Brown County vs Harlan County

A side-by-side comparison of Brown County and Harlan County: population, income, housing, and more.

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

Harlan County has the higher population (3,006 vs 2,739 in Brown County). Harlan County has the higher median household income ($70,536 vs $51,538 in Brown County). Harlan County has the higher median home value ($147,200 vs $100,200 in Brown County).

Population, income & housing

	Brown County	Harlan County
Population	2,739	3,006
Median age	45.9 yrs	47.1 yrs
Median household income	$51,538	$70,536
Median home value	$100,200	$147,200
Median gross rent	$932	$708
Housing units	1,645	1,890
Homeownership rate	73.8%	84.8%
Bachelor's degree or higher	21.2%	24.2%
Unemployment rate	0.8%	1.6%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Brown County	Harlan County
Population	3,015 → 2,739 (-9.2%)	3,415 → 3,006 (-12.0%)
Median household income	$43,098 → $51,538 (+19.6%)	$49,835 → $70,536 (+41.5%)
Median home value	$79,700 → $100,200 (+25.7%)	$102,700 → $147,200 (+43.3%)
Median gross rent	$529 → $932 (+76.2%)	$634 → $708 (+11.7%)

Brown County

Population

3,0152,739

Median household income

$43,098$51,538

Median home value

$79,700$100,200

Median gross rent

$529$932

Harlan County

Population

3,4153,006

Median household income

$49,835$70,536

Median home value

$102,700$147,200

Median gross rent

$634$708

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Brown County	Harlan County
Under 5	6.3%	5.8%
5 to 17	14.4%	17.5%
18 to 24	7.4%	6.1%
25 to 34	10.0%	8.1%
35 to 44	10.6%	10.1%
45 to 54	9.8%	9.1%
55 to 64	14.2%	16.3%
65 to 74	15.3%	14.3%
75 and over	11.9%	12.6%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Brown County	Harlan County
White (non-Hispanic)	89.1%	93.6%
Black or African American	0.0%	0.2%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.3%	0.0%
Asian	0.0%	1.3%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.0%	0.0%
Some other race	0.5%	0.0%
Two or more races	4.2%	2.6%
Hispanic or Latino	5.8%	2.3%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Brown County	Harlan County
No high school diploma	7.7%	7.5%
High school graduate	31.8%	28.7%
Some college or associate's	39.2%	39.7%
Bachelor's degree	13.6%	17.2%
Graduate or professional degree	7.6%	7.0%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Brown County	Harlan County
Drove alone	78.4%	74.6%
Carpooled	8.9%	13.1%
Public transit	0.0%	0.2%
Walked	4.2%	5.5%
Bicycle	0.7%	0.4%
Worked from home	7.7%	6.0%
Other means	0.0%	0.3%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Brown County	Harlan County
1-unit, detached	82.4%	75.4%
1-unit, attached	0.1%	0.9%
2 to 4 units	5.9%	0.7%
5 to 19 units	0.6%	1.0%
20 or more units	4.0%	0.5%
Mobile home & other	7.0%	21.5%

Poverty & households

	Brown County	Harlan County
Poverty rate	12.1%	7.2%
Average household size	2.24	2.46
Mean commute (minutes)	10	21
Median year structure built	1962	1966