Keith County vs Merrick County

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

Keith 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.

Keith County has the higher population (8,239 vs 7,696 in Merrick County). Merrick County has the higher median household income ($62,849 vs $58,132 in Keith County). Merrick County has the higher median home value ($168,000 vs $157,000 in Keith County).

Population, income & housing

	Keith County	Merrick County
Population	8,239	7,696
Median age	49.0 yrs	42.8 yrs
Median household income	$58,132	$62,849
Median home value	$157,000	$168,000
Median gross rent	$772	$772
Housing units	5,395	3,584
Homeownership rate	70.8%	80.6%
Bachelor's degree or higher	21.3%	17.6%
Unemployment rate	2.0%	0.6%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Keith County	Merrick County
Population	8,068 → 8,239 (+2.1%)	7,798 → 7,696 (-1.3%)
Median household income	$50,735 → $58,132 (+14.6%)	$55,649 → $62,849 (+12.9%)
Median home value	$128,300 → $157,000 (+22.4%)	$115,400 → $168,000 (+45.6%)
Median gross rent	$633 → $772 (+22.0%)	$689 → $772 (+12.0%)

Keith County

Population

8,0688,239

Median household income

$50,735$58,132

Median home value

$128,300$157,000

Median gross rent

$633$772

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)

	Keith County	Merrick County
Under 5	4.6%	5.7%
5 to 17	16.2%	17.1%
18 to 24	5.5%	6.9%
25 to 34	8.7%	11.6%
35 to 44	10.4%	11.3%
45 to 54	12.2%	11.7%
55 to 64	14.9%	14.4%
65 to 74	14.6%	12.1%
75 and over	12.9%	9.2%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Keith County	Merrick County
White (non-Hispanic)	86.1%	91.1%
Black or African American	1.3%	0.0%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.0%	0.0%
Asian	0.6%	0.8%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.0%	0.0%
Some other race	0.0%	0.0%
Two or more races	3.0%	2.6%
Hispanic or Latino	9.0%	5.4%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Keith County	Merrick County
No high school diploma	9.2%	7.6%
High school graduate	30.1%	36.6%
Some college or associate's	39.4%	38.2%
Bachelor's degree	14.8%	11.1%
Graduate or professional degree	6.5%	6.5%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Keith County	Merrick County
Drove alone	79.1%	84.3%
Carpooled	6.4%	7.1%
Public transit	0.3%	0.1%
Walked	2.4%	3.3%
Bicycle	0.0%	0.0%
Worked from home	11.1%	4.7%
Other means	0.6%	0.5%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Keith County	Merrick County
1-unit, detached	69.5%	87.8%
1-unit, attached	1.7%	3.2%
2 to 4 units	5.2%	2.2%
5 to 19 units	3.4%	3.1%
20 or more units	1.9%	0.4%
Mobile home & other	18.3%	3.3%

Poverty & households

	Keith County	Merrick County
Poverty rate	10.7%	8.7%
Average household size	2.07	2.35
Mean commute (minutes)	16	21
Median year structure built	1974	1968