Kent County vs Ottawa County

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

Kent County and Ottawa 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 298,614 in Ottawa County). Ottawa County has the higher median household income ($87,144 vs $80,390 in Kent County). Ottawa County has the higher median home value ($291,200 vs $265,700 in Kent County).

Population, income & housing

	Kent County	Ottawa County
Population	658,844	298,614
Median age	35.7 yrs	36.3 yrs
Median household income	$80,390	$87,144
Median home value	$265,700	$291,200
Median gross rent	$1,176	$1,148
Housing units	267,071	116,173
Homeownership rate	70.4%	78.5%
Bachelor's degree or higher	39.6%	37.5%
Unemployment rate	4.2%	3.6%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Kent County	Ottawa County
Population	648,121 → 658,844 (+1.7%)	286,558 → 298,614 (+4.2%)
Median household income	$63,053 → $80,390 (+27.5%)	$69,314 → $87,144 (+25.7%)
Median home value	$173,700 → $265,700 (+53.0%)	$191,800 → $291,200 (+51.8%)
Median gross rent	$899 → $1,176 (+30.8%)	$898 → $1,148 (+27.8%)

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

Ottawa County

Population

286,558298,614

Median household income

$69,314$87,144

Median home value

$191,800$291,200

Median gross rent

$898$1,148

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Kent County	Ottawa County
Under 5	6.3%	5.7%
5 to 17	17.4%	17.7%
18 to 24	9.3%	13.0%
25 to 34	15.7%	12.2%
35 to 44	13.3%	12.3%
45 to 54	11.4%	11.0%
55 to 64	12.0%	12.0%
65 to 74	8.9%	9.5%
75 and over	5.6%	6.7%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Kent County	Ottawa County
White (non-Hispanic)	71.1%	82.4%
Black or African American	9.2%	1.5%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.2%	0.1%
Asian	3.1%	2.7%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.0%	0.0%
Some other race	0.5%	0.4%
Two or more races	4.5%	2.8%
Hispanic or Latino	11.5%	10.1%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Kent County	Ottawa County
No high school diploma	7.7%	5.9%
High school graduate	23.5%	26.2%
Some college or associate's	29.1%	30.4%
Bachelor's degree	25.5%	24.5%
Graduate or professional degree	14.1%	13.0%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Kent County	Ottawa County
Drove alone	74.5%	78.8%
Carpooled	8.0%	7.7%
Public transit	1.6%	0.5%
Walked	1.9%	2.6%
Bicycle	0.4%	0.4%
Worked from home	12.7%	9.4%
Other means	0.8%	0.6%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Kent County	Ottawa County
1-unit, detached	65.4%	69.6%
1-unit, attached	6.4%	7.7%
2 to 4 units	7.1%	5.8%
5 to 19 units	9.3%	7.7%
20 or more units	8.0%	3.8%
Mobile home & other	3.7%	5.5%

Poverty & households

	Kent County	Ottawa County
Poverty rate	10.6%	8.2%
Average household size	2.54	2.62
Mean commute (minutes)	21	20
Median year structure built	1976	1987