Adams County vs Madison County

A side-by-side comparison of Adams County and Madison County: population, income, housing, and more.

Adams County and Madison County are counties in Nebraska. This page compares them across population, income, housing, education, commuting, and how each has changed since 2019.

Madison County has the higher population (35,535 vs 31,034 in Adams County). Adams County has the higher median household income ($65,680 vs $64,637 in Madison County). Madison County has the higher median home value ($196,000 vs $185,800 in Adams County).

Population, income & housing

	Adams County	Madison County
Population	31,034	35,535
Median age	38.8 yrs	37.1 yrs
Median household income	$65,680	$64,637
Median home value	$185,800	$196,000
Median gross rent	$853	$851
Housing units	13,856	15,371
Homeownership rate	68.7%	67.5%
Bachelor's degree or higher	28.8%	23.5%
Unemployment rate	2.3%	2.5%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Adams County	Madison County
Population	31,587 → 31,034 (-1.8%)	35,080 → 35,535 (+1.3%)
Median household income	$53,023 → $65,680 (+23.9%)	$53,188 → $64,637 (+21.5%)
Median home value	$128,500 → $185,800 (+44.6%)	$146,400 → $196,000 (+33.9%)
Median gross rent	$722 → $853 (+18.1%)	$690 → $851 (+23.3%)

Adams County

Population

31,58731,034

Median household income

$53,023$65,680

Median home value

$128,500$185,800

Median gross rent

$722$853

Madison County

Population

35,08035,535

Median household income

$53,188$64,637

Median home value

$146,400$196,000

Median gross rent

$690$851

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Adams County	Madison County
Under 5	6.5%	7.0%
5 to 17	17.6%	18.4%
18 to 24	10.1%	9.2%
25 to 34	11.4%	12.4%
35 to 44	11.7%	12.3%
45 to 54	10.8%	10.5%
55 to 64	13.5%	13.1%
65 to 74	10.7%	9.8%
75 and over	7.8%	7.2%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Adams County	Madison County
White (non-Hispanic)	83.4%	78.2%
Black or African American	1.2%	0.9%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.2%	0.8%
Asian	1.0%	1.2%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.0%	0.0%
Some other race	0.3%	0.0%
Two or more races	1.8%	3.0%
Hispanic or Latino	12.0%	15.9%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Adams County	Madison County
No high school diploma	8.1%	7.8%
High school graduate	25.2%	31.2%
Some college or associate's	37.8%	37.5%
Bachelor's degree	17.7%	15.5%
Graduate or professional degree	11.1%	8.0%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Adams County	Madison County
Drove alone	83.2%	80.2%
Carpooled	8.3%	10.3%
Public transit	0.1%	0.3%
Walked	3.1%	2.4%
Bicycle	0.0%	0.1%
Worked from home	4.2%	5.4%
Other means	1.0%	1.3%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Adams County	Madison County
1-unit, detached	72.6%	68.1%
1-unit, attached	3.8%	3.7%
2 to 4 units	9.8%	5.5%
5 to 19 units	4.3%	10.2%
20 or more units	4.9%	8.8%
Mobile home & other	4.6%	3.7%

Poverty & households

	Adams County	Madison County
Poverty rate	12.8%	11.8%
Average household size	2.31	2.44
Mean commute (minutes)	16	14
Median year structure built	1966	1974