Merrick County vs Pierce County

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

Merrick County and Pierce 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 7,312 in Pierce County). Pierce County has the higher median household income ($75,938 vs $62,849 in Merrick County). Pierce County has the higher median home value ($182,700 vs $168,000 in Merrick County).

Population, income & housing

	Merrick County	Pierce County
Population	7,696	7,312
Median age	42.8 yrs	39.7 yrs
Median household income	$62,849	$75,938
Median home value	$168,000	$182,700
Median gross rent	$772	$850
Housing units	3,584	3,137
Homeownership rate	80.6%	78.5%
Bachelor's degree or higher	17.6%	22.9%
Unemployment rate	0.6%	2.2%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Merrick County	Pierce County
Population	7,798 → 7,696 (-1.3%)	7,144 → 7,312 (+2.4%)
Median household income	$55,649 → $62,849 (+12.9%)	$64,511 → $75,938 (+17.7%)
Median home value	$115,400 → $168,000 (+45.6%)	$132,700 → $182,700 (+37.7%)
Median gross rent	$689 → $772 (+12.0%)	$636 → $850 (+33.6%)

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

Pierce County

Population

7,1447,312

Median household income

$64,511$75,938

Median home value

$132,700$182,700

Median gross rent

$636$850

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Merrick County	Pierce County
Under 5	5.7%	7.1%
5 to 17	17.1%	18.3%
18 to 24	6.9%	6.9%
25 to 34	11.6%	10.5%
35 to 44	11.3%	12.4%
45 to 54	11.7%	10.6%
55 to 64	14.4%	14.6%
65 to 74	12.1%	10.7%
75 and over	9.2%	8.9%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Merrick County	Pierce County
White (non-Hispanic)	91.1%	94.5%
Black or African American	0.0%	0.4%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.0%	0.4%
Asian	0.8%	0.2%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.0%	0.0%
Some other race	0.0%	0.1%
Two or more races	2.6%	1.9%
Hispanic or Latino	5.4%	2.5%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Merrick County	Pierce County
No high school diploma	7.6%	5.6%
High school graduate	36.6%	30.2%
Some college or associate's	38.2%	41.3%
Bachelor's degree	11.1%	17.1%
Graduate or professional degree	6.5%	5.8%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Merrick County	Pierce County
Drove alone	84.3%	80.6%
Carpooled	7.1%	6.6%
Public transit	0.1%	0.0%
Walked	3.3%	2.9%
Bicycle	0.0%	0.6%
Worked from home	4.7%	8.9%
Other means	0.5%	0.3%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Merrick County	Pierce County
1-unit, detached	87.8%	91.0%
1-unit, attached	3.2%	1.2%
2 to 4 units	2.2%	1.7%
5 to 19 units	3.1%	2.2%
20 or more units	0.4%	0.0%
Mobile home & other	3.3%	3.9%

Poverty & households

	Merrick County	Pierce County
Poverty rate	8.7%	8.0%
Average household size	2.35	2.52
Mean commute (minutes)	21	21
Median year structure built	1968	1959