Athens County vs Union County

A side-by-side comparison of Athens County and Union County: population, income, housing, and more.

Athens County and Union County are counties in Ohio. This page compares them across population, income, housing, education, commuting, and how each has changed since 2019.

Union County has the higher population (65,293 vs 61,573 in Athens County). Union County has the higher median household income ($109,506 vs $53,837 in Athens County). Union County has the higher median home value ($306,600 vs $173,800 in Athens County).

Population, income & housing

	Athens County	Union County
Population	61,573	65,293
Median age	32.8 yrs	38.1 yrs
Median household income	$53,837	$109,506
Median home value	$173,800	$306,600
Median gross rent	$903	$1,188
Housing units	26,466	24,298
Homeownership rate	61.9%	79.4%
Bachelor's degree or higher	35.4%	39.1%
Unemployment rate	5.8%	2.4%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Athens County	Union County
Population	65,917 → 61,573 (-6.6%)	56,707 → 65,293 (+15.1%)
Median household income	$40,905 → $53,837 (+31.6%)	$86,715 → $109,506 (+26.3%)
Median home value	$129,600 → $173,800 (+34.1%)	$203,800 → $306,600 (+50.4%)
Median gross rent	$791 → $903 (+14.2%)	$982 → $1,188 (+21.0%)

Athens County

Population

65,91761,573

Median household income

$40,905$53,837

Median home value

$129,600$173,800

Median gross rent

$791$903

Union County

Population

56,70765,293

Median household income

$86,715$109,506

Median home value

$203,800$306,600

Median gross rent

$982$1,188

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Athens County	Union County
Under 5	3.7%	6.2%
5 to 17	11.1%	18.1%
18 to 24	26.1%	7.6%
25 to 34	12.0%	13.1%
35 to 44	10.7%	15.7%
45 to 54	10.1%	14.0%
55 to 64	11.6%	12.3%
65 to 74	9.4%	8.1%
75 and over	5.3%	4.9%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Athens County	Union County
White (non-Hispanic)	89.2%	85.9%
Black or African American	2.5%	2.4%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.1%	0.1%
Asian	2.1%	4.8%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.0%	0.0%
Some other race	0.1%	0.4%
Two or more races	3.8%	3.5%
Hispanic or Latino	2.2%	2.9%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Athens County	Union County
No high school diploma	8.2%	4.8%
High school graduate	29.8%	30.1%
Some college or associate's	26.6%	26.0%
Bachelor's degree	16.6%	25.3%
Graduate or professional degree	18.8%	13.8%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Athens County	Union County
Drove alone	67.1%	71.8%
Carpooled	7.2%	5.8%
Public transit	0.8%	0.6%
Walked	11.7%	0.5%
Bicycle	0.9%	0.1%
Worked from home	11.7%	19.9%
Other means	0.7%	1.3%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Athens County	Union County
1-unit, detached	60.0%	80.6%
1-unit, attached	2.8%	3.6%
2 to 4 units	10.2%	5.6%
5 to 19 units	6.0%	5.0%
20 or more units	7.6%	1.5%
Mobile home & other	13.4%	3.7%

Poverty & households

	Athens County	Union County
Poverty rate	22.1%	5.1%
Average household size	2.37	2.67
Mean commute (minutes)	23	26
Median year structure built	1978	1995