Columbia vs Irmo

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

Columbia and Irmo 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 11,799 in Irmo). Irmo has the higher median household income ($85,137 vs $55,653 in Columbia). Columbia has the higher median home value ($243,500 vs $193,100 in Irmo).

Population, income & housing

	Columbia	Irmo
Population	138,019	11,799
Median age	28.7 yrs	39.5 yrs
Median household income	$55,653	$85,137
Median home value	$243,500	$193,100
Median gross rent	$1,158	$1,412
Housing units	60,568	4,996
Homeownership rate	47.3%	80.7%
Bachelor's degree or higher	46.1%	37.3%
Unemployment rate	7.6%	8.3%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Columbia	Irmo
Population	133,273 → 138,019 (+3.6%)	12,215 → 11,799 (-3.4%)
Median household income	$47,286 → $55,653 (+17.7%)	$66,313 → $85,137 (+28.4%)
Median home value	$181,100 → $243,500 (+34.5%)	$125,000 → $193,100 (+54.5%)
Median gross rent	$933 → $1,158 (+24.1%)	$1,126 → $1,412 (+25.4%)

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

Irmo

Population

12,21511,799

Median household income

$66,313$85,137

Median home value

$125,000$193,100

Median gross rent

$1,126$1,412

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Columbia	Irmo
Under 5	5.4%	4.5%
5 to 17	11.7%	17.1%
18 to 24	25.5%	6.8%
25 to 34	17.6%	17.0%
35 to 44	10.9%	12.0%
45 to 54	9.5%	13.5%
55 to 64	8.5%	14.3%
65 to 74	6.8%	8.8%
75 and over	4.2%	6.1%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Columbia	Irmo
White (non-Hispanic)	47.9%	61.3%
Black or African American	39.0%	29.3%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.1%	0.0%
Asian	2.6%	2.5%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.2%	0.0%
Some other race	0.5%	0.0%
Two or more races	4.0%	4.1%
Hispanic or Latino	5.7%	2.8%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Columbia	Irmo
No high school diploma	9.1%	4.1%
High school graduate	19.2%	20.6%
Some college or associate's	25.5%	37.9%
Bachelor's degree	25.2%	26.3%
Graduate or professional degree	20.9%	11.1%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Columbia	Irmo
Drove alone	62.9%	76.2%
Carpooled	6.9%	9.8%
Public transit	1.4%	0.0%
Walked	16.4%	0.3%
Bicycle	0.3%	0.0%
Worked from home	9.8%	13.7%
Other means	2.2%	0.1%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Columbia	Irmo
1-unit, detached	51.3%	89.9%
1-unit, attached	6.1%	4.5%
2 to 4 units	10.3%	1.8%
5 to 19 units	14.6%	1.7%
20 or more units	16.6%	1.1%
Mobile home & other	1.0%	1.1%

Poverty & households

	Columbia	Irmo
Poverty rate	23.3%	8.1%
Average household size	2.16	2.48
Mean commute (minutes)	17	25
Median year structure built	1978	1984