Ford County vs Washington County

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

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

Washington County has the higher population (13,682 vs 13,396 in Ford County). Washington County has the higher median household income ($75,652 vs $60,782 in Ford County). Washington County has the higher median home value ($149,800 vs $118,100 in Ford County).

Population, income & housing

	Ford County	Washington County
Population	13,396	13,682
Median age	42.5 yrs	44.2 yrs
Median household income	$60,782	$75,652
Median home value	$118,100	$149,800
Median gross rent	$836	$776
Housing units	6,263	6,402
Homeownership rate	74.1%	81.2%
Bachelor's degree or higher	19.4%	24.4%
Unemployment rate	5.4%	4.1%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Ford County	Washington County
Population	13,270 → 13,396 (+0.9%)	14,058 → 13,682 (-2.7%)
Median household income	$52,092 → $60,782 (+16.7%)	$61,763 → $75,652 (+22.5%)
Median home value	$98,300 → $118,100 (+20.1%)	$113,500 → $149,800 (+32.0%)
Median gross rent	$676 → $836 (+23.7%)	$716 → $776 (+8.4%)

Ford County

Population

13,27013,396

Median household income

$52,092$60,782

Median home value

$98,300$118,100

Median gross rent

$676$836

Washington County

Population

14,05813,682

Median household income

$61,763$75,652

Median home value

$113,500$149,800

Median gross rent

$716$776

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Ford County	Washington County
Under 5	5.7%	5.0%
5 to 17	17.6%	16.0%
18 to 24	7.3%	7.1%
25 to 34	11.0%	11.0%
35 to 44	12.4%	11.9%
45 to 54	12.3%	12.3%
55 to 64	14.5%	15.5%
65 to 74	10.9%	12.3%
75 and over	8.4%	9.0%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Ford County	Washington County
White (non-Hispanic)	90.5%	95.1%
Black or African American	0.6%	0.5%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.0%	0.1%
Asian	0.7%	0.2%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.0%	0.0%
Some other race	0.3%	0.0%
Two or more races	3.1%	2.6%
Hispanic or Latino	4.6%	1.6%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Ford County	Washington County
No high school diploma	8.1%	6.8%
High school graduate	36.1%	31.8%
Some college or associate's	36.4%	37.0%
Bachelor's degree	12.5%	16.4%
Graduate or professional degree	7.0%	8.0%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Ford County	Washington County
Drove alone	77.5%	82.6%
Carpooled	10.0%	7.0%
Public transit	0.0%	0.1%
Walked	2.7%	2.4%
Bicycle	0.4%	0.1%
Worked from home	8.8%	6.6%
Other means	0.5%	1.3%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Ford County	Washington County
1-unit, detached	81.4%	86.5%
1-unit, attached	0.6%	0.8%
2 to 4 units	8.2%	2.5%
5 to 19 units	3.6%	1.3%
20 or more units	2.9%	0.3%
Mobile home & other	3.3%	8.6%

Poverty & households

	Ford County	Washington County
Poverty rate	12.7%	7.8%
Average household size	2.27	2.35
Mean commute (minutes)	24	26
Median year structure built	1955	1970