Bowie vs South Laurel

A side-by-side comparison of Bowie and South Laurel: population, income, housing, and more.

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

Bowie has the higher population (57,771 vs 27,736 in South Laurel). Bowie has the higher median household income ($141,831 vs $90,715 in South Laurel). South Laurel has the higher median home value ($443,100 vs $442,000 in Bowie).

Population, income & housing

	Bowie	South Laurel
Population	57,771	27,736
Median age	44.0 yrs	36.1 yrs
Median household income	$141,831	$90,715
Median home value	$442,000	$443,100
Median gross rent	$2,240	$1,795
Housing units	21,673	11,450
Homeownership rate	85.1%	40.1%
Bachelor's degree or higher	50.1%	41.2%
Unemployment rate	4.5%	6.7%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Bowie	South Laurel
Population	58,481 → 57,771 (-1.2%)	28,683 → 27,736 (-3.3%)
Median household income	$113,338 → $141,831 (+25.1%)	$79,227 → $90,715 (+14.5%)
Median home value	$338,100 → $442,000 (+30.7%)	$343,500 → $443,100 (+29.0%)
Median gross rent	$1,888 → $2,240 (+18.6%)	$1,506 → $1,795 (+19.2%)

Bowie

Population

58,48157,771

Median household income

$113,338$141,831

Median home value

$338,100$442,000

Median gross rent

$1,888$2,240

South Laurel

Population

28,68327,736

Median household income

$79,227$90,715

Median home value

$343,500$443,100

Median gross rent

$1,506$1,795

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Bowie	South Laurel
Under 5	4.7%	7.4%
5 to 17	16.9%	15.9%
18 to 24	6.5%	7.7%
25 to 34	10.7%	17.2%
35 to 44	12.4%	14.8%
45 to 54	15.5%	14.3%
55 to 64	17.1%	11.4%
65 to 74	10.3%	6.7%
75 and over	6.0%	4.8%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Bowie	South Laurel
White (non-Hispanic)	26.8%	12.0%
Black or African American	55.8%	58.3%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.3%	0.0%
Asian	3.0%	5.7%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.0%	0.0%
Some other race	0.4%	0.8%
Two or more races	5.2%	3.7%
Hispanic or Latino	8.5%	19.6%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Bowie	South Laurel
No high school diploma	5.5%	9.3%
High school graduate	19.1%	23.7%
Some college or associate's	25.2%	25.7%
Bachelor's degree	25.7%	24.2%
Graduate or professional degree	24.4%	17.1%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Bowie	South Laurel
Drove alone	62.0%	69.8%
Carpooled	8.5%	7.4%
Public transit	3.9%	5.8%
Walked	0.9%	0.8%
Bicycle	0.0%	0.1%
Worked from home	23.8%	11.9%
Other means	0.9%	4.2%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Bowie	South Laurel
1-unit, detached	73.0%	29.5%
1-unit, attached	17.7%	15.1%
2 to 4 units	0.4%	2.4%
5 to 19 units	3.9%	44.4%
20 or more units	5.0%	8.3%
Mobile home & other	0.0%	0.5%

Poverty & households

	Bowie	South Laurel
Poverty rate	4.1%	11.8%
Average household size	2.69	2.50
Mean commute (minutes)	36	32
Median year structure built	1981	1977