Butler County vs Phelps County

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

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

Phelps County has the higher population (44,948 vs 42,166 in Butler County). Phelps County has the higher median household income ($55,427 vs $49,213 in Butler County). Phelps County has the higher median home value ($194,900 vs $138,800 in Butler County).

Population, income & housing

	Butler County	Phelps County
Population	42,166	44,948
Median age	40.5 yrs	36.2 yrs
Median household income	$49,213	$55,427
Median home value	$138,800	$194,900
Median gross rent	$768	$801
Housing units	19,296	20,246
Homeownership rate	65.0%	61.9%
Bachelor's degree or higher	15.2%	31.5%
Unemployment rate	4.9%	4.4%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Butler County	Phelps County
Population	42,656 → 42,166 (-1.1%)	44,630 → 44,948 (+0.7%)
Median household income	$39,915 → $49,213 (+23.3%)	$44,154 → $55,427 (+25.5%)
Median home value	$113,500 → $138,800 (+22.3%)	$135,000 → $194,900 (+44.4%)
Median gross rent	$675 → $768 (+13.8%)	$727 → $801 (+10.2%)

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

Phelps County

Population

44,63044,948

Median household income

$44,154$55,427

Median home value

$135,000$194,900

Median gross rent

$727$801

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Butler County	Phelps County
Under 5	6.4%	5.3%
5 to 17	16.9%	15.9%
18 to 24	8.0%	15.8%
25 to 34	12.1%	11.8%
35 to 44	11.5%	11.5%
45 to 54	12.7%	10.3%
55 to 64	13.2%	12.6%
65 to 74	11.4%	9.7%
75 and over	7.8%	7.1%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Butler County	Phelps County
White (non-Hispanic)	86.4%	85.7%
Black or African American	4.6%	2.0%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.2%	0.3%
Asian	0.7%	3.4%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.1%	0.0%
Some other race	0.8%	0.4%
Two or more races	4.9%	5.2%
Hispanic or Latino	2.4%	3.0%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Butler County	Phelps County
No high school diploma	15.5%	8.4%
High school graduate	39.8%	33.0%
Some college or associate's	29.5%	27.0%
Bachelor's degree	10.0%	16.4%
Graduate or professional degree	5.2%	15.1%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Butler County	Phelps County
Drove alone	78.6%	73.6%
Carpooled	13.1%	14.0%
Public transit	0.5%	0.1%
Walked	1.6%	3.8%
Bicycle	0.1%	0.7%
Worked from home	4.9%	7.0%
Other means	1.2%	0.9%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Butler County	Phelps County
1-unit, detached	74.3%	63.7%
1-unit, attached	1.2%	2.5%
2 to 4 units	8.3%	14.3%
5 to 19 units	3.3%	6.2%
20 or more units	1.3%	4.7%
Mobile home & other	11.6%	8.6%

Poverty & households

	Butler County	Phelps County
Poverty rate	20.3%	17.2%
Average household size	2.50	2.37
Mean commute (minutes)	20	20
Median year structure built	1980	1984