Mercer County vs Scotland County

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

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

Scotland County has the higher population (4,698 vs 3,501 in Mercer County). Scotland County has the higher median household income ($67,568 vs $60,357 in Mercer County). Scotland County has the higher median home value ($141,100 vs $95,300 in Mercer County).

Population, income & housing

	Mercer County	Scotland County
Population	3,501	4,698
Median age	40.8 yrs	36.3 yrs
Median household income	$60,357	$67,568
Median home value	$95,300	$141,100
Median gross rent	$548	$516
Housing units	1,908	2,215
Homeownership rate	79.1%	83.0%
Bachelor's degree or higher	17.9%	14.5%
Unemployment rate	2.3%	0.8%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Mercer County	Scotland County
Population	3,644 → 3,501 (-3.9%)	4,902 → 4,698 (-4.2%)
Median household income	$47,298 → $60,357 (+27.6%)	$50,085 → $67,568 (+34.9%)
Median home value	$88,900 → $95,300 (+7.2%)	$113,000 → $141,100 (+24.9%)
Median gross rent	$495 → $548 (+10.7%)	$511 → $516 (+1.0%)

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

Scotland County

Population

4,9024,698

Median household income

$50,085$67,568

Median home value

$113,000$141,100

Median gross rent

$511$516

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Mercer County	Scotland County
Under 5	7.1%	7.7%
5 to 17	16.9%	22.1%
18 to 24	7.9%	7.4%
25 to 34	10.5%	11.6%
35 to 44	11.2%	11.6%
45 to 54	9.8%	8.1%
55 to 64	14.7%	12.5%
65 to 74	12.2%	9.9%
75 and over	9.5%	9.1%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Mercer County	Scotland County
White (non-Hispanic)	91.5%	96.7%
Black or African American	0.3%	0.1%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.4%	0.2%
Asian	1.0%	0.1%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.0%	0.5%
Some other race	0.0%	0.0%
Two or more races	2.4%	2.3%
Hispanic or Latino	4.4%	0.1%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Mercer County	Scotland County
No high school diploma	9.4%	21.6%
High school graduate	43.9%	38.3%
Some college or associate's	28.8%	25.6%
Bachelor's degree	13.3%	9.3%
Graduate or professional degree	4.6%	5.2%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Mercer County	Scotland County
Drove alone	72.4%	81.2%
Carpooled	9.7%	6.4%
Public transit	0.0%	0.0%
Walked	1.6%	1.9%
Bicycle	1.7%	0.3%
Worked from home	13.7%	9.4%
Other means	0.9%	0.9%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Mercer County	Scotland County
1-unit, detached	81.9%	82.8%
1-unit, attached	0.9%	0.8%
2 to 4 units	3.8%	6.8%
5 to 19 units	1.2%	2.0%
20 or more units	3.8%	0.0%
Mobile home & other	8.4%	7.7%

Poverty & households

	Mercer County	Scotland County
Poverty rate	14.7%	7.1%
Average household size	2.66	3.00
Mean commute (minutes)	24	19
Median year structure built	1971	1969