Anne Arundel County vs Howard County

A side-by-side comparison of Anne Arundel County and Howard County: population, income, housing, and more.

Anne Arundel County and Howard County are counties in Maryland. This page compares them across population, income, housing, education, commuting, and how each has changed since 2019.

Anne Arundel County has the higher population (590,936 vs 333,916 in Howard County). Howard County has the higher median household income ($146,982 vs $120,324 in Anne Arundel County). Howard County has the higher median home value ($576,700 vs $450,300 in Anne Arundel County).

Population, income & housing

	Anne Arundel County	Howard County
Population	590,936	333,916
Median age	39.0 yrs	39.4 yrs
Median household income	$120,324	$146,982
Median home value	$450,300	$576,700
Median gross rent	$1,990	$2,038
Housing units	234,843	124,489
Homeownership rate	75.0%	71.7%
Bachelor's degree or higher	45.2%	64.5%
Unemployment rate	4.0%	3.6%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Anne Arundel County	Howard County
Population	571,275 → 590,936 (+3.4%)	318,855 → 333,916 (+4.7%)
Median household income	$100,798 → $120,324 (+19.4%)	$121,160 → $146,982 (+21.3%)
Median home value	$361,200 → $450,300 (+24.7%)	$455,700 → $576,700 (+26.6%)
Median gross rent	$1,663 → $1,990 (+19.7%)	$1,716 → $2,038 (+18.8%)

Anne Arundel County

Population

571,275590,936

Median household income

$100,798$120,324

Median home value

$361,200$450,300

Median gross rent

$1,663$1,990

Howard County

Population

318,855333,916

Median household income

$121,160$146,982

Median home value

$455,700$576,700

Median gross rent

$1,716$2,038

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Anne Arundel County	Howard County
Under 5	6.0%	5.5%
5 to 17	16.6%	18.5%
18 to 24	7.7%	7.9%
25 to 34	13.8%	11.9%
35 to 44	14.2%	14.6%
45 to 54	12.7%	13.8%
55 to 64	13.3%	13.0%
65 to 74	9.3%	8.8%
75 and over	6.3%	6.0%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Anne Arundel County	Howard County
White (non-Hispanic)	62.7%	47.0%
Black or African American	17.4%	19.6%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.1%	0.1%
Asian	4.0%	18.8%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.0%	0.0%
Some other race	0.5%	0.6%
Two or more races	5.2%	5.4%
Hispanic or Latino	10.0%	8.4%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Anne Arundel County	Howard County
No high school diploma	6.2%	4.7%
High school graduate	22.0%	12.4%
Some college or associate's	26.5%	18.4%
Bachelor's degree	25.1%	30.7%
Graduate or professional degree	20.1%	33.8%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Anne Arundel County	Howard County
Drove alone	72.1%	67.4%
Carpooled	6.6%	5.4%
Public transit	1.9%	1.9%
Walked	1.5%	0.9%
Bicycle	0.1%	0.1%
Worked from home	16.7%	23.2%
Other means	1.1%	1.2%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Anne Arundel County	Howard County
1-unit, detached	59.5%	50.5%
1-unit, attached	21.3%	22.3%
2 to 4 units	1.8%	1.7%
5 to 19 units	10.6%	15.3%
20 or more units	5.6%	9.2%
Mobile home & other	1.3%	1.0%

Poverty & households

	Anne Arundel County	Howard County
Poverty rate	5.5%	5.1%
Average household size	2.60	2.76
Mean commute (minutes)	29	29
Median year structure built	1983	1989