Kent County vs Oakland County

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

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

Oakland County has the higher population (1,272,294 vs 658,844 in Kent County). Oakland County has the higher median household income ($95,296 vs $80,390 in Kent County). Oakland County has the higher median home value ($320,400 vs $265,700 in Kent County).

Population, income & housing

	Kent County	Oakland County
Population	658,844	1,272,294
Median age	35.7 yrs	41.2 yrs
Median household income	$80,390	$95,296
Median home value	$265,700	$320,400
Median gross rent	$1,176	$1,319
Housing units	267,071	557,978
Homeownership rate	70.4%	72.3%
Bachelor's degree or higher	39.6%	50.2%
Unemployment rate	4.2%	4.8%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Kent County	Oakland County
Population	648,121 → 658,844 (+1.7%)	1,253,185 → 1,272,294 (+1.5%)
Median household income	$63,053 → $80,390 (+27.5%)	$79,698 → $95,296 (+19.6%)
Median home value	$173,700 → $265,700 (+53.0%)	$242,700 → $320,400 (+32.0%)
Median gross rent	$899 → $1,176 (+30.8%)	$1,080 → $1,319 (+22.1%)

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

Oakland County

Population

1,253,1851,272,294

Median household income

$79,698$95,296

Median home value

$242,700$320,400

Median gross rent

$1,080$1,319

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Kent County	Oakland County
Under 5	6.3%	5.2%
5 to 17	17.4%	15.3%
18 to 24	9.3%	7.9%
25 to 34	15.7%	13.4%
35 to 44	13.3%	12.8%
45 to 54	11.4%	13.3%
55 to 64	12.0%	14.2%
65 to 74	8.9%	10.7%
75 and over	5.6%	7.2%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Kent County	Oakland County
White (non-Hispanic)	71.1%	69.2%
Black or African American	9.2%	12.9%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.2%	0.1%
Asian	3.1%	8.2%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.0%	0.0%
Some other race	0.5%	0.5%
Two or more races	4.5%	4.3%
Hispanic or Latino	11.5%	4.9%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Kent County	Oakland County
No high school diploma	7.7%	5.1%
High school graduate	23.5%	17.8%
Some college or associate's	29.1%	26.9%
Bachelor's degree	25.5%	28.4%
Graduate or professional degree	14.1%	21.8%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Kent County	Oakland County
Drove alone	74.5%	73.4%
Carpooled	8.0%	6.1%
Public transit	1.6%	0.3%
Walked	1.9%	1.1%
Bicycle	0.4%	0.2%
Worked from home	12.7%	18.0%
Other means	0.8%	0.9%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Kent County	Oakland County
1-unit, detached	65.4%	67.8%
1-unit, attached	6.4%	6.4%
2 to 4 units	7.1%	4.6%
5 to 19 units	9.3%	10.8%
20 or more units	8.0%	7.6%
Mobile home & other	3.7%	2.8%

Poverty & households

	Kent County	Oakland County
Poverty rate	10.6%	7.7%
Average household size	2.54	2.38
Mean commute (minutes)	21	26
Median year structure built	1976	1975