Malheur County vs Union County

A side-by-side comparison of Malheur County and Union County: population, income, housing, and more.

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

Malheur County has the higher population (31,701 vs 26,192 in Union County). Union County has the higher median household income ($64,212 vs $49,902 in Malheur County). Union County has the higher median home value ($260,500 vs $221,300 in Malheur County).

Population, income & housing

	Malheur County	Union County
Population	31,701	26,192
Median age	36.2 yrs	40.1 yrs
Median household income	$49,902	$64,212
Median home value	$221,300	$260,500
Median gross rent	$819	$982
Housing units	11,678	11,786
Homeownership rate	63.4%	64.6%
Bachelor's degree or higher	15.5%	24.9%
Unemployment rate	5.0%	5.6%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Malheur County	Union County
Population	30,412 → 31,701 (+4.2%)	26,337 → 26,192 (-0.6%)
Median household income	$43,313 → $49,902 (+15.2%)	$52,171 → $64,212 (+23.1%)
Median home value	$135,900 → $221,300 (+62.8%)	$185,400 → $260,500 (+40.5%)
Median gross rent	$688 → $819 (+19.0%)	$818 → $982 (+20.0%)

Malheur County

Population

30,41231,701

Median household income

$43,313$49,902

Median home value

$135,900$221,300

Median gross rent

$688$819

Union County

Population

26,33726,192

Median household income

$52,171$64,212

Median home value

$185,400$260,500

Median gross rent

$818$982

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Malheur County	Union County
Under 5	6.3%	4.9%
5 to 17	18.9%	17.2%
18 to 24	9.5%	10.8%
25 to 34	13.7%	11.5%
35 to 44	12.2%	12.4%
45 to 54	11.3%	9.9%
55 to 64	11.2%	12.3%
65 to 74	9.9%	12.4%
75 and over	7.2%	8.6%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Malheur County	Union County
White (non-Hispanic)	60.9%	86.4%
Black or African American	1.0%	0.8%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.6%	0.7%
Asian	1.3%	1.3%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.2%	1.1%
Some other race	0.2%	0.7%
Two or more races	2.3%	3.7%
Hispanic or Latino	33.5%	5.3%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Malheur County	Union County
No high school diploma	16.2%	6.5%
High school graduate	32.1%	33.0%
Some college or associate's	36.2%	35.7%
Bachelor's degree	10.4%	17.1%
Graduate or professional degree	5.0%	7.8%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Malheur County	Union County
Drove alone	76.2%	73.6%
Carpooled	8.0%	10.7%
Public transit	0.2%	0.3%
Walked	5.4%	5.6%
Bicycle	0.1%	0.9%
Worked from home	8.6%	6.8%
Other means	1.5%	2.0%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Malheur County	Union County
1-unit, detached	64.9%	69.3%
1-unit, attached	2.0%	2.8%
2 to 4 units	8.4%	6.2%
5 to 19 units	4.0%	4.7%
20 or more units	3.8%	5.0%
Mobile home & other	16.8%	12.0%

Poverty & households

	Malheur County	Union County
Poverty rate	17.8%	15.8%
Average household size	2.80	2.36
Mean commute (minutes)	19	17
Median year structure built	1974	1972