Knox County vs Mercer County

A side-by-side comparison of Knox County and Mercer County: population, income, housing, and more.

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

Knox County has the higher population (3,760 vs 3,501 in Mercer County). Mercer County has the higher median household income ($60,357 vs $53,333 in Knox County). Knox County has the higher median home value ($97,200 vs $95,300 in Mercer County).

Population, income & housing

	Knox County	Mercer County
Population	3,760	3,501
Median age	39.8 yrs	40.8 yrs
Median household income	$53,333	$60,357
Median home value	$97,200	$95,300
Median gross rent	$661	$548
Housing units	1,940	1,908
Homeownership rate	85.9%	79.1%
Bachelor's degree or higher	16.9%	17.9%
Unemployment rate	4.1%	2.3%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Knox County	Mercer County
Population	3,947 → 3,760 (-4.7%)	3,644 → 3,501 (-3.9%)
Median household income	$40,000 → $53,333 (+33.3%)	$47,298 → $60,357 (+27.6%)
Median home value	$75,500 → $97,200 (+28.7%)	$88,900 → $95,300 (+7.2%)
Median gross rent	$556 → $661 (+18.9%)	$495 → $548 (+10.7%)

Knox County

Population

3,9473,760

Median household income

$40,000$53,333

Median home value

$75,500$97,200

Median gross rent

$556$661

Mercer County

Population

3,6443,501

Median household income

$47,298$60,357

Median home value

$88,900$95,300

Median gross rent

$495$548

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Knox County	Mercer County
Under 5	8.0%	7.1%
5 to 17	16.7%	16.9%
18 to 24	8.5%	7.9%
25 to 34	10.3%	10.5%
35 to 44	9.5%	11.2%
45 to 54	11.1%	9.8%
55 to 64	14.8%	14.7%
65 to 74	11.6%	12.2%
75 and over	9.4%	9.5%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Knox County	Mercer County
White (non-Hispanic)	95.3%	91.5%
Black or African American	0.9%	0.3%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.0%	0.4%
Asian	0.2%	1.0%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	1.9%	0.0%
Some other race	0.0%	0.0%
Two or more races	1.3%	2.4%
Hispanic or Latino	0.4%	4.4%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Knox County	Mercer County
No high school diploma	17.1%	9.4%
High school graduate	41.0%	43.9%
Some college or associate's	24.9%	28.8%
Bachelor's degree	9.7%	13.3%
Graduate or professional degree	7.2%	4.6%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Knox County	Mercer County
Drove alone	65.1%	72.4%
Carpooled	6.3%	9.7%
Public transit	2.1%	0.0%
Walked	3.9%	1.6%
Bicycle	0.0%	1.7%
Worked from home	22.3%	13.7%
Other means	0.2%	0.9%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Knox County	Mercer County
1-unit, detached	83.1%	81.9%
1-unit, attached	0.2%	0.9%
2 to 4 units	4.7%	3.8%
5 to 19 units	1.6%	1.2%
20 or more units	0.0%	3.8%
Mobile home & other	10.4%	8.4%

Poverty & households

	Knox County	Mercer County
Poverty rate	14.7%	14.7%
Average household size	3.00	2.66
Mean commute (minutes)	21	24
Median year structure built	1964	1971