Columbia vs North Laurel

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

Columbia and North Laurel 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 25,201 in North Laurel). Columbia has the higher median household income ($129,173 vs $119,533 in North Laurel). Columbia has the higher median home value ($480,300 vs $442,800 in North Laurel).

Population, income & housing

	Columbia	North Laurel
Population	105,871	25,201
Median age	39.1 yrs	35.7 yrs
Median household income	$129,173	$119,533
Median home value	$480,300	$442,800
Median gross rent	$1,998	$1,913
Housing units	43,344	9,054
Homeownership rate	64.9%	63.3%
Bachelor's degree or higher	63.5%	56.2%
Unemployment rate	4.5%	2.7%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Columbia	North Laurel
Population	103,991 → 105,871 (+1.8%)	24,873 → 25,201 (+1.3%)
Median household income	$108,352 → $129,173 (+19.2%)	$104,352 → $119,533 (+14.5%)
Median home value	$378,300 → $480,300 (+27.0%)	$359,000 → $442,800 (+23.3%)
Median gross rent	$1,722 → $1,998 (+16.0%)	$1,733 → $1,913 (+10.4%)

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

North Laurel

Population

24,87325,201

Median household income

$104,352$119,533

Median home value

$359,000$442,800

Median gross rent

$1,733$1,913

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Columbia	North Laurel
Under 5	5.4%	8.7%
5 to 17	15.7%	16.2%
18 to 24	8.9%	9.3%
25 to 34	14.1%	14.5%
35 to 44	14.4%	16.7%
45 to 54	12.2%	12.3%
55 to 64	13.1%	11.8%
65 to 74	9.0%	7.9%
75 and over	7.3%	2.7%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Columbia	North Laurel
White (non-Hispanic)	43.8%	27.7%
Black or African American	28.3%	34.9%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.1%	0.0%
Asian	11.8%	16.3%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.0%	0.0%
Some other race	0.6%	1.4%
Two or more races	6.0%	4.5%
Hispanic or Latino	9.5%	15.2%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Columbia	North Laurel
No high school diploma	4.4%	9.1%
High school graduate	11.8%	15.1%
Some college or associate's	20.3%	19.7%
Bachelor's degree	29.0%	31.2%
Graduate or professional degree	34.5%	25.0%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Columbia	North Laurel
Drove alone	66.2%	66.8%
Carpooled	5.5%	8.5%
Public transit	2.9%	1.6%
Walked	1.6%	0.6%
Bicycle	0.0%	0.0%
Worked from home	22.3%	21.4%
Other means	1.4%	1.1%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Columbia	North Laurel
1-unit, detached	39.6%	33.8%
1-unit, attached	25.9%	36.1%
2 to 4 units	1.9%	1.9%
5 to 19 units	21.0%	21.2%
20 or more units	11.4%	5.5%
Mobile home & other	0.2%	1.5%

Poverty & households

	Columbia	North Laurel
Poverty rate	7.4%	3.3%
Average household size	2.55	2.89
Mean commute (minutes)	28	28
Median year structure built	1983	1993