Darke County vs Shelby County

A side-by-side comparison of Darke County and Shelby County: population, income, housing, and more.

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

Darke County has the higher population (51,655 vs 48,007 in Shelby County). Shelby County has the higher median household income ($72,822 vs $64,654 in Darke County). Shelby County has the higher median home value ($190,300 vs $169,100 in Darke County).

Population, income & housing

	Darke County	Shelby County
Population	51,655	48,007
Median age	42.0 yrs	40.1 yrs
Median household income	$64,654	$72,822
Median home value	$169,100	$190,300
Median gross rent	$747	$904
Housing units	22,643	20,113
Homeownership rate	72.0%	73.7%
Bachelor's degree or higher	16.5%	20.6%
Unemployment rate	2.7%	4.6%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Darke County	Shelby County
Population	51,513 → 51,655 (+0.3%)	48,749 → 48,007 (-1.5%)
Median household income	$55,620 → $64,654 (+16.2%)	$63,806 → $72,822 (+14.1%)
Median home value	$123,300 → $169,100 (+37.1%)	$145,600 → $190,300 (+30.7%)
Median gross rent	$673 → $747 (+11.0%)	$733 → $904 (+23.3%)

Darke County

Population

51,51351,655

Median household income

$55,620$64,654

Median home value

$123,300$169,100

Median gross rent

$673$747

Shelby County

Population

48,74948,007

Median household income

$63,806$72,822

Median home value

$145,600$190,300

Median gross rent

$733$904

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Darke County	Shelby County
Under 5	6.0%	6.4%
5 to 17	17.8%	18.3%
18 to 24	7.7%	8.4%
25 to 34	11.0%	11.6%
35 to 44	11.3%	11.5%
45 to 54	12.0%	12.4%
55 to 64	14.0%	14.0%
65 to 74	11.4%	10.7%
75 and over	8.8%	6.9%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Darke County	Shelby County
White (non-Hispanic)	95.1%	91.8%
Black or African American	0.5%	2.1%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.0%	0.0%
Asian	0.4%	0.8%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.0%	0.0%
Some other race	0.1%	0.4%
Two or more races	2.0%	3.2%
Hispanic or Latino	1.8%	1.7%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Darke County	Shelby County
No high school diploma	9.3%	8.6%
High school graduate	45.4%	40.9%
Some college or associate's	28.8%	29.9%
Bachelor's degree	11.1%	13.7%
Graduate or professional degree	5.4%	7.0%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Darke County	Shelby County
Drove alone	81.9%	83.8%
Carpooled	9.0%	9.9%
Public transit	0.2%	0.2%
Walked	2.0%	0.6%
Bicycle	0.1%	0.7%
Worked from home	5.6%	4.4%
Other means	1.3%	0.4%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Darke County	Shelby County
1-unit, detached	82.4%	78.4%
1-unit, attached	1.5%	3.3%
2 to 4 units	8.1%	9.0%
5 to 19 units	2.8%	4.2%
20 or more units	1.0%	1.4%
Mobile home & other	4.2%	3.6%

Poverty & households

	Darke County	Shelby County
Poverty rate	11.2%	11.1%
Average household size	2.39	2.53
Mean commute (minutes)	23	19
Median year structure built	1963	1974