Bates County vs Macon County

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

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

Bates County has the higher population (16,121 vs 15,163 in Macon County). Macon County has the higher median household income ($58,318 vs $57,914 in Bates County). Bates County has the higher median home value ($154,800 vs $127,000 in Macon County).

Population, income & housing

	Bates County	Macon County
Population	16,121	15,163
Median age	40.8 yrs	42.9 yrs
Median household income	$57,914	$58,318
Median home value	$154,800	$127,000
Median gross rent	$760	$719
Housing units	7,192	7,425
Homeownership rate	72.3%	76.1%
Bachelor's degree or higher	15.3%	18.5%
Unemployment rate	6.1%	3.5%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Bates County	Macon County
Population	16,296 → 16,121 (-1.1%)	15,199 → 15,163 (-0.2%)
Median household income	$47,625 → $57,914 (+21.6%)	$42,746 → $58,318 (+36.4%)
Median home value	$114,600 → $154,800 (+35.1%)	$97,200 → $127,000 (+30.7%)
Median gross rent	$654 → $760 (+16.2%)	$549 → $719 (+31.0%)

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

Macon County

Population

15,19915,163

Median household income

$42,746$58,318

Median home value

$97,200$127,000

Median gross rent

$549$719

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Bates County	Macon County
Under 5	5.7%	5.3%
5 to 17	17.6%	18.2%
18 to 24	7.5%	7.3%
25 to 34	11.9%	10.3%
35 to 44	11.5%	10.6%
45 to 54	11.7%	12.6%
55 to 64	14.8%	13.7%
65 to 74	11.1%	12.3%
75 and over	8.1%	9.6%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Bates County	Macon County
White (non-Hispanic)	92.2%	92.2%
Black or African American	2.1%	2.1%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.3%	0.1%
Asian	0.4%	0.7%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.1%	0.0%
Some other race	0.0%	0.2%
Two or more races	2.4%	3.0%
Hispanic or Latino	2.4%	1.8%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Bates County	Macon County
No high school diploma	11.0%	8.3%
High school graduate	46.2%	44.3%
Some college or associate's	27.5%	28.9%
Bachelor's degree	9.5%	12.8%
Graduate or professional degree	5.8%	5.6%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Bates County	Macon County
Drove alone	79.5%	78.5%
Carpooled	7.8%	9.6%
Public transit	0.2%	0.3%
Walked	1.6%	1.9%
Bicycle	0.0%	0.2%
Worked from home	9.9%	9.1%
Other means	1.1%	0.4%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Bates County	Macon County
1-unit, detached	77.2%	78.4%
1-unit, attached	1.5%	0.3%
2 to 4 units	6.7%	8.9%
5 to 19 units	1.2%	1.1%
20 or more units	0.3%	1.3%
Mobile home & other	13.1%	10.0%

Poverty & households

	Bates County	Macon County
Poverty rate	18.7%	10.0%
Average household size	2.64	2.51
Mean commute (minutes)	34	23
Median year structure built	1977	1972