Carroll County vs Washington County

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

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

Washington County has the higher population (22,539 vs 20,677 in Carroll County). Washington County has the higher median household income ($71,339 vs $68,528 in Carroll County). Washington County has the higher median home value ($199,600 vs $175,700 in Carroll County).

Population, income & housing

	Carroll County	Washington County
Population	20,677	22,539
Median age	41.8 yrs	40.3 yrs
Median household income	$68,528	$71,339
Median home value	$175,700	$199,600
Median gross rent	$722	$862
Housing units	9,508	9,638
Homeownership rate	75.0%	72.2%
Bachelor's degree or higher	23.4%	24.9%
Unemployment rate	2.1%	2.5%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Carroll County	Washington County
Population	20,281 → 20,677 (+2.0%)	22,100 → 22,539 (+2.0%)
Median household income	$59,212 → $68,528 (+15.7%)	$62,556 → $71,339 (+14.0%)
Median home value	$138,900 → $175,700 (+26.5%)	$151,600 → $199,600 (+31.7%)
Median gross rent	$621 → $722 (+16.3%)	$754 → $862 (+14.3%)

Carroll County

Population

20,28120,677

Median household income

$59,212$68,528

Median home value

$138,900$175,700

Median gross rent

$621$722

Washington County

Population

22,10022,539

Median household income

$62,556$71,339

Median home value

$151,600$199,600

Median gross rent

$754$862

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Carroll County	Washington County
Under 5	5.6%	6.3%
5 to 17	18.5%	18.3%
18 to 24	7.9%	7.5%
25 to 34	10.5%	11.1%
35 to 44	11.3%	12.5%
45 to 54	10.9%	11.2%
55 to 64	14.3%	13.3%
65 to 74	11.4%	11.0%
75 and over	9.6%	8.9%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Carroll County	Washington County
White (non-Hispanic)	92.9%	89.2%
Black or African American	0.7%	0.6%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.0%	0.0%
Asian	0.6%	0.5%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.0%	0.0%
Some other race	0.3%	0.2%
Two or more races	2.3%	2.1%
Hispanic or Latino	3.2%	7.4%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Carroll County	Washington County
No high school diploma	5.0%	6.8%
High school graduate	38.6%	35.8%
Some college or associate's	33.0%	32.5%
Bachelor's degree	17.8%	16.5%
Graduate or professional degree	5.6%	8.4%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Carroll County	Washington County
Drove alone	83.3%	77.8%
Carpooled	7.5%	9.1%
Public transit	0.5%	1.0%
Walked	1.6%	2.5%
Bicycle	0.0%	0.0%
Worked from home	6.5%	8.5%
Other means	0.7%	1.0%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Carroll County	Washington County
1-unit, detached	80.7%	79.0%
1-unit, attached	3.7%	3.4%
2 to 4 units	4.7%	7.9%
5 to 19 units	5.3%	4.9%
20 or more units	4.5%	1.3%
Mobile home & other	1.2%	3.5%

Poverty & households

	Carroll County	Washington County
Poverty rate	8.3%	8.5%
Average household size	2.31	2.45
Mean commute (minutes)	15	24
Median year structure built	1964	1962