Columbia vs Lancaster

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

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

Lancaster has the higher population (57,683 vs 10,217 in Columbia). Lancaster has the higher median household income ($63,421 vs $52,271 in Columbia). Lancaster has the higher median home value ($203,700 vs $174,200 in Columbia).

Population, income & housing

	Columbia	Lancaster
Population	10,217	57,683
Median age	45.4 yrs	31.9 yrs
Median household income	$52,271	$63,421
Median home value	$174,200	$203,700
Median gross rent	$1,064	$1,177
Housing units	5,072	22,285
Homeownership rate	52.2%	47.5%
Bachelor's degree or higher	17.2%	27.1%
Unemployment rate	3.9%	7.9%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Columbia	Lancaster
Population	10,382 → 10,217 (-1.6%)	59,433 → 57,683 (-2.9%)
Median household income	$41,475 → $52,271 (+26.0%)	$45,514 → $63,421 (+39.3%)
Median home value	$107,900 → $174,200 (+61.4%)	$114,600 → $203,700 (+77.7%)
Median gross rent	$804 → $1,064 (+32.3%)	$866 → $1,177 (+35.9%)

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

Lancaster

Population

59,43357,683

Median household income

$45,514$63,421

Median home value

$114,600$203,700

Median gross rent

$866$1,177

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Columbia	Lancaster
Under 5	3.4%	6.5%
5 to 17	11.1%	15.2%
18 to 24	8.0%	14.8%
25 to 34	13.6%	18.3%
35 to 44	13.4%	14.3%
45 to 54	9.9%	10.5%
55 to 64	15.3%	10.2%
65 to 74	16.2%	6.8%
75 and over	9.2%	3.4%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Columbia	Lancaster
White (non-Hispanic)	72.2%	38.2%
Black or African American	6.2%	12.2%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.4%	0.0%
Asian	0.1%	2.8%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.0%	0.1%
Some other race	0.3%	0.4%
Two or more races	1.2%	3.5%
Hispanic or Latino	19.6%	42.8%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Columbia	Lancaster
No high school diploma	17.6%	17.9%
High school graduate	45.0%	33.4%
Some college or associate's	20.2%	21.5%
Bachelor's degree	12.9%	17.7%
Graduate or professional degree	4.3%	9.4%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Columbia	Lancaster
Drove alone	74.8%	62.0%
Carpooled	13.2%	10.7%
Public transit	0.3%	4.4%
Walked	6.2%	10.9%
Bicycle	0.2%	0.9%
Worked from home	4.1%	9.3%
Other means	1.3%	1.9%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Columbia	Lancaster
1-unit, detached	27.8%	10.6%
1-unit, attached	36.9%	52.6%
2 to 4 units	12.2%	17.7%
5 to 19 units	9.6%	10.0%
20 or more units	13.2%	8.9%
Mobile home & other	0.3%	0.2%

Poverty & households

	Columbia	Lancaster
Poverty rate	17.4%	20.7%
Average household size	2.14	2.53
Mean commute (minutes)	26	23
Median year structure built	1938	1938