Josephine County vs Polk County

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

Josephine 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.

Polk County has the higher population (88,553 vs 88,069 in Josephine County). Polk County has the higher median household income ($81,318 vs $59,097 in Josephine County). Polk County has the higher median home value ($419,500 vs $383,100 in Josephine County).

Population, income & housing

	Josephine County	Polk County
Population	88,069	88,553
Median age	47.5 yrs	37.6 yrs
Median household income	$59,097	$81,318
Median home value	$383,100	$419,500
Median gross rent	$1,157	$1,270
Housing units	39,217	34,446
Homeownership rate	71.7%	64.6%
Bachelor's degree or higher	19.7%	30.6%
Unemployment rate	7.8%	5.2%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Josephine County	Polk County
Population	86,251 → 88,069 (+2.1%)	83,037 → 88,553 (+6.6%)
Median household income	$45,616 → $59,097 (+29.6%)	$62,691 → $81,318 (+29.7%)
Median home value	$265,500 → $383,100 (+44.3%)	$265,200 → $419,500 (+58.2%)
Median gross rent	$908 → $1,157 (+27.4%)	$994 → $1,270 (+27.8%)

Josephine County

Population

86,25188,069

Median household income

$45,616$59,097

Median home value

$265,500$383,100

Median gross rent

$908$1,157

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)

	Josephine County	Polk County
Under 5	4.8%	5.3%
5 to 17	14.5%	16.8%
18 to 24	6.1%	12.0%
25 to 34	10.8%	12.3%
35 to 44	11.2%	12.2%
45 to 54	11.1%	11.2%
55 to 64	14.7%	11.3%
65 to 74	15.6%	10.9%
75 and over	11.2%	7.9%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Josephine County	Polk County
White (non-Hispanic)	83.8%	74.9%
Black or African American	0.5%	0.5%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.4%	1.1%
Asian	0.8%	1.8%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.1%	0.4%
Some other race	0.8%	0.5%
Two or more races	5.1%	5.6%
Hispanic or Latino	8.4%	15.2%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Josephine County	Polk County
No high school diploma	9.8%	8.2%
High school graduate	31.4%	23.8%
Some college or associate's	39.2%	37.4%
Bachelor's degree	12.3%	18.7%
Graduate or professional degree	7.4%	11.9%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Josephine County	Polk County
Drove alone	73.9%	68.9%
Carpooled	10.5%	9.7%
Public transit	0.5%	0.6%
Walked	2.1%	2.9%
Bicycle	0.4%	0.7%
Worked from home	11.2%	16.0%
Other means	1.4%	1.1%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Josephine County	Polk County
1-unit, detached	70.9%	67.3%
1-unit, attached	3.8%	3.4%
2 to 4 units	5.3%	8.2%
5 to 19 units	2.0%	8.4%
20 or more units	2.0%	6.1%
Mobile home & other	16.0%	6.6%

Poverty & households

	Josephine County	Polk County
Poverty rate	15.8%	12.2%
Average household size	2.39	2.66
Mean commute (minutes)	21	26
Median year structure built	1981	1989