Capitol Heights vs West Laurel

A side-by-side comparison of Capitol Heights and West Laurel: population, income, housing, and more.

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

West Laurel has the higher population (4,231 vs 4,014 in Capitol Heights). West Laurel has the higher median household income ($160,692 vs $91,938 in Capitol Heights). West Laurel has the higher median home value ($487,200 vs $294,700 in Capitol Heights).

Population, income & housing

	Capitol Heights	West Laurel
Population	4,014	4,231
Median age	33.9 yrs	41.5 yrs
Median household income	$91,938	$160,692
Median home value	$294,700	$487,200
Median gross rent	$1,379	—
Housing units	1,324	1,492
Homeownership rate	70.4%	96.9%
Bachelor's degree or higher	19.7%	46.8%
Unemployment rate	9.2%	3.5%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Capitol Heights	West Laurel
Population	4,528 → 4,014 (-11.4%)	4,383 → 4,231 (-3.5%)
Median household income	$70,919 → $91,938 (+29.6%)	$133,667 → $160,692 (+20.2%)
Median home value	$226,200 → $294,700 (+30.3%)	$363,200 → $487,200 (+34.1%)
Median gross rent	$1,320 → $1,379 (+4.5%)	—

Capitol Heights

Population

4,5284,014

Median household income

$70,919$91,938

Median home value

$226,200$294,700

Median gross rent

$1,320$1,379

West Laurel

Population

4,3834,231

Median household income

$133,667$160,692

Median home value

$363,200$487,200

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Capitol Heights	West Laurel
Under 5	7.7%	6.9%
5 to 17	21.0%	16.7%
18 to 24	10.4%	5.0%
25 to 34	11.1%	8.5%
35 to 44	12.3%	20.2%
45 to 54	14.0%	9.4%
55 to 64	10.7%	18.7%
65 to 74	9.3%	8.0%
75 and over	3.4%	6.6%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Capitol Heights	West Laurel
White (non-Hispanic)	0.7%	38.2%
Black or African American	72.3%	18.1%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.0%	0.0%
Asian	0.0%	10.2%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.0%	0.0%
Some other race	0.0%	4.4%
Two or more races	1.9%	13.4%
Hispanic or Latino	25.0%	15.8%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Capitol Heights	West Laurel
No high school diploma	23.7%	6.2%
High school graduate	31.1%	20.2%
Some college or associate's	25.5%	26.7%
Bachelor's degree	15.3%	25.9%
Graduate or professional degree	4.4%	21.0%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Capitol Heights	West Laurel
Drove alone	63.4%	73.3%
Carpooled	14.7%	7.2%
Public transit	9.4%	4.0%
Walked	1.6%	0.0%
Bicycle	0.0%	0.6%
Worked from home	7.9%	12.7%
Other means	3.0%	2.2%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Capitol Heights	West Laurel
1-unit, detached	55.7%	99.1%
1-unit, attached	34.1%	0.6%
2 to 4 units	0.0%	0.3%
5 to 19 units	0.4%	0.0%
20 or more units	9.8%	0.0%
Mobile home & other	0.0%	0.0%

Poverty & households

	Capitol Heights	West Laurel
Poverty rate	7.5%	3.4%
Average household size	3.19	2.88
Mean commute (minutes)	37	39
Median year structure built	1967	1968