Columbia vs Forest Acres

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

Columbia and Forest Acres are places in South Carolina. This page compares them across population, income, housing, education, commuting, and how each has changed since 2019.

Columbia has the higher population (138,019 vs 10,491 in Forest Acres). Forest Acres has the higher median household income ($76,417 vs $55,653 in Columbia). Forest Acres has the higher median home value ($260,500 vs $243,500 in Columbia).

Population, income & housing

	Columbia	Forest Acres
Population	138,019	10,491
Median age	28.7 yrs	41.7 yrs
Median household income	$55,653	$76,417
Median home value	$243,500	$260,500
Median gross rent	$1,158	$1,182
Housing units	60,568	5,485
Homeownership rate	47.3%	78.5%
Bachelor's degree or higher	46.1%	63.1%
Unemployment rate	7.6%	4.1%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Columbia	Forest Acres
Population	133,273 → 138,019 (+3.6%)	10,412 → 10,491 (+0.8%)
Median household income	$47,286 → $55,653 (+17.7%)	$69,212 → $76,417 (+10.4%)
Median home value	$181,100 → $243,500 (+34.5%)	$193,700 → $260,500 (+34.5%)
Median gross rent	$933 → $1,158 (+24.1%)	$959 → $1,182 (+23.3%)

Columbia

Population

133,273138,019

Median household income

$47,286$55,653

Median home value

$181,100$243,500

Median gross rent

$933$1,158

Forest Acres

Population

10,41210,491

Median household income

$69,212$76,417

Median home value

$193,700$260,500

Median gross rent

$959$1,182

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Columbia	Forest Acres
Under 5	5.4%	7.4%
5 to 17	11.7%	14.1%
18 to 24	25.5%	8.4%
25 to 34	17.6%	9.5%
35 to 44	10.9%	14.9%
45 to 54	9.5%	10.7%
55 to 64	8.5%	11.4%
65 to 74	6.8%	11.1%
75 and over	4.2%	12.3%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Columbia	Forest Acres
White (non-Hispanic)	47.9%	80.0%
Black or African American	39.0%	11.6%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.1%	0.0%
Asian	2.6%	1.9%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.2%	0.0%
Some other race	0.5%	0.1%
Two or more races	4.0%	4.7%
Hispanic or Latino	5.7%	1.6%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Columbia	Forest Acres
No high school diploma	9.1%	3.6%
High school graduate	19.2%	8.6%
Some college or associate's	25.5%	24.6%
Bachelor's degree	25.2%	35.9%
Graduate or professional degree	20.9%	27.2%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Columbia	Forest Acres
Drove alone	62.9%	78.8%
Carpooled	6.9%	7.2%
Public transit	1.4%	0.4%
Walked	16.4%	1.1%
Bicycle	0.3%	0.7%
Worked from home	9.8%	10.3%
Other means	2.2%	1.5%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Columbia	Forest Acres
1-unit, detached	51.3%	68.4%
1-unit, attached	6.1%	5.5%
2 to 4 units	10.3%	9.4%
5 to 19 units	14.6%	8.6%
20 or more units	16.6%	7.9%
Mobile home & other	1.0%	0.3%

Poverty & households

	Columbia	Forest Acres
Poverty rate	23.3%	8.2%
Average household size	2.16	2.10
Mean commute (minutes)	17	21
Median year structure built	1978	1965