Highland County vs Mercer County

A side-by-side comparison of Highland County and Mercer County: population, income, housing, and more.

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

Highland County has the higher population (43,403 vs 42,438 in Mercer County). Mercer County has the higher median household income ($78,036 vs $62,008 in Highland County). Mercer County has the higher median home value ($208,600 vs $157,000 in Highland County).

Population, income & housing

	Highland County	Mercer County
Population	43,403	42,438
Median age	40.8 yrs	39.1 yrs
Median household income	$62,008	$78,036
Median home value	$157,000	$208,600
Median gross rent	$757	$812
Housing units	19,005	18,023
Homeownership rate	73.2%	79.6%
Bachelor's degree or higher	15.6%	22.2%
Unemployment rate	4.0%	1.8%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Highland County	Mercer County
Population	43,016 → 43,403 (+0.9%)	40,884 → 42,438 (+3.8%)
Median household income	$44,169 → $62,008 (+40.4%)	$62,952 → $78,036 (+24.0%)
Median home value	$117,400 → $157,000 (+33.7%)	$153,800 → $208,600 (+35.6%)
Median gross rent	$681 → $757 (+11.2%)	$679 → $812 (+19.6%)

Highland County

Population

43,01643,403

Median household income

$44,169$62,008

Median home value

$117,400$157,000

Median gross rent

$681$757

Mercer County

Population

40,88442,438

Median household income

$62,952$78,036

Median home value

$153,800$208,600

Median gross rent

$679$812

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Highland County	Mercer County
Under 5	6.3%	7.2%
5 to 17	17.6%	18.9%
18 to 24	7.7%	8.0%
25 to 34	11.4%	11.2%
35 to 44	11.7%	11.1%
45 to 54	12.8%	11.3%
55 to 64	13.8%	13.6%
65 to 74	11.2%	11.0%
75 and over	7.5%	7.6%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Highland County	Mercer County
White (non-Hispanic)	94.6%	94.4%
Black or African American	1.2%	0.6%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.1%	0.0%
Asian	0.1%	0.5%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.0%	0.0%
Some other race	0.1%	0.0%
Two or more races	2.9%	2.3%
Hispanic or Latino	1.1%	2.2%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Highland County	Mercer County
No high school diploma	13.1%	5.3%
High school graduate	40.4%	43.5%
Some college or associate's	30.9%	29.0%
Bachelor's degree	10.1%	14.2%
Graduate or professional degree	5.5%	8.0%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Highland County	Mercer County
Drove alone	79.8%	87.5%
Carpooled	11.0%	6.4%
Public transit	0.1%	0.1%
Walked	1.1%	1.6%
Bicycle	0.7%	0.3%
Worked from home	6.3%	3.7%
Other means	0.9%	0.4%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Highland County	Mercer County
1-unit, detached	73.6%	81.3%
1-unit, attached	2.3%	1.5%
2 to 4 units	6.4%	6.7%
5 to 19 units	3.6%	2.7%
20 or more units	0.6%	1.8%
Mobile home & other	13.6%	6.0%

Poverty & households

	Highland County	Mercer County
Poverty rate	14.4%	6.1%
Average household size	2.55	2.57
Mean commute (minutes)	28	19
Median year structure built	1979	1974