Howell County vs Lawrence County

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

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

Howell County has the higher population (40,168 vs 38,392 in Lawrence County). Lawrence County has the higher median household income ($55,849 vs $49,814 in Howell County). Howell County has the higher median home value ($161,000 vs $159,800 in Lawrence County).

Population, income & housing

	Howell County	Lawrence County
Population	40,168	38,392
Median age	40.1 yrs	39.0 yrs
Median household income	$49,814	$55,849
Median home value	$161,000	$159,800
Median gross rent	$722	$785
Housing units	18,104	16,280
Homeownership rate	68.7%	72.8%
Bachelor's degree or higher	17.5%	16.6%
Unemployment rate	5.0%	5.0%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Howell County	Lawrence County
Population	40,104 → 40,168 (+0.2%)	38,204 → 38,392 (+0.5%)
Median household income	$38,357 → $49,814 (+29.9%)	$44,742 → $55,849 (+24.8%)
Median home value	$112,200 → $161,000 (+43.5%)	$109,600 → $159,800 (+45.8%)
Median gross rent	$598 → $722 (+20.7%)	$681 → $785 (+15.3%)

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

Lawrence County

Population

38,20438,392

Median household income

$44,742$55,849

Median home value

$109,600$159,800

Median gross rent

$681$785

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Howell County	Lawrence County
Under 5	6.0%	6.6%
5 to 17	18.3%	18.9%
18 to 24	7.6%	8.0%
25 to 34	11.5%	11.5%
35 to 44	11.6%	12.2%
45 to 54	12.0%	11.7%
55 to 64	13.1%	13.0%
65 to 74	11.4%	10.2%
75 and over	8.4%	7.9%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Howell County	Lawrence County
White (non-Hispanic)	92.4%	86.8%
Black or African American	0.4%	0.3%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.2%	0.3%
Asian	0.5%	0.5%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.0%	0.0%
Some other race	0.7%	0.4%
Two or more races	3.3%	3.5%
Hispanic or Latino	2.4%	8.2%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Howell County	Lawrence County
No high school diploma	14.1%	14.5%
High school graduate	39.3%	39.1%
Some college or associate's	29.1%	29.8%
Bachelor's degree	10.9%	10.7%
Graduate or professional degree	6.6%	5.9%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Howell County	Lawrence County
Drove alone	82.2%	74.5%
Carpooled	10.8%	11.1%
Public transit	0.2%	0.1%
Walked	1.3%	1.2%
Bicycle	0.0%	0.3%
Worked from home	3.5%	10.9%
Other means	2.0%	2.0%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Howell County	Lawrence County
1-unit, detached	75.0%	77.8%
1-unit, attached	1.5%	0.8%
2 to 4 units	5.8%	7.0%
5 to 19 units	3.1%	2.7%
20 or more units	1.3%	0.6%
Mobile home & other	13.4%	11.1%

Poverty & households

	Howell County	Lawrence County
Poverty rate	21.4%	16.5%
Average household size	2.47	2.57
Mean commute (minutes)	21	25
Median year structure built	1983	1979