9.2%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Ford County	McPherson County
White (non-Hispanic)	36.4%	89.6%
Black or African American	2.2%	1.6%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.1%	0.1%
Asian	0.4%	0.7%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.0%	0.0%
Some other race	0.3%	0.0%
Two or more races	2.4%	2.6%
Hispanic or Latino	58.2%	5.4%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Ford County	McPherson County
No high school diploma	23.0%	7.7%
High school graduate	28.0%	24.1%
Some college or associate's	28.3%	35.1%
Bachelor's degree	14.2%	21.5%
Graduate or professional degree	6.5%	11.6%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Ford County	McPherson County
Drove alone	81.6%	80.6%
Carpooled	14.0%	7.3%
Public transit	0.0%	0.0%
Walked	0.9%	4.1%
Bicycle	0.1%	0.7%
Worked from home	2.1%	6.6%
Other means	1.2%	0.7%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Ford County	McPherson County
1-unit, detached	70.3%	81.2%
1-unit, attached	3.9%	2.8%
2 to 4 units	9.4%	7.6%
5 to 19 units	3.4%	2.3%
20 or more units	2.6%	1.1%
Mobile home & other	10.4%	5.0%

Poverty & households

	Ford County	McPherson County
Poverty rate	14.4%	9.1%
Average household size	2.84	2.33
Mean commute (minutes)	13	15
Median year structure built	1972	1975