Mason County vs Oceana County

A side-by-side comparison of Mason County and Oceana County: population, income, housing, and more.

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

Mason County has the higher population (29,177 vs 26,788 in Oceana County). Oceana County has the higher median household income ($63,624 vs $62,296 in Mason County). Mason County has the higher median home value ($199,300 vs $167,600 in Oceana County).

Population, income & housing

	Mason County	Oceana County
Population	29,177	26,788
Median age	47.2 yrs	43.9 yrs
Median household income	$62,296	$63,624
Median home value	$199,300	$167,600
Median gross rent	$840	$768
Housing units	17,499	15,645
Homeownership rate	78.1%	85.1%
Bachelor's degree or higher	25.0%	21.0%
Unemployment rate	4.6%	5.7%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Mason County	Oceana County
Population	28,954 → 29,177 (+0.8%)	26,416 → 26,788 (+1.4%)
Median household income	$51,725 → $62,296 (+20.4%)	$50,104 → $63,624 (+27.0%)
Median home value	$141,400 → $199,300 (+40.9%)	$118,800 → $167,600 (+41.1%)
Median gross rent	$698 → $840 (+20.3%)	$729 → $768 (+5.3%)

Mason County

Population

28,95429,177

Median household income

$51,725$62,296

Median home value

$141,400$199,300

Median gross rent

$698$840

Oceana County

Population

26,41626,788

Median household income

$50,104$63,624

Median home value

$118,800$167,600

Median gross rent

$729$768

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Mason County	Oceana County
Under 5	4.6%	5.1%
5 to 17	15.3%	16.6%
18 to 24	6.7%	7.4%
25 to 34	10.8%	10.9%
35 to 44	10.6%	11.3%
45 to 54	11.0%	11.2%
55 to 64	15.5%	15.8%
65 to 74	15.7%	13.4%
75 and over	9.9%	8.4%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Mason County	Oceana County
White (non-Hispanic)	89.9%	80.3%
Black or African American	1.1%	0.9%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.3%	0.5%
Asian	0.4%	0.1%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.0%	0.0%
Some other race	0.2%	0.1%
Two or more races	3.3%	2.6%
Hispanic or Latino	4.8%	15.4%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Mason County	Oceana County
No high school diploma	6.6%	9.4%
High school graduate	33.4%	37.6%
Some college or associate's	35.0%	32.0%
Bachelor's degree	15.2%	13.7%
Graduate or professional degree	9.9%	7.2%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Mason County	Oceana County
Drove alone	75.7%	77.4%
Carpooled	11.6%	12.8%
Public transit	0.4%	0.2%
Walked	2.1%	2.1%
Bicycle	0.2%	0.1%
Worked from home	9.2%	6.4%
Other means	0.8%	1.1%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Mason County	Oceana County
1-unit, detached	74.8%	78.1%
1-unit, attached	1.5%	0.2%
2 to 4 units	4.3%	2.4%
5 to 19 units	5.0%	1.8%
20 or more units	3.2%	0.4%
Mobile home & other	11.2%	17.0%

Poverty & households

	Mason County	Oceana County
Poverty rate	14.6%	13.3%
Average household size	2.32	2.55
Mean commute (minutes)	20	24
Median year structure built	1976	1978