Jefferson County vs Thurston County

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

Jefferson County and Thurston 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 6,666 in Thurston County). Thurston County has the higher median household income ($64,838 vs $60,568 in Jefferson County). Jefferson County has the higher median home value ($117,600 vs $105,100 in Thurston County).

Population, income & housing

	Jefferson County	Thurston County
Population	7,155	6,666
Median age	44.7 yrs	28.7 yrs
Median household income	$60,568	$64,838
Median home value	$117,600	$105,100
Median gross rent	$659	$698
Housing units	3,664	2,290
Homeownership rate	72.2%	61.1%
Bachelor's degree or higher	19.7%	20.2%
Unemployment rate	1.1%	10.3%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Jefferson County	Thurston County
Population	7,144 → 7,155 (+0.2%)	7,181 → 6,666 (-7.2%)
Median household income	$44,510 → $60,568 (+36.1%)	$51,034 → $64,838 (+27.0%)
Median home value	$84,000 → $117,600 (+40.0%)	$79,800 → $105,100 (+31.7%)
Median gross rent	$650 → $659 (+1.4%)	$611 → $698 (+14.2%)

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

Thurston County

Population

7,1816,666

Median household income

$51,034$64,838

Median home value

$79,800$105,100

Median gross rent

$611$698

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Jefferson County	Thurston County
Under 5	5.8%	9.2%
5 to 17	16.9%	25.2%
18 to 24	6.9%	10.2%
25 to 34	10.1%	12.8%
35 to 44	10.6%	10.3%
45 to 54	10.5%	9.2%
55 to 64	14.5%	10.7%
65 to 74	13.5%	7.5%
75 and over	11.1%	5.0%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Jefferson County	Thurston County
White (non-Hispanic)	91.1%	36.4%
Black or African American	0.6%	0.2%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.3%	54.8%
Asian	0.0%	0.9%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.0%	0.0%
Some other race	0.0%	0.4%
Two or more races	2.6%	3.0%
Hispanic or Latino	5.3%	4.4%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Jefferson County	Thurston County
No high school diploma	6.9%	7.6%
High school graduate	39.8%	33.9%
Some college or associate's	33.6%	38.2%
Bachelor's degree	14.8%	14.1%
Graduate or professional degree	4.9%	6.2%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Jefferson County	Thurston County
Drove alone	76.5%	78.8%
Carpooled	14.3%	8.9%
Public transit	0.0%	2.4%
Walked	1.9%	4.4%
Bicycle	0.1%	0.0%
Worked from home	5.5%	5.2%
Other means	1.8%	0.4%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Jefferson County	Thurston County
1-unit, detached	82.1%	80.3%
1-unit, attached	1.0%	1.8%
2 to 4 units	6.1%	5.9%
5 to 19 units	3.0%	7.4%
20 or more units	6.4%	0.3%
Mobile home & other	1.6%	4.3%

Poverty & households

	Jefferson County	Thurston County
Poverty rate	9.9%	18.0%
Average household size	2.26	3.32
Mean commute (minutes)	19	22
Median year structure built	1949	1971