Ionia County vs Van Buren County

A side-by-side comparison of Ionia County and Van Buren County: population, income, housing, and more.

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

Van Buren County has the higher population (75,681 vs 66,706 in Ionia County). Ionia County has the higher median household income ($73,436 vs $66,902 in Van Buren County). Van Buren County has the higher median home value ($189,900 vs $189,400 in Ionia County).

Population, income & housing

	Ionia County	Van Buren County
Population	66,706	75,681
Median age	38.8 yrs	41.2 yrs
Median household income	$73,436	$66,902
Median home value	$189,400	$189,900
Median gross rent	$840	$845
Housing units	24,746	37,243
Homeownership rate	77.2%	80.5%
Bachelor's degree or higher	18.0%	22.9%
Unemployment rate	4.9%	4.4%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Ionia County	Van Buren County
Population	64,300 → 66,706 (+3.7%)	75,358 → 75,681 (+0.4%)
Median household income	$57,043 → $73,436 (+28.7%)	$54,485 → $66,902 (+22.8%)
Median home value	$131,800 → $189,400 (+43.7%)	$139,400 → $189,900 (+36.2%)
Median gross rent	$768 → $840 (+9.4%)	$705 → $845 (+19.9%)

Ionia County

Population

64,30066,706

Median household income

$57,043$73,436

Median home value

$131,800$189,400

Median gross rent

$768$840

Van Buren County

Population

75,35875,681

Median household income

$54,485$66,902

Median home value

$139,400$189,900

Median gross rent

$705$845

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Ionia County	Van Buren County
Under 5	5.2%	5.7%
5 to 17	16.0%	17.4%
18 to 24	8.9%	7.4%
25 to 34	14.7%	11.5%
35 to 44	14.0%	12.0%
45 to 54	12.7%	11.9%
55 to 64	13.1%	14.6%
65 to 74	9.8%	12.3%
75 and over	5.6%	7.1%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Ionia County	Van Buren County
White (non-Hispanic)	85.7%	79.1%
Black or African American	3.7%	3.5%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.4%	0.3%
Asian	0.5%	0.5%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.0%	0.0%
Some other race	0.2%	0.3%
Two or more races	4.2%	4.0%
Hispanic or Latino	5.2%	12.2%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Ionia County	Van Buren County
No high school diploma	8.6%	11.2%
High school graduate	38.2%	33.4%
Some college or associate's	35.1%	32.5%
Bachelor's degree	13.0%	14.4%
Graduate or professional degree	5.1%	8.5%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Ionia County	Van Buren County
Drove alone	80.1%	78.3%
Carpooled	7.3%	9.5%
Public transit	1.4%	0.3%
Walked	2.2%	2.6%
Bicycle	0.2%	0.1%
Worked from home	8.3%	8.7%
Other means	0.6%	0.4%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Ionia County	Van Buren County
1-unit, detached	75.5%	78.2%
1-unit, attached	1.3%	0.9%
2 to 4 units	3.7%	2.4%
5 to 19 units	4.6%	4.0%
20 or more units	3.9%	2.7%
Mobile home & other	11.1%	11.8%

Poverty & households

	Ionia County	Van Buren County
Poverty rate	11.4%	13.8%
Average household size	2.75	2.48
Mean commute (minutes)	27	24
Median year structure built	1972	1977