Columbia vs Elizabethtown

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

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

Elizabethtown has the higher population (11,857 vs 10,217 in Columbia). Elizabethtown has the higher median household income ($67,770 vs $52,271 in Columbia). Elizabethtown has the higher median home value ($222,600 vs $174,200 in Columbia).

Population, income & housing

	Columbia	Elizabethtown
Population	10,217	11,857
Median age	45.4 yrs	34.5 yrs
Median household income	$52,271	$67,770
Median home value	$174,200	$222,600
Median gross rent	$1,064	$1,038
Housing units	5,072	4,786
Homeownership rate	52.2%	54.4%
Bachelor's degree or higher	17.2%	29.8%
Unemployment rate	3.9%	2.9%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Columbia	Elizabethtown
Population	10,382 → 10,217 (-1.6%)	11,469 → 11,857 (+3.4%)
Median household income	$41,475 → $52,271 (+26.0%)	$62,219 → $67,770 (+8.9%)
Median home value	$107,900 → $174,200 (+61.4%)	$180,000 → $222,600 (+23.7%)
Median gross rent	$804 → $1,064 (+32.3%)	$927 → $1,038 (+12.0%)

Columbia

Population

10,38210,217

Median household income

$41,475$52,271

Median home value

$107,900$174,200

Median gross rent

$804$1,064

Elizabethtown

Population

11,46911,857

Median household income

$62,219$67,770

Median home value

$180,000$222,600

Median gross rent

$927$1,038

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Columbia	Elizabethtown
Under 5	3.4%	4.0%
5 to 17	11.1%	13.5%
18 to 24	8.0%	18.8%
25 to 34	13.6%	14.3%
35 to 44	13.4%	11.5%
45 to 54	9.9%	7.5%
55 to 64	15.3%	13.8%
65 to 74	16.2%	8.6%
75 and over	9.2%	8.1%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Columbia	Elizabethtown
White (non-Hispanic)	72.2%	88.4%
Black or African American	6.2%	1.2%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.4%	0.1%
Asian	0.1%	1.5%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.0%	0.0%
Some other race	0.3%	0.4%
Two or more races	1.2%	3.5%
Hispanic or Latino	19.6%	4.9%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Columbia	Elizabethtown
No high school diploma	17.6%	7.6%
High school graduate	45.0%	36.3%
Some college or associate's	20.2%	26.3%
Bachelor's degree	12.9%	19.3%
Graduate or professional degree	4.3%	10.5%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Columbia	Elizabethtown
Drove alone	74.8%	72.4%
Carpooled	13.2%	6.4%
Public transit	0.3%	0.4%
Walked	6.2%	9.5%
Bicycle	0.2%	0.4%
Worked from home	4.1%	9.5%
Other means	1.3%	1.5%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Columbia	Elizabethtown
1-unit, detached	27.8%	39.1%
1-unit, attached	36.9%	19.1%
2 to 4 units	12.2%	13.5%
5 to 19 units	9.6%	17.2%
20 or more units	13.2%	11.2%
Mobile home & other	0.3%	0.0%

Poverty & households

	Columbia	Elizabethtown
Poverty rate	17.4%	7.5%
Average household size	2.14	2.15
Mean commute (minutes)	26	21
Median year structure built	1938	1963