Bates County vs Cooper County

A side-by-side comparison of Bates County and Cooper County: population, income, housing, and more.

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

Cooper County has the higher population (16,835 vs 16,121 in Bates County). Cooper County has the higher median household income ($67,548 vs $57,914 in Bates County). Cooper County has the higher median home value ($197,100 vs $154,800 in Bates County).

Population, income & housing

	Bates County	Cooper County
Population	16,121	16,835
Median age	40.8 yrs	39.9 yrs
Median household income	$57,914	$67,548
Median home value	$154,800	$197,100
Median gross rent	$760	$763
Housing units	7,192	7,276
Homeownership rate	72.3%	78.2%
Bachelor's degree or higher	15.3%	24.0%
Unemployment rate	6.1%	4.5%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Bates County	Cooper County
Population	16,296 → 16,121 (-1.1%)	17,660 → 16,835 (-4.7%)
Median household income	$47,625 → $57,914 (+21.6%)	$52,735 → $67,548 (+28.1%)
Median home value	$114,600 → $154,800 (+35.1%)	$132,900 → $197,100 (+48.3%)
Median gross rent	$654 → $760 (+16.2%)	$664 → $763 (+14.9%)

Bates County

Population

16,29616,121

Median household income

$47,625$57,914

Median home value

$114,600$154,800

Median gross rent

$654$760

Cooper County

Population

17,66016,835

Median household income

$52,735$67,548

Median home value

$132,900$197,100

Median gross rent

$664$763

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Bates County	Cooper County
Under 5	5.7%	6.2%
5 to 17	17.6%	16.3%
18 to 24	7.5%	8.8%
25 to 34	11.9%	12.3%
35 to 44	11.5%	11.7%
45 to 54	11.7%	11.6%
55 to 64	14.8%	13.9%
65 to 74	11.1%	11.0%
75 and over	8.1%	8.1%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Bates County	Cooper County
White (non-Hispanic)	92.2%	88.1%
Black or African American	2.1%	5.5%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.3%	0.1%
Asian	0.4%	0.4%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.1%	0.0%
Some other race	0.0%	0.2%
Two or more races	2.4%	3.6%
Hispanic or Latino	2.4%	2.1%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Bates County	Cooper County
No high school diploma	11.0%	9.3%
High school graduate	46.2%	39.4%
Some college or associate's	27.5%	27.2%
Bachelor's degree	9.5%	15.7%
Graduate or professional degree	5.8%	8.3%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Bates County	Cooper County
Drove alone	79.5%	78.6%
Carpooled	7.8%	12.3%
Public transit	0.2%	0.3%
Walked	1.6%	1.4%
Bicycle	0.0%	0.1%
Worked from home	9.9%	5.9%
Other means	1.1%	1.4%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Bates County	Cooper County
1-unit, detached	77.2%	81.8%
1-unit, attached	1.5%	2.3%
2 to 4 units	6.7%	6.4%
5 to 19 units	1.2%	2.7%
20 or more units	0.3%	0.9%
Mobile home & other	13.1%	5.9%

Poverty & households

	Bates County	Cooper County
Poverty rate	18.7%	10.8%
Average household size	2.64	2.51
Mean commute (minutes)	34	28
Median year structure built	1977	1974