Genesee County vs Kent County

A side-by-side comparison of Genesee County and Kent County: population, income, housing, and more.

Genesee County and Kent County are counties in Michigan. This page compares them across population, income, housing, education, commuting, and how each has changed since 2019.

Kent County has the higher population (658,844 vs 404,087 in Genesee County). Kent County has the higher median household income ($80,390 vs $60,673 in Genesee County). Kent County has the higher median home value ($265,700 vs $172,900 in Genesee County).

Population, income & housing

	Genesee County	Kent County
Population	404,087	658,844
Median age	40.6 yrs	35.7 yrs
Median household income	$60,673	$80,390
Median home value	$172,900	$265,700
Median gross rent	$936	$1,176
Housing units	183,729	267,071
Homeownership rate	70.8%	70.4%
Bachelor's degree or higher	22.8%	39.6%
Unemployment rate	8.3%	4.2%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Genesee County	Kent County
Population	407,875 → 404,087 (-0.9%)	648,121 → 658,844 (+1.7%)
Median household income	$48,588 → $60,673 (+24.9%)	$63,053 → $80,390 (+27.5%)
Median home value	$111,100 → $172,900 (+55.6%)	$173,700 → $265,700 (+53.0%)
Median gross rent	$767 → $936 (+22.0%)	$899 → $1,176 (+30.8%)

Genesee County

Population

407,875404,087

Median household income

$48,588$60,673

Median home value

$111,100$172,900

Median gross rent

$767$936

Kent County

Population

648,121658,844

Median household income

$63,053$80,390

Median home value

$173,700$265,700

Median gross rent

$899$1,176

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Genesee County	Kent County
Under 5	5.6%	6.3%
5 to 17	16.7%	17.4%
18 to 24	8.2%	9.3%
25 to 34	12.8%	15.7%
35 to 44	11.7%	13.3%
45 to 54	12.5%	11.4%
55 to 64	14.0%	12.0%
65 to 74	11.1%	8.9%
75 and over	7.3%	5.6%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Genesee County	Kent County
White (non-Hispanic)	70.6%	71.1%
Black or African American	19.2%	9.2%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.2%	0.2%
Asian	0.9%	3.1%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.0%	0.0%
Some other race	0.5%	0.5%
Two or more races	4.4%	4.5%
Hispanic or Latino	4.1%	11.5%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Genesee County	Kent County
No high school diploma	9.1%	7.7%
High school graduate	31.6%	23.5%
Some college or associate's	36.5%	29.1%
Bachelor's degree	14.9%	25.5%
Graduate or professional degree	8.0%	14.1%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Genesee County	Kent County
Drove alone	79.1%	74.5%
Carpooled	8.8%	8.0%
Public transit	1.1%	1.6%
Walked	1.0%	1.9%
Bicycle	0.1%	0.4%
Worked from home	9.2%	12.7%
Other means	0.7%	0.8%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Genesee County	Kent County
1-unit, detached	73.7%	65.4%
1-unit, attached	5.4%	6.4%
2 to 4 units	3.1%	7.1%
5 to 19 units	7.5%	9.3%
20 or more units	4.5%	8.0%
Mobile home & other	5.7%	3.7%

Poverty & households

	Genesee County	Kent County
Poverty rate	15.9%	10.6%
Average household size	2.40	2.54
Mean commute (minutes)	27	21
Median year structure built	1969	1976