county

Polk County, MO

Demographic and economic profile of Polk County, MO, sourced from the US Census Bureau (American Community Survey) via Data USA.

AI Overview

Polk County, MO is a small rural county of 32,109 residents with modest but steady growth of 1.8% over five years and a median household income of $59,647. The workforce of roughly 55.7% labor force participation skews toward lower-credential occupations, with only 21.0% holding a bachelor's degree or higher, and median worker earnings of $33,503 reflect a low-cost labor environment. Housing costs are comparatively affordable—median home value of $189,600 and median gross rent of $792/month—though a 17.9% poverty rate and 3.5% unemployment rate point to underlying economic constraints.

Claude Sonnet 4.6 · generated Jul 6, 2026 · derived from cached Census, BEA & ACS data on this page

Population

32,109

Census ACS · as of 2023

Median Household Income

$59,647

Data USA · as of 2024

Median Age

38.1 yrs

Data USA · as of 2024

Population Growth (5-year)

+1.8% since 2018

Polk County added population at this rate over the prior 5-year ACS5 window.

Demographics

Race & Ethnicity

  • White Alone29,769 (91.8%)
  • Two Races Excluding Some Other Race, & Three or More Races984 (3.0%)
  • Two Races Including Some Other Race676 (2.1%)
  • Some Other Race Alone425 (1.3%)
  • Asian Alone269 (0.8%)
  • Black or African American Alone239 (0.7%)

Data USA · as of 2024

Top Languages Spoken at Home

  1. 1.German or other West Germanic615
  2. 2.Spanish304
  3. 3.Chinese (incl. Mandarin, Cantonese)129
  4. 4.Other Indo-European80
  5. 5.Korean34

Census ACS · as of 2023

Population Under 18

23.5%

Census ACS · as of 2023

Working-Age (18–64)

58.4%

Census ACS · as of 2023

Population 65 and Over

18.1%

Census ACS · as of 2023

Foreign-Born Population

1.3%

Data USA · as of 2024

Veterans

2,109

Data USA · as of 2024

Economy

GDP per Capita

$27,518

Data USA · as of 2023

Cost of Living Index

—

Not yet cached

Per Capita Income

$28,199

Census ACS · as of 2023

Unemployment Rate

3.5%

Census ACS · as of 2023

Poverty Rate

17.9%

Census ACS · as of 2023

Top Industries

  1. 1.Educational Services, & Health Care & Social Assistance3,853
  2. 2.Retail Trade (Group)1,522
  3. 3.Manufacturing (Group)1,470
  4. 4.Professional, Scientific, & Management, & Administrative & Waste Management Services1,379
  5. 5.Construction (Group)995

Data USA · as of 2024

Top Occupations

  1. 1.Management, Business, Science, & Arts Occupations4,712
  2. 2.Sales & Office Occupations3,015
  3. 3.Service Occupations2,512
  4. 4.Production, Transportation, & Material Moving Occupations2,390
  5. 5.Natural Resources, Construction, & Maintenance Occupations1,553

Data USA · as of 2024

Specialized Industries (Location Quotient)

  1. 1.Agriculture, Forestry, Fishing & Hunting, & Mining (LQ 3.26×)713
  2. 2.Educational Services & Health Care (LQ 1.18×)3,802
  3. 3.Retail Trade (LQ 1.15×)1,712
  4. 4.Wholesale Trade (LQ 1.04×)329
  5. 5.Manufacturing (LQ 1.04×)1,416

Census ACS · as of 2023

Housing

Median Home Value

$189,600

Census ACS · as of 2023

Median Gross Rent

$792/mo

Census ACS · as of 2023

Homeownership Rate

71.6%

Data USA · as of 2024

Home Value Distribution

  • $200,000 to $249,9991,347 (15.6%)
  • $300,000 to $399,9991,169 (13.5%)
  • $150,000 to $174,999826 (9.6%)
  • $100,000 to $124,999741 (8.6%)
  • $400,000 to $499,999709 (8.2%)
  • $250,000 to $299,999670 (7.8%)

Data USA · as of 2024

Education

Bachelor's Degree or Higher

21.0%

Census ACS · as of 2023

High School Diploma or Higher

88.8%

Census ACS · as of 2023

Workforce

Labor Force Participation

55.7%

Census ACS · as of 2023

Median Worker Earnings

$33,503

Census ACS · as of 2023

Mean Commute Time

28.1 min

Data USA · as of 2024

Households Without a Vehicle

4.9%

Census ACS · as of 2023

How People Get to Work

  • Drove Alone11,060 (78.5%)
  • Worked At Home1,315 (9.3%)
  • Carpooled1,255 (8.9%)
  • Walked214 (1.5%)
  • Other116 (0.8%)
  • Bicycle68 (0.5%)

Data USA · as of 2024

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Data: US Census Bureau American Community Survey, served via Data USA and the Census Bureau API. See each metric tile for the specific dataset.