Columbia vs Ephrata

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

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

Ephrata has the higher population (13,729 vs 10,217 in Columbia). Ephrata has the higher median household income ($68,117 vs $52,271 in Columbia). Ephrata has the higher median home value ($215,100 vs $174,200 in Columbia).

Population, income & housing

	Columbia	Ephrata
Population	10,217	13,729
Median age	45.4 yrs	36.8 yrs
Median household income	$52,271	$68,117
Median home value	$174,200	$215,100
Median gross rent	$1,064	$1,070
Housing units	5,072	5,905
Homeownership rate	52.2%	54.3%
Bachelor's degree or higher	17.2%	22.9%
Unemployment rate	3.9%	1.9%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Columbia	Ephrata
Population	10,382 → 10,217 (-1.6%)	13,810 → 13,729 (-0.6%)
Median household income	$41,475 → $52,271 (+26.0%)	$51,954 → $68,117 (+31.1%)
Median home value	$107,900 → $174,200 (+61.4%)	$155,400 → $215,100 (+38.4%)
Median gross rent	$804 → $1,064 (+32.3%)	$860 → $1,070 (+24.4%)

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

Ephrata

Population

13,81013,729

Median household income

$51,954$68,117

Median home value

$155,400$215,100

Median gross rent

$860$1,070

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Columbia	Ephrata
Under 5	3.4%	6.3%
5 to 17	11.1%	17.4%
18 to 24	8.0%	6.0%
25 to 34	13.6%	17.2%
35 to 44	13.4%	12.7%
45 to 54	9.9%	10.9%
55 to 64	15.3%	11.8%
65 to 74	16.2%	8.8%
75 and over	9.2%	9.0%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Columbia	Ephrata
White (non-Hispanic)	72.2%	83.8%
Black or African American	6.2%	3.3%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.4%	0.1%
Asian	0.1%	0.4%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.0%	0.0%
Some other race	0.3%	0.2%
Two or more races	1.2%	2.9%
Hispanic or Latino	19.6%	9.3%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Columbia	Ephrata
No high school diploma	17.6%	11.6%
High school graduate	45.0%	42.1%
Some college or associate's	20.2%	23.4%
Bachelor's degree	12.9%	15.7%
Graduate or professional degree	4.3%	7.2%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Columbia	Ephrata
Drove alone	74.8%	80.1%
Carpooled	13.2%	11.0%
Public transit	0.3%	0.1%
Walked	6.2%	3.4%
Bicycle	0.2%	0.1%
Worked from home	4.1%	4.9%
Other means	1.3%	0.4%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Columbia	Ephrata
1-unit, detached	27.8%	35.9%
1-unit, attached	36.9%	30.5%
2 to 4 units	12.2%	14.2%
5 to 19 units	9.6%	13.3%
20 or more units	13.2%	4.3%
Mobile home & other	0.3%	1.9%

Poverty & households

	Columbia	Ephrata
Poverty rate	17.4%	9.3%
Average household size	2.14	2.33
Mean commute (minutes)	26	23
Median year structure built	1938	1968