Baltimore County vs Montgomery County

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

Baltimore County 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 849,586 in Baltimore County). Montgomery County has the higher median household income ($128,733 vs $90,904 in Baltimore County). Montgomery County has the higher median home value ($615,200 vs $330,000 in Baltimore County).

Population, income & housing

	Baltimore County	Montgomery County
Population	849,586	1,057,586
Median age	39.5 yrs	40.1 yrs
Median household income	$90,904	$128,733
Median home value	$330,000	$615,200
Median gross rent	$1,566	$2,030
Housing units	350,296	405,127
Homeownership rate	66.3%	65.3%
Bachelor's degree or higher	41.4%	60.3%
Unemployment rate	5.0%	4.8%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Baltimore County	Montgomery County
Population	828,018 → 849,586 (+2.6%)	1,043,530 → 1,057,586 (+1.3%)
Median household income	$76,866 → $90,904 (+18.3%)	$108,820 → $128,733 (+18.3%)
Median home value	$261,500 → $330,000 (+26.2%)	$484,900 → $615,200 (+26.9%)
Median gross rent	$1,302 → $1,566 (+20.3%)	$1,768 → $2,030 (+14.8%)

Baltimore County

Population

828,018849,586

Median household income

$76,866$90,904

Median home value

$261,500$330,000

Median gross rent

$1,302$1,566

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 County	Montgomery County
Under 5	5.8%	5.8%
5 to 17	16.1%	17.1%
18 to 24	8.8%	7.7%
25 to 34	13.1%	12.1%
35 to 44	12.9%	13.9%
45 to 54	12.1%	13.6%
55 to 64	13.4%	13.2%
65 to 74	10.3%	9.5%
75 and over	7.4%	7.0%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Baltimore County	Montgomery County
White (non-Hispanic)	52.3%	40.4%
Black or African American	29.8%	18.3%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.1%	0.1%
Asian	6.0%	15.1%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.0%	0.0%
Some other race	0.5%	0.9%
Two or more races	3.8%	4.5%
Hispanic or Latino	7.4%	20.6%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Baltimore County	Montgomery County
No high school diploma	8.3%	8.8%
High school graduate	24.2%	13.5%
Some college or associate's	26.1%	17.5%
Bachelor's degree	23.1%	27.2%
Graduate or professional degree	18.3%	33.1%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Baltimore County	Montgomery County
Drove alone	71.4%	54.2%
Carpooled	7.8%	7.8%
Public transit	3.0%	8.5%
Walked	1.9%	1.7%
Bicycle	0.1%	0.4%
Worked from home	14.2%	25.5%
Other means	1.7%	1.8%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Baltimore County	Montgomery County
1-unit, detached	47.2%	46.8%
1-unit, attached	23.3%	17.8%
2 to 4 units	3.3%	2.1%
5 to 19 units	17.8%	13.2%
20 or more units	7.6%	19.8%
Mobile home & other	0.8%	0.2%

Poverty & households

	Baltimore County	Montgomery County
Poverty rate	10.0%	7.1%
Average household size	2.51	2.70
Mean commute (minutes)	28	32
Median year structure built	1973	1980