National Harbor vs West Laurel

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

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

National Harbor has the higher population (4,418 vs 4,231 in West Laurel). West Laurel has the higher median household income ($160,692 vs $133,616 in National Harbor). West Laurel has the higher median home value ($487,200 vs $462,000 in National Harbor).

Population, income & housing

	National Harbor	West Laurel
Population	4,418	4,231
Median age	49.8 yrs	41.5 yrs
Median household income	$133,616	$160,692
Median home value	$462,000	$487,200
Median gross rent	$2,293	—
Housing units	2,583	1,492
Homeownership rate	54.4%	96.9%
Bachelor's degree or higher	51.1%	46.8%
Unemployment rate	4.1%	3.5%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	National Harbor	West Laurel
Population	4,296 → 4,418 (+2.8%)	4,383 → 4,231 (-3.5%)
Median household income	$89,838 → $133,616 (+48.7%)	$133,667 → $160,692 (+20.2%)
Median home value	$358,000 → $462,000 (+29.1%)	$363,200 → $487,200 (+34.1%)
Median gross rent	$1,352 → $2,293 (+69.6%)	—

National Harbor

Population

4,2964,418

Median household income

$89,838$133,616

Median home value

$358,000$462,000

Median gross rent

$1,352$2,293

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)

	National Harbor	West Laurel
Under 5	2.2%	6.9%
5 to 17	2.3%	16.7%
18 to 24	5.6%	5.0%
25 to 34	15.9%	8.5%
35 to 44	17.5%	20.2%
45 to 54	16.6%	9.4%
55 to 64	18.6%	18.7%
65 to 74	16.0%	8.0%
75 and over	5.3%	6.6%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	National Harbor	West Laurel
White (non-Hispanic)	21.1%	38.2%
Black or African American	48.4%	18.1%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.0%	0.0%
Asian	13.8%	10.2%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.0%	0.0%
Some other race	0.0%	4.4%
Two or more races	3.6%	13.4%
Hispanic or Latino	13.0%	15.8%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	National Harbor	West Laurel
No high school diploma	5.5%	6.2%
High school graduate	17.6%	20.2%
Some college or associate's	25.8%	26.7%
Bachelor's degree	27.9%	25.9%
Graduate or professional degree	23.2%	21.0%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	National Harbor	West Laurel
Drove alone	65.2%	73.3%
Carpooled	3.5%	7.2%
Public transit	6.8%	4.0%
Walked	3.1%	0.0%
Bicycle	0.0%	0.6%
Worked from home	19.1%	12.7%
Other means	2.3%	2.2%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	National Harbor	West Laurel
1-unit, detached	22.6%	99.1%
1-unit, attached	14.0%	0.6%
2 to 4 units	0.0%	0.3%
5 to 19 units	16.6%	0.0%
20 or more units	46.8%	0.0%
Mobile home & other	0.0%	0.0%

Poverty & households

	National Harbor	West Laurel
Poverty rate	6.5%	3.4%
Average household size	1.82	2.88
Mean commute (minutes)	36	39
Median year structure built	2002	1968