Essex vs Towson

A side-by-side comparison of Essex and Towson: population, income, housing, and more.

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

Towson has the higher population (57,683 vs 40,670 in Essex). Towson has the higher median household income ($100,481 vs $67,082 in Essex). Towson has the higher median home value ($445,100 vs $253,500 in Essex).

Population, income & housing

	Essex	Towson
Population	40,670	57,683
Median age	40.9 yrs	33.2 yrs
Median household income	$67,082	$100,481
Median home value	$253,500	$445,100
Median gross rent	$1,307	$1,784
Housing units	17,142	24,304
Homeownership rate	57.6%	56.1%
Bachelor's degree or higher	19.0%	68.1%
Unemployment rate	5.3%	4.7%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Essex	Towson
Population	39,437 → 40,670 (+3.1%)	57,817 → 57,683 (-0.2%)
Median household income	$57,780 → $67,082 (+16.1%)	$88,786 → $100,481 (+13.2%)
Median home value	$191,400 → $253,500 (+32.4%)	$363,800 → $445,100 (+22.3%)
Median gross rent	$1,086 → $1,307 (+20.3%)	$1,438 → $1,784 (+24.1%)

Essex

Population

39,43740,670

Median household income

$57,780$67,082

Median home value

$191,400$253,500

Median gross rent

$1,086$1,307

Towson

Population

57,81757,683

Median household income

$88,786$100,481

Median home value

$363,800$445,100

Median gross rent

$1,438$1,784

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Essex	Towson
Under 5	5.2%	4.6%
5 to 17	16.9%	13.1%
18 to 24	8.2%	21.3%
25 to 34	12.9%	13.0%
35 to 44	12.0%	10.8%
45 to 54	14.7%	10.0%
55 to 64	14.0%	9.5%
65 to 74	9.9%	8.5%
75 and over	6.3%	9.2%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Essex	Towson
White (non-Hispanic)	53.0%	67.5%
Black or African American	33.1%	15.7%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.1%	0.1%
Asian	1.3%	6.0%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.0%	0.0%
Some other race	0.2%	0.3%
Two or more races	5.3%	4.5%
Hispanic or Latino	7.0%	5.8%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Essex	Towson
No high school diploma	14.1%	4.1%
High school graduate	39.6%	9.9%
Some college or associate's	27.2%	17.9%
Bachelor's degree	11.7%	34.3%
Graduate or professional degree	7.3%	33.9%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Essex	Towson
Drove alone	71.7%	64.9%
Carpooled	11.9%	6.3%
Public transit	6.3%	2.0%
Walked	1.1%	4.9%
Bicycle	0.3%	0.1%
Worked from home	6.6%	20.8%
Other means	2.0%	1.0%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Essex	Towson
1-unit, detached	38.9%	33.4%
1-unit, attached	34.9%	22.3%
2 to 4 units	5.2%	5.7%
5 to 19 units	14.9%	17.0%
20 or more units	5.2%	21.6%
Mobile home & other	0.8%	0.0%

Poverty & households

	Essex	Towson
Poverty rate	12.7%	12.7%
Average household size	2.52	2.25
Mean commute (minutes)	30	26
Median year structure built	1964	1965