Barry County vs Polk County

A side-by-side comparison of Barry County and Polk County: population, income, housing, and more.

Barry County and Polk County are counties in Missouri. This page compares them across population, income, housing, education, commuting, and how each has changed since 2019.

Barry County has the higher population (34,831 vs 32,109 in Polk County). Polk County has the higher median household income ($56,686 vs $56,611 in Barry County). Polk County has the higher median home value ($189,600 vs $172,900 in Barry County).

Population, income & housing

	Barry County	Polk County
Population	34,831	32,109
Median age	43.0 yrs	38.9 yrs
Median household income	$56,611	$56,686
Median home value	$172,900	$189,600
Median gross rent	$750	$792
Housing units	17,028	13,434
Homeownership rate	74.9%	71.3%
Bachelor's degree or higher	13.4%	21.0%
Unemployment rate	4.1%	3.5%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Barry County	Polk County
Population	35,530 → 34,831 (-2.0%)	31,748 → 32,109 (+1.1%)
Median household income	$44,403 → $56,611 (+27.5%)	$45,660 → $56,686 (+24.1%)
Median home value	$120,600 → $172,900 (+43.4%)	$132,300 → $189,600 (+43.3%)
Median gross rent	$666 → $750 (+12.6%)	$701 → $792 (+13.0%)

Barry County

Population

35,53034,831

Median household income

$44,403$56,611

Median home value

$120,600$172,900

Median gross rent

$666$750

Polk County

Population

31,74832,109

Median household income

$45,660$56,686

Median home value

$132,300$189,600

Median gross rent

$701$792

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Barry County	Polk County
Under 5	5.9%	6.2%
5 to 17	17.0%	17.2%
18 to 24	7.0%	11.0%
25 to 34	11.3%	11.6%
35 to 44	11.1%	11.4%
45 to 54	11.4%	11.0%
55 to 64	14.5%	13.4%
65 to 74	13.3%	10.1%
75 and over	8.6%	8.0%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Barry County	Polk County
White (non-Hispanic)	80.4%	92.2%
Black or African American	0.3%	0.8%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.2%	0.3%
Asian	1.9%	0.7%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.8%	0.0%
Some other race	0.1%	0.2%
Two or more races	6.4%	2.9%
Hispanic or Latino	10.0%	2.8%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Barry County	Polk County
No high school diploma	14.8%	11.2%
High school graduate	42.9%	36.6%
Some college or associate's	28.9%	31.2%
Bachelor's degree	9.1%	12.5%
Graduate or professional degree	4.3%	8.5%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Barry County	Polk County
Drove alone	74.7%	78.8%
Carpooled	14.1%	8.9%
Public transit	0.3%	0.1%
Walked	1.5%	2.3%
Bicycle	0.0%	0.5%
Worked from home	9.1%	8.7%
Other means	0.4%	0.7%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Barry County	Polk County
1-unit, detached	73.1%	76.5%
1-unit, attached	1.7%	1.5%
2 to 4 units	7.3%	8.0%
5 to 19 units	1.4%	2.2%
20 or more units	0.5%	1.4%
Mobile home & other	16.1%	10.3%

Poverty & households

	Barry County	Polk County
Poverty rate	16.7%	17.9%
Average household size	2.59	2.56
Mean commute (minutes)	23	28
Median year structure built	1985	1987