Howell County vs Phelps County

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

Howell 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 40,168 in Howell County). Phelps County has the higher median household income ($55,427 vs $49,814 in Howell County). Phelps County has the higher median home value ($194,900 vs $161,000 in Howell County).

Population, income & housing

	Howell County	Phelps County
Population	40,168	44,948
Median age	40.1 yrs	36.2 yrs
Median household income	$49,814	$55,427
Median home value	$161,000	$194,900
Median gross rent	$722	$801
Housing units	18,104	20,246
Homeownership rate	68.7%	61.9%
Bachelor's degree or higher	17.5%	31.5%
Unemployment rate	5.0%	4.4%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Howell County	Phelps County
Population	40,104 → 40,168 (+0.2%)	44,630 → 44,948 (+0.7%)
Median household income	$38,357 → $49,814 (+29.9%)	$44,154 → $55,427 (+25.5%)
Median home value	$112,200 → $161,000 (+43.5%)	$135,000 → $194,900 (+44.4%)
Median gross rent	$598 → $722 (+20.7%)	$727 → $801 (+10.2%)

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

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)

	Howell County	Phelps County
Under 5	6.0%	5.3%
5 to 17	18.3%	15.9%
18 to 24	7.6%	15.8%
25 to 34	11.5%	11.8%
35 to 44	11.6%	11.5%
45 to 54	12.0%	10.3%
55 to 64	13.1%	12.6%
65 to 74	11.4%	9.7%
75 and over	8.4%	7.1%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Howell County	Phelps County
White (non-Hispanic)	92.4%	85.7%
Black or African American	0.4%	2.0%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.2%	0.3%
Asian	0.5%	3.4%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.0%	0.0%
Some other race	0.7%	0.4%
Two or more races	3.3%	5.2%
Hispanic or Latino	2.4%	3.0%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Howell County	Phelps County
No high school diploma	14.1%	8.4%
High school graduate	39.3%	33.0%
Some college or associate's	29.1%	27.0%
Bachelor's degree	10.9%	16.4%
Graduate or professional degree	6.6%	15.1%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Howell County	Phelps County
Drove alone	82.2%	73.6%
Carpooled	10.8%	14.0%
Public transit	0.2%	0.1%
Walked	1.3%	3.8%
Bicycle	0.0%	0.7%
Worked from home	3.5%	7.0%
Other means	2.0%	0.9%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Howell County	Phelps County
1-unit, detached	75.0%	63.7%
1-unit, attached	1.5%	2.5%
2 to 4 units	5.8%	14.3%
5 to 19 units	3.1%	6.2%
20 or more units	1.3%	4.7%
Mobile home & other	13.4%	8.6%

Poverty & households

	Howell County	Phelps County
Poverty rate	21.4%	17.2%
Average household size	2.47	2.37
Mean commute (minutes)	21	20
Median year structure built	1983	1984