Holmes County vs Mercer County

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

Holmes 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.

Holmes County has the higher population (44,312 vs 42,438 in Mercer County). Mercer County has the higher median household income ($78,036 vs $74,774 in Holmes County). Holmes County has the higher median home value ($251,800 vs $208,600 in Mercer County).

Population, income & housing

	Holmes County	Mercer County
Population	44,312	42,438
Median age	32.5 yrs	39.1 yrs
Median household income	$74,774	$78,036
Median home value	$251,800	$208,600
Median gross rent	$773	$812
Housing units	14,560	18,023
Homeownership rate	79.5%	79.6%
Bachelor's degree or higher	11.0%	22.2%
Unemployment rate	2.0%	1.8%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Holmes County	Mercer County
Population	43,901 → 44,312 (+0.9%)	40,884 → 42,438 (+3.8%)
Median household income	$63,753 → $74,774 (+17.3%)	$62,952 → $78,036 (+24.0%)
Median home value	$208,700 → $251,800 (+20.7%)	$153,800 → $208,600 (+35.6%)
Median gross rent	$643 → $773 (+20.2%)	$679 → $812 (+19.6%)

Holmes County

Population

43,90144,312

Median household income

$63,753$74,774

Median home value

$208,700$251,800

Median gross rent

$643$773

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)

	Holmes County	Mercer County
Under 5	8.3%	7.2%
5 to 17	22.2%	18.9%
18 to 24	9.8%	8.0%
25 to 34	12.9%	11.2%
35 to 44	10.8%	11.1%
45 to 54	10.6%	11.3%
55 to 64	11.1%	13.6%
65 to 74	8.3%	11.0%
75 and over	5.9%	7.6%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Holmes County	Mercer County
White (non-Hispanic)	97.4%	94.4%
Black or African American	0.2%	0.6%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.1%	0.0%
Asian	0.2%	0.5%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.0%	0.0%
Some other race	0.2%	0.0%
Two or more races	0.9%	2.3%
Hispanic or Latino	1.1%	2.2%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Holmes County	Mercer County
No high school diploma	42.9%	5.3%
High school graduate	33.1%	43.5%
Some college or associate's	13.0%	29.0%
Bachelor's degree	7.4%	14.2%
Graduate or professional degree	3.6%	8.0%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Holmes County	Mercer County
Drove alone	48.9%	87.5%
Carpooled	20.8%	6.4%
Public transit	0.4%	0.1%
Walked	6.7%	1.6%
Bicycle	12.9%	0.3%
Worked from home	7.9%	3.7%
Other means	2.3%	0.4%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Holmes County	Mercer County
1-unit, detached	82.3%	81.3%
1-unit, attached	4.2%	1.5%
2 to 4 units	3.9%	6.7%
5 to 19 units	2.1%	2.7%
20 or more units	1.2%	1.8%
Mobile home & other	6.3%	6.0%

Poverty & households

	Holmes County	Mercer County
Poverty rate	8.8%	6.1%
Average household size	3.26	2.57
Mean commute (minutes)	22	19
Median year structure built	1986	1974