Benton County vs Polk County

A side-by-side comparison of Benton County and Polk County: population, income, housing, and more.

Benton County and Polk County are counties in Oregon. This page compares them across population, income, housing, education, commuting, and how each has changed since 2019.

Benton County has the higher population (96,359 vs 88,553 in Polk County). Polk County has the higher median household income ($81,318 vs $76,011 in Benton County). Benton County has the higher median home value ($481,700 vs $419,500 in Polk County).

Population, income & housing

	Benton County	Polk County
Population	96,359	88,553
Median age	33.8 yrs	37.6 yrs
Median household income	$76,011	$81,318
Median home value	$481,700	$419,500
Median gross rent	$1,359	$1,270
Housing units	40,565	34,446
Homeownership rate	56.0%	64.6%
Bachelor's degree or higher	54.4%	30.6%
Unemployment rate	6.7%	5.2%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Benton County	Polk County
Population	91,107 → 96,359 (+5.8%)	83,037 → 88,553 (+6.6%)
Median household income	$62,077 → $76,011 (+22.4%)	$62,691 → $81,318 (+29.7%)
Median home value	$331,300 → $481,700 (+45.4%)	$265,200 → $419,500 (+58.2%)
Median gross rent	$1,081 → $1,359 (+25.7%)	$994 → $1,270 (+27.8%)

Benton County

Population

91,10796,359

Median household income

$62,077$76,011

Median home value

$331,300$481,700

Median gross rent

$1,081$1,359

Polk County

Population

83,03788,553

Median household income

$62,691$81,318

Median home value

$265,200$419,500

Median gross rent

$994$1,270

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Benton County	Polk County
Under 5	3.7%	5.3%
5 to 17	12.0%	16.8%
18 to 24	22.6%	12.0%
25 to 34	13.0%	12.3%
35 to 44	10.8%	12.2%
45 to 54	9.8%	11.2%
55 to 64	10.9%	11.3%
65 to 74	10.6%	10.9%
75 and over	6.6%	7.9%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Benton County	Polk County
White (non-Hispanic)	77.2%	74.9%
Black or African American	1.2%	0.5%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.4%	1.1%
Asian	6.5%	1.8%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.2%	0.4%
Some other race	0.5%	0.5%
Two or more races	4.9%	5.6%
Hispanic or Latino	9.1%	15.2%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Benton County	Polk County
No high school diploma	4.0%	8.2%
High school graduate	14.0%	23.8%
Some college or associate's	27.6%	37.4%
Bachelor's degree	28.8%	18.7%
Graduate or professional degree	25.5%	11.9%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Benton County	Polk County
Drove alone	60.4%	68.9%
Carpooled	7.3%	9.7%
Public transit	1.9%	0.6%
Walked	7.4%	2.9%
Bicycle	4.8%	0.7%
Worked from home	16.7%	16.0%
Other means	1.5%	1.1%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Benton County	Polk County
1-unit, detached	58.2%	67.3%
1-unit, attached	5.4%	3.4%
2 to 4 units	8.8%	8.2%
5 to 19 units	11.9%	8.4%
20 or more units	10.0%	6.1%
Mobile home & other	5.6%	6.6%

Poverty & households

	Benton County	Polk County
Poverty rate	19.2%	12.2%
Average household size	2.36	2.66
Mean commute (minutes)	20	26
Median year structure built	1979	1989