Cottle County vs Sterling County

A side-by-side comparison of Cottle County and Sterling County: population, income, housing, and more.

Cottle County and Sterling County are counties in Texas. This page compares them across population, income, housing, education, commuting, and how each has changed since 2019.

Sterling County has the higher population (1,389 vs 1,302 in Cottle County). Sterling County has the higher median household income ($78,750 vs $58,819 in Cottle County). Sterling County has the higher median home value ($143,200 vs $54,100 in Cottle County).

Population, income & housing

	Cottle County	Sterling County
Population	1,302	1,389
Median age	44.3 yrs	31.4 yrs
Median household income	$58,819	$78,750
Median home value	$54,100	$143,200
Median gross rent	$323	$968
Housing units	972	508
Homeownership rate	78.6%	83.3%
Bachelor's degree or higher	21.8%	24.5%
Unemployment rate	6.4%	2.3%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Cottle County	Sterling County
Population	1,642 → 1,302 (-20.7%)	1,231 → 1,389 (+12.8%)
Median household income	$32,305 → $58,819 (+82.1%)	$59,868 → $78,750 (+31.5%)
Median home value	$46,600 → $54,100 (+16.1%)	$59,000 → $143,200 (+142.7%)
Median gross rent	$340 → $323 (-5.0%)	$850 → $968 (+13.9%)

Cottle County

Population

1,6421,302

Median household income

$32,305$58,819

Median home value

$46,600$54,100

Median gross rent

$340$323

Sterling County

Population

1,2311,389

Median household income

$59,868$78,750

Median home value

$59,000$143,200

Median gross rent

$850$968

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Cottle County	Sterling County
Under 5	4.9%	9.1%
5 to 17	17.1%	26.9%
18 to 24	6.1%	7.3%
25 to 34	4.9%	14.0%
35 to 44	19.1%	11.6%
45 to 54	9.0%	11.2%
55 to 64	12.8%	6.6%
65 to 74	17.2%	5.4%
75 and over	8.8%	7.8%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Cottle County	Sterling County
White (non-Hispanic)	59.1%	67.1%
Black or African American	4.9%	0.1%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.0%	0.1%
Asian	0.0%	0.1%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.0%	0.0%
Some other race	1.0%	0.0%
Two or more races	9.1%	0.3%
Hispanic or Latino	26.0%	32.2%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Cottle County	Sterling County
No high school diploma	20.4%	12.1%
High school graduate	24.8%	38.5%
Some college or associate's	33.0%	24.9%
Bachelor's degree	15.6%	16.4%
Graduate or professional degree	6.2%	8.1%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Cottle County	Sterling County
Drove alone	55.8%	79.0%
Carpooled	14.8%	11.7%
Public transit	1.4%	0.0%
Walked	2.5%	1.3%
Bicycle	2.5%	0.0%
Worked from home	23.0%	8.0%
Other means	0.0%	0.0%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Cottle County	Sterling County
1-unit, detached	86.4%	77.4%
1-unit, attached	0.0%	0.0%
2 to 4 units	9.8%	1.6%
5 to 19 units	0.0%	0.0%
20 or more units	1.0%	0.0%
Mobile home & other	2.8%	21.1%

Poverty & households

	Cottle County	Sterling County
Poverty rate	22.8%	2.7%
Average household size	2.27	3.37
Mean commute (minutes)	23	27
Median year structure built	1958	1985