Ashland vs Columbia

A side-by-side comparison of Ashland and Columbia: population, income, housing, and more.

Ashland and Columbia are places in Missouri. This page compares them across population, income, housing, education, commuting, and how each has changed since 2019.

Columbia has the higher population (127,200 vs 4,811 in Ashland). Ashland has the higher median household income ($90,628 vs $64,488 in Columbia). Columbia has the higher median home value ($268,300 vs $231,700 in Ashland).

Population, income & housing

	Ashland	Columbia
Population	4,811	127,200
Median age	37.8 yrs	29.2 yrs
Median household income	$90,628	$64,488
Median home value	$231,700	$268,300
Median gross rent	$1,188	$1,067
Housing units	2,175	55,441
Homeownership rate	66.1%	49.4%
Bachelor's degree or higher	41.4%	56.5%
Unemployment rate	1.2%	3.9%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Ashland	Columbia
Population	3,907 → 4,811 (+23.1%)	121,230 → 127,200 (+4.9%)
Median household income	$72,500 → $90,628 (+25.0%)	$51,276 → $64,488 (+25.8%)
Median home value	$187,900 → $231,700 (+23.3%)	$191,800 → $268,300 (+39.9%)
Median gross rent	$808 → $1,188 (+47.0%)	$887 → $1,067 (+20.3%)

Ashland

Population

3,9074,811

Median household income

$72,500$90,628

Median home value

$187,900$231,700

Median gross rent

$808$1,188

Columbia

Population

121,230127,200

Median household income

$51,276$64,488

Median home value

$191,800$268,300

Median gross rent

$887$1,067

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Ashland	Columbia
Under 5	5.5%	5.4%
5 to 17	16.2%	13.8%
18 to 24	7.0%	24.1%
25 to 34	15.6%	15.3%
35 to 44	15.2%	12.5%
45 to 54	12.5%	8.9%
55 to 64	15.2%	8.8%
65 to 74	5.6%	6.4%
75 and over	7.2%	4.9%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Ashland	Columbia
White (non-Hispanic)	92.4%	72.5%
Black or African American	0.6%	12.0%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.0%	0.1%
Asian	0.7%	6.1%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.0%	0.1%
Some other race	1.0%	0.3%
Two or more races	3.2%	4.7%
Hispanic or Latino	2.1%	4.3%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Ashland	Columbia
No high school diploma	8.2%	4.7%
High school graduate	25.9%	16.9%
Some college or associate's	24.5%	21.8%
Bachelor's degree	25.5%	30.1%
Graduate or professional degree	15.9%	26.3%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Ashland	Columbia
Drove alone	78.9%	74.1%
Carpooled	14.9%	7.6%
Public transit	0.0%	1.2%
Walked	0.0%	5.6%
Bicycle	0.0%	1.0%
Worked from home	6.3%	9.6%
Other means	0.0%	0.9%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Ashland	Columbia
1-unit, detached	74.1%	53.1%
1-unit, attached	5.3%	5.7%
2 to 4 units	15.7%	12.5%
5 to 19 units	0.9%	16.1%
20 or more units	1.3%	10.9%
Mobile home & other	2.7%	1.8%

Poverty & households

	Ashland	Columbia
Poverty rate	3.0%	20.0%
Average household size	2.24	2.29
Mean commute (minutes)	23	17
Median year structure built	2003	1993