Columbia vs Ellicott City

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

Columbia and Ellicott City 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 73,737 in Ellicott City). Ellicott City has the higher median household income ($157,891 vs $129,173 in Columbia). Ellicott City has the higher median home value ($644,300 vs $480,300 in Columbia).

Population, income & housing

	Columbia	Ellicott City
Population	105,871	73,737
Median age	39.1 yrs	42.8 yrs
Median household income	$129,173	$157,891
Median home value	$480,300	$644,300
Median gross rent	$1,998	$2,001
Housing units	43,344	27,510
Homeownership rate	64.9%	72.7%
Bachelor's degree or higher	63.5%	69.6%
Unemployment rate	4.5%	2.9%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Columbia	Ellicott City
Population	103,991 → 105,871 (+1.8%)	72,665 → 73,737 (+1.5%)
Median household income	$108,352 → $129,173 (+19.2%)	$131,534 → $157,891 (+20.0%)
Median home value	$378,300 → $480,300 (+27.0%)	$537,400 → $644,300 (+19.9%)
Median gross rent	$1,722 → $1,998 (+16.0%)	$1,615 → $2,001 (+23.9%)

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

Ellicott City

Population

72,66573,737

Median household income

$131,534$157,891

Median home value

$537,400$644,300

Median gross rent

$1,615$2,001

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Columbia	Ellicott City
Under 5	5.4%	4.5%
5 to 17	15.7%	20.8%
18 to 24	8.9%	6.8%
25 to 34	14.1%	7.7%
35 to 44	14.4%	14.1%
45 to 54	12.2%	15.2%
55 to 64	13.1%	12.8%
65 to 74	9.0%	10.5%
75 and over	7.3%	7.4%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Columbia	Ellicott City
White (non-Hispanic)	43.8%	51.4%
Black or African American	28.3%	7.9%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.1%	0.2%
Asian	11.8%	30.1%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.0%	0.0%
Some other race	0.6%	0.5%
Two or more races	6.0%	4.9%
Hispanic or Latino	9.5%	5.0%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Columbia	Ellicott City
No high school diploma	4.4%	3.8%
High school graduate	11.8%	11.0%
Some college or associate's	20.3%	15.7%
Bachelor's degree	29.0%	32.6%
Graduate or professional degree	34.5%	37.0%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Columbia	Ellicott City
Drove alone	66.2%	69.5%
Carpooled	5.5%	4.8%
Public transit	2.9%	0.5%
Walked	1.6%	0.7%
Bicycle	0.0%	0.1%
Worked from home	22.3%	23.4%
Other means	1.4%	1.2%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Columbia	Ellicott City
1-unit, detached	39.6%	55.0%
1-unit, attached	25.9%	17.9%
2 to 4 units	1.9%	0.8%
5 to 19 units	21.0%	16.8%
20 or more units	11.4%	9.5%
Mobile home & other	0.2%	0.0%

Poverty & households

	Columbia	Ellicott City
Poverty rate	7.4%	3.6%
Average household size	2.55	2.75
Mean commute (minutes)	28	29
Median year structure built	1983	1991