Baltimore city vs Montgomery County

A side-by-side comparison of Baltimore city and Montgomery County: population, income, housing, and more.

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

Montgomery County has the higher population (1,057,586 vs 577,193 in Baltimore city). Montgomery County has the higher median household income ($128,733 vs $59,623 in Baltimore city). Montgomery County has the higher median home value ($615,200 vs $219,300 in Baltimore city).

Population, income & housing

	Baltimore city	Montgomery County
Population	577,193	1,057,586
Median age	36.1 yrs	40.1 yrs
Median household income	$59,623	$128,733
Median home value	$219,300	$615,200
Median gross rent	$1,290	$2,030
Housing units	293,631	405,127
Homeownership rate	47.5%	65.3%
Bachelor's degree or higher	35.4%	60.3%
Unemployment rate	6.6%	4.8%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Baltimore city	Montgomery County
Population	609,032 → 577,193 (-5.2%)	1,043,530 → 1,057,586 (+1.3%)
Median household income	$50,379 → $59,623 (+18.3%)	$108,820 → $128,733 (+18.3%)
Median home value	$160,100 → $219,300 (+37.0%)	$484,900 → $615,200 (+26.9%)
Median gross rent	$1,073 → $1,290 (+20.2%)	$1,768 → $2,030 (+14.8%)

Baltimore city

Population

609,032577,193

Median household income

$50,379$59,623

Median home value

$160,100$219,300

Median gross rent

$1,073$1,290

Montgomery County

Population

1,043,5301,057,586

Median household income

$108,820$128,733

Median home value

$484,900$615,200

Median gross rent

$1,768$2,030

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Baltimore city	Montgomery County
Under 5	6.1%	5.8%
5 to 17	14.8%	17.1%
18 to 24	9.1%	7.7%
25 to 34	18.2%	12.1%
35 to 44	13.7%	13.9%
45 to 54	10.7%	13.6%
55 to 64	12.5%	13.2%
65 to 74	9.3%	9.5%
75 and over	5.7%	7.0%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Baltimore city	Montgomery County
White (non-Hispanic)	26.2%	40.4%
Black or African American	59.3%	18.3%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.2%	0.1%
Asian	2.5%	15.1%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.0%	0.0%
Some other race	0.6%	0.9%
Two or more races	3.4%	4.5%
Hispanic or Latino	7.9%	20.6%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Baltimore city	Montgomery County
No high school diploma	12.8%	8.8%
High school graduate	27.9%	13.5%
Some college or associate's	23.8%	17.5%
Bachelor's degree	18.1%	27.2%
Graduate or professional degree	17.3%	33.1%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Baltimore city	Montgomery County
Drove alone	56.8%	54.2%
Carpooled	6.9%	7.8%
Public transit	11.5%	8.5%
Walked	5.6%	1.7%
Bicycle	0.6%	0.4%
Worked from home	15.9%	25.5%
Other means	2.7%	1.8%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Baltimore city	Montgomery County
1-unit, detached	14.7%	46.8%
1-unit, attached	50.1%	17.8%
2 to 4 units	10.2%	2.1%
5 to 19 units	9.9%	13.2%
20 or more units	14.8%	19.8%
Mobile home & other	0.2%	0.2%

Poverty & households

	Baltimore city	Montgomery County
Poverty rate	20.1%	7.1%
Average household size	2.22	2.70
Mean commute (minutes)	29	32
Median year structure built	1948	1980