Jefferson County vs Merrick County

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

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

Merrick County has the higher population (7,696 vs 7,155 in Jefferson County). Merrick County has the higher median household income ($62,849 vs $60,568 in Jefferson County). Merrick County has the higher median home value ($168,000 vs $117,600 in Jefferson County).

Population, income & housing

	Jefferson County	Merrick County
Population	7,155	7,696
Median age	44.7 yrs	42.8 yrs
Median household income	$60,568	$62,849
Median home value	$117,600	$168,000
Median gross rent	$659	$772
Housing units	3,664	3,584
Homeownership rate	72.2%	80.6%
Bachelor's degree or higher	19.7%	17.6%
Unemployment rate	1.1%	0.6%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Jefferson County	Merrick County
Population	7,144 → 7,155 (+0.2%)	7,798 → 7,696 (-1.3%)
Median household income	$44,510 → $60,568 (+36.1%)	$55,649 → $62,849 (+12.9%)
Median home value	$84,000 → $117,600 (+40.0%)	$115,400 → $168,000 (+45.6%)
Median gross rent	$650 → $659 (+1.4%)	$689 → $772 (+12.0%)

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

Merrick County

Population

7,7987,696

Median household income

$55,649$62,849

Median home value

$115,400$168,000

Median gross rent

$689$772

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Jefferson County	Merrick County
Under 5	5.8%	5.7%
5 to 17	16.9%	17.1%
18 to 24	6.9%	6.9%
25 to 34	10.1%	11.6%
35 to 44	10.6%	11.3%
45 to 54	10.5%	11.7%
55 to 64	14.5%	14.4%
65 to 74	13.5%	12.1%
75 and over	11.1%	9.2%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Jefferson County	Merrick County
White (non-Hispanic)	91.1%	91.1%
Black or African American	0.6%	0.0%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.3%	0.0%
Asian	0.0%	0.8%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.0%	0.0%
Some other race	0.0%	0.0%
Two or more races	2.6%	2.6%
Hispanic or Latino	5.3%	5.4%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Jefferson County	Merrick County
No high school diploma	6.9%	7.6%
High school graduate	39.8%	36.6%
Some college or associate's	33.6%	38.2%
Bachelor's degree	14.8%	11.1%
Graduate or professional degree	4.9%	6.5%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Jefferson County	Merrick County
Drove alone	76.5%	84.3%
Carpooled	14.3%	7.1%
Public transit	0.0%	0.1%
Walked	1.9%	3.3%
Bicycle	0.1%	0.0%
Worked from home	5.5%	4.7%
Other means	1.8%	0.5%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Jefferson County	Merrick County
1-unit, detached	82.1%	87.8%
1-unit, attached	1.0%	3.2%
2 to 4 units	6.1%	2.2%
5 to 19 units	3.0%	3.1%
20 or more units	6.4%	0.4%
Mobile home & other	1.6%	3.3%

Poverty & households

	Jefferson County	Merrick County
Poverty rate	9.9%	8.7%
Average household size	2.26	2.35
Mean commute (minutes)	19	21
Median year structure built	1949	1968