Butler County vs Howell County

A side-by-side comparison of Butler County and Howell County: population, income, housing, and more.

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

Butler County has the higher population (42,166 vs 40,168 in Howell County). Howell County has the higher median household income ($49,814 vs $49,213 in Butler County). Howell County has the higher median home value ($161,000 vs $138,800 in Butler County).

Population, income & housing

	Butler County	Howell County
Population	42,166	40,168
Median age	40.5 yrs	40.1 yrs
Median household income	$49,213	$49,814
Median home value	$138,800	$161,000
Median gross rent	$768	$722
Housing units	19,296	18,104
Homeownership rate	65.0%	68.7%
Bachelor's degree or higher	15.2%	17.5%
Unemployment rate	4.9%	5.0%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Butler County	Howell County
Population	42,656 → 42,166 (-1.1%)	40,104 → 40,168 (+0.2%)
Median household income	$39,915 → $49,213 (+23.3%)	$38,357 → $49,814 (+29.9%)
Median home value	$113,500 → $138,800 (+22.3%)	$112,200 → $161,000 (+43.5%)
Median gross rent	$675 → $768 (+13.8%)	$598 → $722 (+20.7%)

Butler County

Population

42,65642,166

Median household income

$39,915$49,213

Median home value

$113,500$138,800

Median gross rent

$675$768

Howell County

Population

40,10440,168

Median household income

$38,357$49,814

Median home value

$112,200$161,000

Median gross rent

$598$722

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Butler County	Howell County
Under 5	6.4%	6.0%
5 to 17	16.9%	18.3%
18 to 24	8.0%	7.6%
25 to 34	12.1%	11.5%
35 to 44	11.5%	11.6%
45 to 54	12.7%	12.0%
55 to 64	13.2%	13.1%
65 to 74	11.4%	11.4%
75 and over	7.8%	8.4%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Butler County	Howell County
White (non-Hispanic)	86.4%	92.4%
Black or African American	4.6%	0.4%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.2%	0.2%
Asian	0.7%	0.5%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.1%	0.0%
Some other race	0.8%	0.7%
Two or more races	4.9%	3.3%
Hispanic or Latino	2.4%	2.4%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Butler County	Howell County
No high school diploma	15.5%	14.1%
High school graduate	39.8%	39.3%
Some college or associate's	29.5%	29.1%
Bachelor's degree	10.0%	10.9%
Graduate or professional degree	5.2%	6.6%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Butler County	Howell County
Drove alone	78.6%	82.2%
Carpooled	13.1%	10.8%
Public transit	0.5%	0.2%
Walked	1.6%	1.3%
Bicycle	0.1%	0.0%
Worked from home	4.9%	3.5%
Other means	1.2%	2.0%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Butler County	Howell County
1-unit, detached	74.3%	75.0%
1-unit, attached	1.2%	1.5%
2 to 4 units	8.3%	5.8%
5 to 19 units	3.3%	3.1%
20 or more units	1.3%	1.3%
Mobile home & other	11.6%	13.4%

Poverty & households

	Butler County	Howell County
Poverty rate	20.3%	21.4%
Average household size	2.50	2.47
Mean commute (minutes)	20	21
Median year structure built	1980	1983