Jefferson County vs Kearney County

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

Jefferson 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.

Jefferson County has the higher population (7,155 vs 6,697 in Kearney County). Kearney County has the higher median household income ($79,167 vs $60,568 in Jefferson County). Kearney County has the higher median home value ($218,300 vs $117,600 in Jefferson County).

Population, income & housing

	Jefferson County	Kearney County
Population	7,155	6,697
Median age	44.7 yrs	40.3 yrs
Median household income	$60,568	$79,167
Median home value	$117,600	$218,300
Median gross rent	$659	$787
Housing units	3,664	2,985
Homeownership rate	72.2%	78.4%
Bachelor's degree or higher	19.7%	32.9%
Unemployment rate	1.1%	1.4%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Jefferson County	Kearney County
Population	7,144 → 7,155 (+0.2%)	6,529 → 6,697 (+2.6%)
Median household income	$44,510 → $60,568 (+36.1%)	$60,266 → $79,167 (+31.4%)
Median home value	$84,000 → $117,600 (+40.0%)	$149,700 → $218,300 (+45.8%)
Median gross rent	$650 → $659 (+1.4%)	$695 → $787 (+13.2%)

Jefferson County

Population

7,1447,155

Median household income

$44,510$60,568

Median home value

$84,000$117,600

Median gross rent

$650$659

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)

	Jefferson County	Kearney County
Under 5	5.8%	6.1%
5 to 17	16.9%	19.2%
18 to 24	6.9%	6.0%
25 to 34	10.1%	11.6%
35 to 44	10.6%	12.1%
45 to 54	10.5%	11.3%
55 to 64	14.5%	13.7%
65 to 74	13.5%	11.2%
75 and over	11.1%	8.9%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Jefferson County	Kearney County
White (non-Hispanic)	91.1%	91.3%
Black or African American	0.6%	0.0%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.3%	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	2.6%	1.1%
Hispanic or Latino	5.3%	6.5%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Jefferson County	Kearney County
No high school diploma	6.9%	6.0%
High school graduate	39.8%	24.9%
Some college or associate's	33.6%	36.2%
Bachelor's degree	14.8%	27.4%
Graduate or professional degree	4.9%	5.5%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Jefferson County	Kearney County
Drove alone	76.5%	81.9%
Carpooled	14.3%	7.5%
Public transit	0.0%	0.3%
Walked	1.9%	1.7%
Bicycle	0.1%	0.2%
Worked from home	5.5%	7.7%
Other means	1.8%	0.7%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Jefferson County	Kearney County
1-unit, detached	82.1%	89.8%
1-unit, attached	1.0%	1.2%
2 to 4 units	6.1%	1.8%
5 to 19 units	3.0%	2.0%
20 or more units	6.4%	0.3%
Mobile home & other	1.6%	4.9%

Poverty & households

	Jefferson County	Kearney County
Poverty rate	9.9%	6.7%
Average household size	2.26	2.43
Mean commute (minutes)	19	22
Median year structure built	1949	1964