Fort Washington vs South Laurel

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

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

South Laurel has the higher population (27,736 vs 25,843 in Fort Washington). Fort Washington has the higher median household income ($145,942 vs $90,715 in South Laurel). Fort Washington has the higher median home value ($464,300 vs $443,100 in South Laurel).

Population, income & housing

	Fort Washington	South Laurel
Population	25,843	27,736
Median age	45.0 yrs	36.1 yrs
Median household income	$145,942	$90,715
Median home value	$464,300	$443,100
Median gross rent	$2,724	$1,795
Housing units	8,854	11,450
Homeownership rate	91.3%	40.1%
Bachelor's degree or higher	41.7%	41.2%
Unemployment rate	6.4%	6.7%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Fort Washington	South Laurel
Population	24,237 → 25,843 (+6.6%)	28,683 → 27,736 (-3.3%)
Median household income	$117,950 → $145,942 (+23.7%)	$79,227 → $90,715 (+14.5%)
Median home value	$358,500 → $464,300 (+29.5%)	$343,500 → $443,100 (+29.0%)
Median gross rent	$2,084 → $2,724 (+30.7%)	$1,506 → $1,795 (+19.2%)

Fort Washington

Population

24,23725,843

Median household income

$117,950$145,942

Median home value

$358,500$464,300

Median gross rent

$2,084$2,724

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)

	Fort Washington	South Laurel
Under 5	5.2%	7.4%
5 to 17	14.4%	15.9%
18 to 24	5.7%	7.7%
25 to 34	11.7%	17.2%
35 to 44	12.9%	14.8%
45 to 54	13.8%	14.3%
55 to 64	15.4%	11.4%
65 to 74	13.5%	6.7%
75 and over	7.4%	4.8%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Fort Washington	South Laurel
White (non-Hispanic)	10.3%	12.0%
Black or African American	59.4%	58.3%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.1%	0.0%
Asian	6.7%	5.7%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.0%	0.0%
Some other race	1.1%	0.8%
Two or more races	3.4%	3.7%
Hispanic or Latino	18.9%	19.6%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Fort Washington	South Laurel
No high school diploma	8.1%	9.3%
High school graduate	21.4%	23.7%
Some college or associate's	28.8%	25.7%
Bachelor's degree	24.3%	24.2%
Graduate or professional degree	17.4%	17.1%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Fort Washington	South Laurel
Drove alone	66.9%	69.8%
Carpooled	9.2%	7.4%
Public transit	4.3%	5.8%
Walked	1.1%	0.8%
Bicycle	0.0%	0.1%
Worked from home	16.5%	11.9%
Other means	2.1%	4.2%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Fort Washington	South Laurel
1-unit, detached	97.2%	29.5%
1-unit, attached	1.4%	15.1%
2 to 4 units	0.2%	2.4%
5 to 19 units	0.0%	44.4%
20 or more units	1.2%	8.3%
Mobile home & other	0.0%	0.5%

Poverty & households

	Fort Washington	South Laurel
Poverty rate	5.4%	11.8%
Average household size	3.00	2.50
Mean commute (minutes)	39	32
Median year structure built	1980	1977