Columbia vs Elkridge

A side-by-side comparison of Columbia and Elkridge: population, income, housing, and more.

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

Columbia has the higher population (105,871 vs 26,183 in Elkridge). Elkridge has the higher median household income ($135,412 vs $129,173 in Columbia). Columbia has the higher median home value ($480,300 vs $438,200 in Elkridge).

Population, income & housing

	Columbia	Elkridge
Population	105,871	26,183
Median age	39.1 yrs	34.1 yrs
Median household income	$129,173	$135,412
Median home value	$480,300	$438,200
Median gross rent	$1,998	$2,206
Housing units	43,344	9,530
Homeownership rate	64.9%	61.5%
Bachelor's degree or higher	63.5%	56.7%
Unemployment rate	4.5%	5.2%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Columbia	Elkridge
Population	103,991 → 105,871 (+1.8%)	21,458 → 26,183 (+22.0%)
Median household income	$108,352 → $129,173 (+19.2%)	$100,068 → $135,412 (+35.3%)
Median home value	$378,300 → $480,300 (+27.0%)	$364,700 → $438,200 (+20.2%)
Median gross rent	$1,722 → $1,998 (+16.0%)	$1,783 → $2,206 (+23.7%)

Columbia

Population

103,991105,871

Median household income

$108,352$129,173

Median home value

$378,300$480,300

Median gross rent

$1,722$1,998

Elkridge

Population

21,45826,183

Median household income

$100,068$135,412

Median home value

$364,700$438,200

Median gross rent

$1,783$2,206

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Columbia	Elkridge
Under 5	5.4%	7.1%
5 to 17	15.7%	19.9%
18 to 24	8.9%	6.9%
25 to 34	14.1%	17.8%
35 to 44	14.4%	16.5%
45 to 54	12.2%	14.1%
55 to 64	13.1%	9.7%
65 to 74	9.0%	5.6%
75 and over	7.3%	2.3%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Columbia	Elkridge
White (non-Hispanic)	43.8%	34.4%
Black or African American	28.3%	33.2%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.1%	0.2%
Asian	11.8%	21.2%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.0%	0.1%
Some other race	0.6%	0.4%
Two or more races	6.0%	4.2%
Hispanic or Latino	9.5%	6.3%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Columbia	Elkridge
No high school diploma	4.4%	6.0%
High school graduate	11.8%	15.2%
Some college or associate's	20.3%	22.1%
Bachelor's degree	29.0%	32.2%
Graduate or professional degree	34.5%	24.5%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Columbia	Elkridge
Drove alone	66.2%	69.4%
Carpooled	5.5%	6.8%
Public transit	2.9%	2.1%
Walked	1.6%	0.1%
Bicycle	0.0%	0.0%
Worked from home	22.3%	20.6%
Other means	1.4%	1.1%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Columbia	Elkridge
1-unit, detached	39.6%	31.0%
1-unit, attached	25.9%	35.4%
2 to 4 units	1.9%	2.1%
5 to 19 units	21.0%	10.7%
20 or more units	11.4%	19.4%
Mobile home & other	0.2%	1.3%

Poverty & households

	Columbia	Elkridge
Poverty rate	7.4%	7.7%
Average household size	2.55	2.82
Mean commute (minutes)	28	26
Median year structure built	1983	2005