Centre County vs Monroe County

A side-by-side comparison of Centre County and Monroe County: population, income, housing, and more.

Centre County and Monroe County are counties in Pennsylvania. This page compares them across population, income, housing, education, commuting, and how each has changed since 2019.

Monroe County has the higher population (167,784 vs 158,041 in Centre County). Monroe County has the higher median household income ($82,374 vs $72,748 in Centre County). Centre County has the higher median home value ($308,100 vs $241,200 in Monroe County).

Population, income & housing

	Centre County	Monroe County
Population	158,041	167,784
Median age	33.8 yrs	43.9 yrs
Median household income	$72,748	$82,374
Median home value	$308,100	$241,200
Median gross rent	$1,181	$1,347
Housing units	66,023	79,458
Homeownership rate	61.8%	79.5%
Bachelor's degree or higher	46.5%	27.9%
Unemployment rate	4.0%	6.4%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Centre County	Monroe County
Population	161,960 → 158,041 (-2.4%)	168,032 → 167,784 (-0.1%)
Median household income	$60,403 → $72,748 (+20.4%)	$63,934 → $82,374 (+28.8%)
Median home value	$234,900 → $308,100 (+31.2%)	$168,000 → $241,200 (+43.6%)
Median gross rent	$1,000 → $1,181 (+18.1%)	$1,108 → $1,347 (+21.6%)

Centre County

Population

161,960158,041

Median household income

$60,403$72,748

Median home value

$234,900$308,100

Median gross rent

$1,000$1,181

Monroe County

Population

168,032167,784

Median household income

$63,934$82,374

Median home value

$168,000$241,200

Median gross rent

$1,108$1,347

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Centre County	Monroe County
Under 5	3.6%	4.7%
5 to 17	11.1%	14.7%
18 to 24	23.5%	9.3%
25 to 34	13.0%	11.5%
35 to 44	11.1%	11.3%
45 to 54	10.6%	13.3%
55 to 64	11.5%	16.4%
65 to 74	9.1%	11.9%
75 and over	6.4%	7.0%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Centre County	Monroe County
White (non-Hispanic)	83.5%	61.2%
Black or African American	3.2%	13.0%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.1%	0.1%
Asian	6.0%	2.5%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.0%	0.0%
Some other race	0.2%	1.4%
Two or more races	3.3%	4.1%
Hispanic or Latino	3.6%	17.7%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Centre County	Monroe County
No high school diploma	5.4%	9.7%
High school graduate	28.5%	35.5%
Some college or associate's	19.6%	27.0%
Bachelor's degree	22.4%	17.4%
Graduate or professional degree	24.1%	10.5%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Centre County	Monroe County
Drove alone	66.0%	74.2%
Carpooled	6.8%	9.9%
Public transit	3.6%	3.3%
Walked	7.6%	1.3%
Bicycle	1.8%	0.1%
Worked from home	13.6%	9.9%
Other means	0.6%	1.4%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Centre County	Monroe County
1-unit, detached	58.7%	82.4%
1-unit, attached	6.5%	4.8%
2 to 4 units	6.8%	5.6%
5 to 19 units	12.3%	2.1%
20 or more units	10.9%	1.7%
Mobile home & other	4.9%	3.4%

Poverty & households

	Centre County	Monroe County
Poverty rate	16.9%	11.3%
Average household size	2.33	2.72
Mean commute (minutes)	20	39
Median year structure built	1980	1984