Riva vs Shady Side

A side-by-side comparison of Riva and Shady Side: population, income, housing, and more.

Riva and Shady Side are places in Maryland. This page compares them across population, income, housing, education, commuting, and how each has changed since 2019.

Riva has the higher population (4,798 vs 4,460 in Shady Side). Riva has the higher median household income ($156,389 vs $138,346 in Shady Side). Riva has the higher median home value ($611,600 vs $446,800 in Shady Side).

Population, income & housing

	Riva	Shady Side
Population	4,798	4,460
Median age	42.9 yrs	50.0 yrs
Median household income	$156,389	$138,346
Median home value	$611,600	$446,800
Median gross rent	$2,018	$2,204
Housing units	1,636	2,295
Homeownership rate	96.6%	87.2%
Bachelor's degree or higher	54.1%	35.8%
Unemployment rate	1.3%	3.3%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Riva	Shady Side
Population	4,130 → 4,798 (+16.2%)	5,423 → 4,460 (-17.8%)
Median household income	$122,905 → $156,389 (+27.2%)	$108,333 → $138,346 (+27.7%)
Median home value	$484,900 → $611,600 (+26.1%)	$321,600 → $446,800 (+38.9%)
Median gross rent	$1,685 → $2,018 (+19.8%)	$1,929 → $2,204 (+14.3%)

Riva

Population

4,1304,798

Median household income

$122,905$156,389

Median home value

$484,900$611,600

Median gross rent

$1,685$2,018

Shady Side

Population

5,4234,460

Median household income

$108,333$138,346

Median home value

$321,600$446,800

Median gross rent

$1,929$2,204

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Riva	Shady Side
Under 5	5.3%	3.0%
5 to 17	21.1%	17.5%
18 to 24	3.6%	4.0%
25 to 34	7.6%	9.5%
35 to 44	15.0%	10.8%
45 to 54	12.7%	13.0%
55 to 64	11.8%	20.1%
65 to 74	15.9%	13.6%
75 and over	7.0%	8.4%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Riva	Shady Side
White (non-Hispanic)	87.8%	83.3%
Black or African American	0.7%	9.8%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.0%	0.0%
Asian	0.4%	0.2%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.0%	0.0%
Some other race	0.3%	0.0%
Two or more races	3.3%	2.3%
Hispanic or Latino	7.4%	4.3%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Riva	Shady Side
No high school diploma	1.6%	1.5%
High school graduate	15.3%	27.7%
Some college or associate's	29.0%	35.1%
Bachelor's degree	31.2%	19.0%
Graduate or professional degree	22.8%	16.8%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Riva	Shady Side
Drove alone	65.6%	77.0%
Carpooled	5.1%	9.3%
Public transit	1.2%	0.0%
Walked	0.0%	0.6%
Bicycle	0.0%	0.0%
Worked from home	25.2%	12.5%
Other means	3.0%	0.6%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Riva	Shady Side
1-unit, detached	95.2%	98.3%
1-unit, attached	4.8%	0.7%
2 to 4 units	0.0%	0.0%
5 to 19 units	0.0%	0.0%
20 or more units	0.0%	0.0%
Mobile home & other	0.0%	1.0%

Poverty & households

	Riva	Shady Side
Poverty rate	0.7%	5.0%
Average household size	2.99	2.34
Mean commute (minutes)	33	38
Median year structure built	1982	1980