Fayette County vs Washington County

A side-by-side comparison of Fayette County and Washington County: population, income, housing, and more.

Fayette County and Washington County are counties in Alabama. This page compares them across population, income, housing, education, commuting, and how each has changed since 2019.

Fayette County has the higher population (16,173 vs 15,270 in Washington County). Washington County has the higher median household income ($60,503 vs $50,733 in Fayette County). Washington County has the higher median home value ($152,800 vs $121,200 in Fayette County).

Population, income & housing

	Fayette County	Washington County
Population	16,173	15,270
Median age	42.8 yrs	44.1 yrs
Median household income	$50,733	$60,503
Median home value	$121,200	$152,800
Median gross rent	$622	$628
Housing units	7,798	7,774
Homeownership rate	78.2%	85.9%
Bachelor's degree or higher	15.6%	16.2%
Unemployment rate	9.5%	6.2%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Fayette County	Washington County
Population	16,494 → 16,173 (-1.9%)	16,541 → 15,270 (-7.7%)
Median household income	$39,856 → $50,733 (+27.3%)	$41,370 → $60,503 (+46.2%)
Median home value	$88,500 → $121,200 (+36.9%)	$89,100 → $152,800 (+71.5%)
Median gross rent	$527 → $622 (+18.0%)	$730 → $628 (-14.0%)

Fayette County

Population

16,49416,173

Median household income

$39,856$50,733

Median home value

$88,500$121,200

Median gross rent

$527$622

Washington County

Population

16,54115,270

Median household income

$41,370$60,503

Median home value

$89,100$152,800

Median gross rent

$730$628

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Fayette County	Washington County
Under 5	4.9%	5.5%
5 to 17	16.5%	15.2%
18 to 24	9.3%	9.0%
25 to 34	10.6%	9.3%
35 to 44	11.7%	11.7%
45 to 54	11.3%	12.6%
55 to 64	14.1%	16.3%
65 to 74	12.7%	12.2%
75 and over	8.9%	8.3%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Fayette County	Washington County
White (non-Hispanic)	83.3%	65.6%
Black or African American	12.3%	22.7%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.2%	6.4%
Asian	0.1%	0.3%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.1%	0.0%
Some other race	0.3%	0.1%
Two or more races	2.6%	3.3%
Hispanic or Latino	1.1%	1.7%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Fayette County	Washington County
No high school diploma	14.8%	11.3%
High school graduate	37.9%	40.9%
Some college or associate's	31.7%	31.6%
Bachelor's degree	9.9%	8.5%
Graduate or professional degree	5.7%	7.7%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Fayette County	Washington County
Drove alone	88.6%	85.7%
Carpooled	9.0%	6.1%
Public transit	0.0%	0.1%
Walked	0.4%	0.5%
Bicycle	0.0%	0.0%
Worked from home	1.8%	5.2%
Other means	0.2%	2.4%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Fayette County	Washington County
1-unit, detached	69.2%	70.5%
1-unit, attached	0.1%	0.5%
2 to 4 units	4.8%	1.6%
5 to 19 units	4.4%	0.2%
20 or more units	1.6%	0.2%
Mobile home & other	19.9%	26.9%

Poverty & households

	Fayette County	Washington County
Poverty rate	18.7%	18.4%
Average household size	2.62	2.67
Mean commute (minutes)	29	35
Median year structure built	1980	1983