Carter County vs Putnam County

A side-by-side comparison of Carter County and Putnam County: population, income, housing, and more.

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

Carter County has the higher population (5,269 vs 4,675 in Putnam County). Putnam County has the higher median household income ($56,875 vs $45,083 in Carter County). Carter County has the higher median home value ($147,600 vs $111,600 in Putnam County).

Population, income & housing

	Carter County	Putnam County
Population	5,269	4,675
Median age	39.6 yrs	45.6 yrs
Median household income	$45,083	$56,875
Median home value	$147,600	$111,600
Median gross rent	$661	$575
Housing units	2,692	2,845
Homeownership rate	64.1%	81.2%
Bachelor's degree or higher	13.3%	19.3%
Unemployment rate	2.9%	3.8%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Carter County	Putnam County
Population	6,147 → 5,269 (-14.3%)	4,781 → 4,675 (-2.2%)
Median household income	$39,530 → $45,083 (+14.0%)	$42,849 → $56,875 (+32.7%)
Median home value	$101,500 → $147,600 (+45.4%)	$96,600 → $111,600 (+15.5%)
Median gross rent	$621 → $661 (+6.4%)	$572 → $575 (+0.5%)

Carter County

Population

6,1475,269

Median household income

$39,530$45,083

Median home value

$101,500$147,600

Median gross rent

$621$661

Putnam County

Population

4,7814,675

Median household income

$42,849$56,875

Median home value

$96,600$111,600

Median gross rent

$572$575

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Carter County	Putnam County
Under 5	6.6%	6.2%
5 to 17	17.6%	16.1%
18 to 24	8.1%	4.8%
25 to 34	9.9%	11.7%
35 to 44	12.6%	10.8%
45 to 54	10.1%	11.1%
55 to 64	15.0%	14.2%
65 to 74	12.0%	14.2%
75 and over	8.2%	10.9%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Carter County	Putnam County
White (non-Hispanic)	93.0%	95.3%
Black or African American	0.6%	0.1%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.0%	0.4%
Asian	0.1%	0.0%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.0%	0.0%
Some other race	0.0%	0.0%
Two or more races	4.3%	1.3%
Hispanic or Latino	2.0%	2.8%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Carter County	Putnam County
No high school diploma	14.8%	6.1%
High school graduate	47.2%	40.0%
Some college or associate's	24.6%	34.6%
Bachelor's degree	7.0%	13.6%
Graduate or professional degree	6.3%	5.7%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Carter County	Putnam County
Drove alone	73.6%	77.8%
Carpooled	14.6%	11.8%
Public transit	0.1%	0.0%
Walked	2.6%	1.0%
Bicycle	0.0%	0.0%
Worked from home	7.9%	9.3%
Other means	1.1%	0.0%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Carter County	Putnam County
1-unit, detached	69.7%	81.1%
1-unit, attached	0.1%	1.4%
2 to 4 units	6.8%	6.2%
5 to 19 units	0.4%	0.3%
20 or more units	0.9%	0.0%
Mobile home & other	22.1%	11.0%

Poverty & households

	Carter County	Putnam County
Poverty rate	19.2%	16.2%
Average household size	2.66	2.45
Mean commute (minutes)	21	20
Median year structure built	1984	1977