Howard County vs Kearney County

A side-by-side comparison of Howard County and Kearney County: population, income, housing, and more.

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

Kearney County has the higher population (6,697 vs 6,492 in Howard County). Kearney County has the higher median household income ($79,167 vs $74,508 in Howard County). Kearney County has the higher median home value ($218,300 vs $205,200 in Howard County).

Population, income & housing

	Howard County	Kearney County
Population	6,492	6,697
Median age	42.3 yrs	40.3 yrs
Median household income	$74,508	$79,167
Median home value	$205,200	$218,300
Median gross rent	$811	$787
Housing units	2,893	2,985
Homeownership rate	74.1%	78.4%
Bachelor's degree or higher	23.0%	32.9%
Unemployment rate	3.4%	1.4%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Howard County	Kearney County
Population	6,417 → 6,492 (+1.2%)	6,529 → 6,697 (+2.6%)
Median household income	$59,348 → $74,508 (+25.5%)	$60,266 → $79,167 (+31.4%)
Median home value	$148,800 → $205,200 (+37.9%)	$149,700 → $218,300 (+45.8%)
Median gross rent	$685 → $811 (+18.4%)	$695 → $787 (+13.2%)

Howard County

Population

6,4176,492

Median household income

$59,348$74,508

Median home value

$148,800$205,200

Median gross rent

$685$811

Kearney County

Population

6,5296,697

Median household income

$60,266$79,167

Median home value

$149,700$218,300

Median gross rent

$695$787

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Howard County	Kearney County
Under 5	6.8%	6.1%
5 to 17	18.6%	19.2%
18 to 24	5.9%	6.0%
25 to 34	10.4%	11.6%
35 to 44	11.3%	12.1%
45 to 54	11.0%	11.3%
55 to 64	13.8%	13.7%
65 to 74	12.5%	11.2%
75 and over	9.7%	8.9%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Howard County	Kearney County
White (non-Hispanic)	91.8%	91.3%
Black or African American	0.5%	0.0%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.0%	0.4%
Asian	0.0%	0.6%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.0%	0.0%
Some other race	0.0%	0.1%
Two or more races	4.7%	1.1%
Hispanic or Latino	3.0%	6.5%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Howard County	Kearney County
No high school diploma	4.8%	6.0%
High school graduate	35.9%	24.9%
Some college or associate's	36.4%	36.2%
Bachelor's degree	19.0%	27.4%
Graduate or professional degree	3.9%	5.5%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Howard County	Kearney County
Drove alone	81.5%	81.9%
Carpooled	6.7%	7.5%
Public transit	0.0%	0.3%
Walked	2.3%	1.7%
Bicycle	0.0%	0.2%
Worked from home	7.8%	7.7%
Other means	1.6%	0.7%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Howard County	Kearney County
1-unit, detached	90.2%	89.8%
1-unit, attached	1.1%	1.2%
2 to 4 units	2.4%	1.8%
5 to 19 units	1.7%	2.0%
20 or more units	1.5%	0.3%
Mobile home & other	3.1%	4.9%

Poverty & households

	Howard County	Kearney County
Poverty rate	5.4%	6.7%
Average household size	2.58	2.43
Mean commute (minutes)	28	22
Median year structure built	1966	1964