Buchanan County vs Cole County

A side-by-side comparison of Buchanan County and Cole County: population, income, housing, and more.

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

Buchanan County has the higher population (83,855 vs 76,924 in Cole County). Cole County has the higher median household income ($73,273 vs $59,423 in Buchanan County). Cole County has the higher median home value ($214,400 vs $156,600 in Buchanan County).

Population, income & housing

	Buchanan County	Cole County
Population	83,855	76,924
Median age	38.9 yrs	39.7 yrs
Median household income	$59,423	$73,273
Median home value	$156,600	$214,400
Median gross rent	$889	$804
Housing units	38,415	33,385
Homeownership rate	64.9%	67.4%
Bachelor's degree or higher	23.3%	37.5%
Unemployment rate	4.5%	3.0%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Buchanan County	Cole County
Population	88,460 → 83,855 (-5.2%)	76,723 → 76,924 (+0.3%)
Median household income	$51,916 → $59,423 (+14.5%)	$60,066 → $73,273 (+22.0%)
Median home value	$122,200 → $156,600 (+28.2%)	$162,300 → $214,400 (+32.1%)
Median gross rent	$779 → $889 (+14.1%)	$661 → $804 (+21.6%)

Buchanan County

Population

88,46083,855

Median household income

$51,916$59,423

Median home value

$122,200$156,600

Median gross rent

$779$889

Cole County

Population

76,72376,924

Median household income

$60,066$73,273

Median home value

$162,300$214,400

Median gross rent

$661$804

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Buchanan County	Cole County
Under 5	6.0%	5.8%
5 to 17	16.4%	16.4%
18 to 24	9.4%	8.5%
25 to 34	12.9%	13.1%
35 to 44	13.0%	13.6%
45 to 54	11.7%	11.9%
55 to 64	13.5%	13.0%
65 to 74	10.3%	10.5%
75 and over	6.8%	7.0%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Buchanan County	Cole County
White (non-Hispanic)	80.7%	79.7%
Black or African American	5.6%	11.2%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.2%	0.1%
Asian	1.2%	1.6%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.4%	0.0%
Some other race	0.1%	0.5%
Two or more races	4.6%	3.4%
Hispanic or Latino	7.0%	3.5%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Buchanan County	Cole County
No high school diploma	10.2%	6.4%
High school graduate	38.2%	29.5%
Some college or associate's	28.2%	26.7%
Bachelor's degree	16.0%	23.7%
Graduate or professional degree	7.4%	13.8%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Buchanan County	Cole County
Drove alone	80.2%	80.8%
Carpooled	10.2%	8.2%
Public transit	0.3%	0.4%
Walked	1.3%	1.3%
Bicycle	0.0%	0.1%
Worked from home	6.9%	7.3%
Other means	1.1%	1.9%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Buchanan County	Cole County
1-unit, detached	73.5%	69.5%
1-unit, attached	2.1%	2.9%
2 to 4 units	7.5%	14.8%
5 to 19 units	7.2%	6.7%
20 or more units	5.5%	3.7%
Mobile home & other	4.1%	2.4%

Poverty & households

	Buchanan County	Cole County
Poverty rate	16.9%	9.3%
Average household size	2.41	2.36
Mean commute (minutes)	18	18
Median year structure built	1964	1981