Gaithersburg vs Wheaton

A side-by-side comparison of Gaithersburg and Wheaton: population, income, housing, and more.

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

Gaithersburg has the higher population (69,225 vs 52,172 in Wheaton). Gaithersburg has the higher median household income ($107,496 vs $107,349 in Wheaton). Gaithersburg has the higher median home value ($484,500 vs $483,100 in Wheaton).

Population, income & housing

	Gaithersburg	Wheaton
Population	69,225	52,172
Median age	37.8 yrs	36.8 yrs
Median household income	$107,496	$107,349
Median home value	$484,500	$483,100
Median gross rent	$2,008	$2,151
Housing units	27,386	17,105
Homeownership rate	51.3%	65.2%
Bachelor's degree or higher	52.4%	38.9%
Unemployment rate	5.1%	5.9%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Gaithersburg	Wheaton
Population	67,742 → 69,225 (+2.2%)	50,229 → 52,172 (+3.9%)
Median household income	$89,763 → $107,496 (+19.8%)	$85,617 → $107,349 (+25.4%)
Median home value	$392,200 → $484,500 (+23.5%)	$371,700 → $483,100 (+30.0%)
Median gross rent	$1,740 → $2,008 (+15.4%)	$1,813 → $2,151 (+18.6%)

Gaithersburg

Population

67,74269,225

Median household income

$89,763$107,496

Median home value

$392,200$484,500

Median gross rent

$1,740$2,008

Wheaton

Population

50,22952,172

Median household income

$85,617$107,349

Median home value

$371,700$483,100

Median gross rent

$1,813$2,151

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Gaithersburg	Wheaton
Under 5	7.0%	6.4%
5 to 17	15.6%	16.9%
18 to 24	8.1%	8.2%
25 to 34	14.1%	15.7%
35 to 44	16.5%	14.3%
45 to 54	13.4%	13.1%
55 to 64	11.6%	12.8%
65 to 74	7.7%	8.0%
75 and over	6.1%	4.6%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Gaithersburg	Wheaton
White (non-Hispanic)	31.2%	22.6%
Black or African American	15.0%	19.6%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.1%	0.1%
Asian	19.5%	10.4%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.2%	0.0%
Some other race	0.7%	1.3%
Two or more races	3.8%	2.6%
Hispanic or Latino	29.5%	43.4%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Gaithersburg	Wheaton
No high school diploma	11.9%	19.4%
High school graduate	16.1%	20.0%
Some college or associate's	19.6%	21.7%
Bachelor's degree	27.7%	19.6%
Graduate or professional degree	24.7%	19.2%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Gaithersburg	Wheaton
Drove alone	54.2%	56.7%
Carpooled	10.7%	11.3%
Public transit	6.6%	12.5%
Walked	1.8%	1.0%
Bicycle	0.4%	0.0%
Worked from home	23.9%	17.5%
Other means	2.3%	0.9%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Gaithersburg	Wheaton
1-unit, detached	19.6%	60.4%
1-unit, attached	29.0%	14.5%
2 to 4 units	2.6%	0.9%
5 to 19 units	26.9%	11.4%
20 or more units	21.9%	12.7%
Mobile home & other	0.1%	0.1%

Poverty & households

	Gaithersburg	Wheaton
Poverty rate	8.8%	10.6%
Average household size	2.65	3.11
Mean commute (minutes)	29	33
Median year structure built	1989	1959