Ripley County vs Wayne County

A side-by-side comparison of Ripley County and Wayne County: population, income, housing, and more.

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

Wayne County has the higher population (10,942 vs 10,755 in Ripley County). Ripley County has the higher median household income ($43,898 vs $43,393 in Wayne County). Wayne County has the higher median home value ($113,100 vs $110,800 in Ripley County).

Population, income & housing

	Ripley County	Wayne County
Population	10,755	10,942
Median age	41.4 yrs	48.2 yrs
Median household income	$43,898	$43,393
Median home value	$110,800	$113,100
Median gross rent	$666	$632
Housing units	5,191	6,148
Homeownership rate	78.9%	76.0%
Bachelor's degree or higher	12.9%	11.0%
Unemployment rate	4.6%	7.7%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Ripley County	Wayne County
Population	13,567 → 10,755 (-20.7%)	13,195 → 10,942 (-17.1%)
Median household income	$34,971 → $43,898 (+25.5%)	$34,316 → $43,393 (+26.5%)
Median home value	$83,800 → $110,800 (+32.2%)	$85,100 → $113,100 (+32.9%)
Median gross rent	$574 → $666 (+16.0%)	$566 → $632 (+11.7%)

Ripley County

Population

13,56710,755

Median household income

$34,971$43,898

Median home value

$83,800$110,800

Median gross rent

$574$666

Wayne County

Population

13,19510,942

Median household income

$34,316$43,393

Median home value

$85,100$113,100

Median gross rent

$566$632

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Ripley County	Wayne County
Under 5	6.5%	4.4%
5 to 17	16.9%	15.8%
18 to 24	6.7%	6.3%
25 to 34	11.8%	9.1%
35 to 44	11.4%	11.1%
45 to 54	11.9%	12.0%
55 to 64	14.7%	16.8%
65 to 74	11.7%	13.9%
75 and over	8.5%	10.4%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Ripley County	Wayne County
White (non-Hispanic)	93.3%	92.8%
Black or African American	0.2%	0.4%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.3%	0.0%
Asian	0.5%	0.2%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.0%	0.0%
Some other race	0.2%	1.0%
Two or more races	4.3%	4.6%
Hispanic or Latino	1.2%	1.0%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Ripley County	Wayne County
No high school diploma	16.3%	19.3%
High school graduate	38.9%	41.8%
Some college or associate's	31.8%	28.0%
Bachelor's degree	9.0%	7.6%
Graduate or professional degree	4.0%	3.4%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Ripley County	Wayne County
Drove alone	77.2%	76.7%
Carpooled	10.9%	13.6%
Public transit	0.0%	0.8%
Walked	1.9%	1.1%
Bicycle	0.0%	0.0%
Worked from home	9.6%	6.9%
Other means	0.4%	0.8%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Ripley County	Wayne County
1-unit, detached	73.1%	75.9%
1-unit, attached	0.7%	0.4%
2 to 4 units	3.6%	3.0%
5 to 19 units	1.6%	1.1%
20 or more units	0.2%	0.5%
Mobile home & other	20.9%	19.1%

Poverty & households

	Ripley County	Wayne County
Poverty rate	19.7%	25.1%
Average household size	2.64	2.39
Mean commute (minutes)	35	33
Median year structure built	1983	1979