Carter County vs Shelby County

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

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

Shelby County has the higher population (6,011 vs 5,269 in Carter County). Shelby County has the higher median household income ($52,127 vs $45,083 in Carter County). Carter County has the higher median home value ($147,600 vs $86,200 in Shelby County).

Population, income & housing

	Carter County	Shelby County
Population	5,269	6,011
Median age	39.6 yrs	43.6 yrs
Median household income	$45,083	$52,127
Median home value	$147,600	$86,200
Median gross rent	$661	$570
Housing units	2,692	2,952
Homeownership rate	64.1%	75.0%
Bachelor's degree or higher	13.3%	18.0%
Unemployment rate	2.9%	1.0%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Carter County	Shelby County
Population	6,147 → 5,269 (-14.3%)	6,013 → 6,011 (-0.0%)
Median household income	$39,530 → $45,083 (+14.0%)	$44,083 → $52,127 (+18.2%)
Median home value	$101,500 → $147,600 (+45.4%)	$72,200 → $86,200 (+19.4%)
Median gross rent	$621 → $661 (+6.4%)	$564 → $570 (+1.1%)

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

Shelby County

Population

6,0136,011

Median household income

$44,083$52,127

Median home value

$72,200$86,200

Median gross rent

$564$570

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Carter County	Shelby County
Under 5	6.6%	6.4%
5 to 17	17.6%	17.4%
18 to 24	8.1%	6.9%
25 to 34	9.9%	10.5%
35 to 44	12.6%	11.9%
45 to 54	10.1%	10.1%
55 to 64	15.0%	15.1%
65 to 74	12.0%	12.1%
75 and over	8.2%	9.5%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Carter County	Shelby County
White (non-Hispanic)	93.0%	94.2%
Black or African American	0.6%	0.6%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.0%	0.0%
Asian	0.1%	1.2%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.0%	0.0%
Some other race	0.0%	0.0%
Two or more races	4.3%	1.7%
Hispanic or Latino	2.0%	2.2%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Carter County	Shelby County
No high school diploma	14.8%	10.0%
High school graduate	47.2%	45.0%
Some college or associate's	24.6%	27.0%
Bachelor's degree	7.0%	12.7%
Graduate or professional degree	6.3%	5.4%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Carter County	Shelby County
Drove alone	73.6%	83.0%
Carpooled	14.6%	6.7%
Public transit	0.1%	0.0%
Walked	2.6%	5.3%
Bicycle	0.0%	0.0%
Worked from home	7.9%	4.6%
Other means	1.1%	0.4%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Carter County	Shelby County
1-unit, detached	69.7%	77.8%
1-unit, attached	0.1%	0.9%
2 to 4 units	6.8%	5.3%
5 to 19 units	0.4%	1.5%
20 or more units	0.9%	3.0%
Mobile home & other	22.1%	11.6%

Poverty & households

	Carter County	Shelby County
Poverty rate	19.2%	15.6%
Average household size	2.66	2.44
Mean commute (minutes)	21	21
Median year structure built	1984	1968