Benton County vs Perry County

A side-by-side comparison of Benton County and Perry County: population, income, housing, and more.

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

Benton County has the higher population (19,887 vs 18,947 in Perry County). Perry County has the higher median household income ($63,356 vs $52,200 in Benton County). Perry County has the higher median home value ($189,400 vs $164,700 in Benton County).

Population, income & housing

	Benton County	Perry County
Population	19,887	18,947
Median age	54.4 yrs	41.6 yrs
Median household income	$52,200	$63,356
Median home value	$164,700	$189,400
Median gross rent	$823	$923
Housing units	13,579	8,507
Homeownership rate	83.7%	77.6%
Bachelor's degree or higher	15.2%	22.1%
Unemployment rate	3.9%	4.8%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Benton County	Perry County
Population	19,107 → 19,887 (+4.1%)	19,191 → 18,947 (-1.3%)
Median household income	$40,249 → $52,200 (+29.7%)	$55,863 → $63,356 (+13.4%)
Median home value	$117,500 → $164,700 (+40.2%)	$147,700 → $189,400 (+28.2%)
Median gross rent	$638 → $823 (+29.0%)	$694 → $923 (+33.0%)

Benton County

Population

19,10719,887

Median household income

$40,249$52,200

Median home value

$117,500$164,700

Median gross rent

$638$823

Perry County

Population

19,19118,947

Median household income

$55,863$63,356

Median home value

$147,700$189,400

Median gross rent

$694$923

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Benton County	Perry County
Under 5	4.1%	5.4%
5 to 17	13.1%	17.5%
18 to 24	5.5%	7.9%
25 to 34	8.1%	11.1%
35 to 44	8.6%	12.1%
45 to 54	11.8%	12.8%
55 to 64	17.8%	13.9%
65 to 74	18.6%	11.0%
75 and over	12.5%	8.3%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Benton County	Perry County
White (non-Hispanic)	92.4%	93.8%
Black or African American	0.9%	0.8%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.7%	0.0%
Asian	0.1%	0.8%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.0%	0.0%
Some other race	0.6%	0.0%
Two or more races	3.4%	2.3%
Hispanic or Latino	1.9%	2.3%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Benton County	Perry County
No high school diploma	10.9%	12.1%
High school graduate	43.2%	41.4%
Some college or associate's	30.7%	24.4%
Bachelor's degree	8.2%	15.8%
Graduate or professional degree	6.9%	6.3%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Benton County	Perry County
Drove alone	79.8%	84.9%
Carpooled	10.9%	8.4%
Public transit	0.0%	0.0%
Walked	2.5%	1.6%
Bicycle	0.0%	0.0%
Worked from home	5.0%	4.6%
Other means	1.7%	0.5%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Benton County	Perry County
1-unit, detached	72.4%	78.3%
1-unit, attached	0.6%	0.6%
2 to 4 units	2.2%	5.1%
5 to 19 units	1.5%	4.8%
20 or more units	0.3%	0.9%
Mobile home & other	23.0%	10.3%

Poverty & households

	Benton County	Perry County
Poverty rate	16.7%	11.0%
Average household size	2.40	2.54
Mean commute (minutes)	31	21
Median year structure built	1984	1979