Cole County vs Lincoln County

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

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

Cole County has the higher population (76,924 vs 61,636 in Lincoln County). Lincoln County has the higher median household income ($85,276 vs $73,273 in Cole County). Lincoln County has the higher median home value ($224,800 vs $214,400 in Cole County).

Population, income & housing

	Cole County	Lincoln County
Population	76,924	61,636
Median age	39.7 yrs	37.5 yrs
Median household income	$73,273	$85,276
Median home value	$214,400	$224,800
Median gross rent	$804	$972
Housing units	33,385	23,600
Homeownership rate	67.4%	78.3%
Bachelor's degree or higher	37.5%	18.4%
Unemployment rate	3.0%	3.2%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Cole County	Lincoln County
Population	76,723 → 76,924 (+0.3%)	56,477 → 61,636 (+9.1%)
Median household income	$60,066 → $73,273 (+22.0%)	$64,196 → $85,276 (+32.8%)
Median home value	$162,300 → $214,400 (+32.1%)	$163,300 → $224,800 (+37.7%)
Median gross rent	$661 → $804 (+21.6%)	$854 → $972 (+13.8%)

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

Lincoln County

Population

56,47761,636

Median household income

$64,196$85,276

Median home value

$163,300$224,800

Median gross rent

$854$972

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Cole County	Lincoln County
Under 5	5.8%	6.8%
5 to 17	16.4%	18.5%
18 to 24	8.5%	7.3%
25 to 34	13.1%	13.8%
35 to 44	13.6%	13.5%
45 to 54	11.9%	12.0%
55 to 64	13.0%	13.8%
65 to 74	10.5%	9.1%
75 and over	7.0%	5.2%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Cole County	Lincoln County
White (non-Hispanic)	79.7%	92.1%
Black or African American	11.2%	1.7%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.1%	0.0%
Asian	1.6%	0.3%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.0%	0.1%
Some other race	0.5%	0.1%
Two or more races	3.4%	2.8%
Hispanic or Latino	3.5%	2.8%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Cole County	Lincoln County
No high school diploma	6.4%	8.9%
High school graduate	29.5%	40.6%
Some college or associate's	26.7%	32.1%
Bachelor's degree	23.7%	13.4%
Graduate or professional degree	13.8%	5.0%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Cole County	Lincoln County
Drove alone	80.8%	81.4%
Carpooled	8.2%	8.4%
Public transit	0.4%	0.3%
Walked	1.3%	2.4%
Bicycle	0.1%	0.0%
Worked from home	7.3%	6.6%
Other means	1.9%	0.9%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Cole County	Lincoln County
1-unit, detached	69.5%	74.7%
1-unit, attached	2.9%	1.7%
2 to 4 units	14.8%	4.2%
5 to 19 units	6.7%	2.7%
20 or more units	3.7%	0.4%
Mobile home & other	2.4%	16.3%

Poverty & households

	Cole County	Lincoln County
Poverty rate	9.3%	10.7%
Average household size	2.36	2.72
Mean commute (minutes)	18	32
Median year structure built	1981	1996