Columbus vs Portal

A side-by-side comparison of Columbus and Portal: population, income, housing, and more.

Columbus and Portal are places in North Dakota. This page compares them across population, income, housing, education, commuting, and how each has changed since 2019.

Portal has the higher population (136 vs 47 in Columbus). Portal has the higher median household income ($112,031 vs $95,000 in Columbus). Columbus has the higher median home value ($112,500 vs $78,200 in Portal).

Population, income & housing

	Columbus	Portal
Population	47	136
Median age	52.9 yrs	42.7 yrs
Median household income	$95,000	$112,031
Median home value	$112,500	$78,200
Median gross rent	—	$678
Housing units	117	96
Homeownership rate	96.2%	59.0%
Bachelor's degree or higher	27.0%	43.4%
Unemployment rate	0.0%	9.0%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Columbus	Portal
Population	121 → 47 (-61.2%)	148 → 136 (-8.1%)
Median household income	$81,250 → $95,000 (+16.9%)	$99,375 → $112,031 (+12.7%)
Median home value	$88,000 → $112,500 (+27.8%)	$71,700 → $78,200 (+9.1%)
Median gross rent	—	$690 → $678 (-1.7%)

Columbus

Population

12147

Median household income

$81,250$95,000

Median home value

$88,000$112,500

Portal

Population

148136

Median household income

$99,375$112,031

Median home value

$71,700$78,200

Median gross rent

$690$678

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Columbus	Portal
Under 5	8.5%	3.7%
5 to 17	12.8%	11.8%
18 to 24	0.0%	1.5%
25 to 34	0.0%	27.9%
35 to 44	8.5%	10.3%
45 to 54	25.5%	22.8%
55 to 64	23.4%	18.4%
65 to 74	14.9%	0.7%
75 and over	6.4%	2.9%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Columbus	Portal
White (non-Hispanic)	100.0%	72.8%
Black or African American	0.0%	11.8%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.0%	5.9%
Asian	0.0%	2.2%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.0%	0.0%
Some other race	0.0%	0.0%
Two or more races	0.0%	5.9%
Hispanic or Latino	0.0%	1.5%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Columbus	Portal
No high school diploma	2.7%	6.2%
High school graduate	29.7%	32.7%
Some college or associate's	40.5%	17.7%
Bachelor's degree	18.9%	43.4%
Graduate or professional degree	8.1%	0.0%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Columbus	Portal
Drove alone	95.2%	67.6%
Carpooled	0.0%	5.6%
Public transit	0.0%	0.0%
Walked	0.0%	14.1%
Bicycle	0.0%	1.4%
Worked from home	4.8%	8.5%
Other means	0.0%	2.8%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Columbus	Portal
1-unit, detached	71.8%	77.1%
1-unit, attached	0.0%	0.0%
2 to 4 units	12.8%	15.6%
5 to 19 units	9.4%	0.0%
20 or more units	0.0%	0.0%
Mobile home & other	6.0%	7.3%

Poverty & households

	Columbus	Portal
Poverty rate	10.6%	6.6%
Average household size	1.81	1.74
Mean commute (minutes)	21	31
Median year structure built	1963	1974