Carroll County vs Howard County

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

Carroll 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.

Howard County has the higher population (333,916 vs 174,318 in Carroll County). Howard County has the higher median household income ($146,982 vs $115,876 in Carroll County). Howard County has the higher median home value ($576,700 vs $406,400 in Carroll County).

Population, income & housing

	Carroll County	Howard County
Population	174,318	333,916
Median age	41.3 yrs	39.4 yrs
Median household income	$115,876	$146,982
Median home value	$406,400	$576,700
Median gross rent	$1,370	$2,038
Housing units	66,167	124,489
Homeownership rate	83.9%	71.7%
Bachelor's degree or higher	39.7%	64.5%
Unemployment rate	3.2%	3.6%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Carroll County	Howard County
Population	167,699 → 174,318 (+3.9%)	318,855 → 333,916 (+4.7%)
Median household income	$96,769 → $115,876 (+19.7%)	$121,160 → $146,982 (+21.3%)
Median home value	$339,600 → $406,400 (+19.7%)	$455,700 → $576,700 (+26.6%)
Median gross rent	$1,132 → $1,370 (+21.0%)	$1,716 → $2,038 (+18.8%)

Carroll County

Population

167,699174,318

Median household income

$96,769$115,876

Median home value

$339,600$406,400

Median gross rent

$1,132$1,370

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)

	Carroll County	Howard County
Under 5	5.5%	5.5%
5 to 17	16.5%	18.5%
18 to 24	8.3%	7.9%
25 to 34	11.1%	11.9%
35 to 44	12.7%	14.6%
45 to 54	13.2%	13.8%
55 to 64	15.1%	13.0%
65 to 74	10.2%	8.8%
75 and over	7.4%	6.0%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Carroll County	Howard County
White (non-Hispanic)	85.6%	47.0%
Black or African American	3.9%	19.6%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.1%	0.1%
Asian	2.3%	18.8%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.0%	0.0%
Some other race	0.6%	0.6%
Two or more races	2.8%	5.4%
Hispanic or Latino	4.8%	8.4%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Carroll County	Howard County
No high school diploma	5.1%	4.7%
High school graduate	27.6%	12.4%
Some college or associate's	27.5%	18.4%
Bachelor's degree	24.0%	30.7%
Graduate or professional degree	15.7%	33.8%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Carroll County	Howard County
Drove alone	76.1%	67.4%
Carpooled	6.4%	5.4%
Public transit	0.4%	1.9%
Walked	0.9%	0.9%
Bicycle	0.1%	0.1%
Worked from home	15.6%	23.2%
Other means	0.6%	1.2%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Carroll County	Howard County
1-unit, detached	77.3%	50.5%
1-unit, attached	11.2%	22.3%
2 to 4 units	3.6%	1.7%
5 to 19 units	4.6%	15.3%
20 or more units	2.6%	9.2%
Mobile home & other	0.8%	1.0%

Poverty & households

	Carroll County	Howard County
Poverty rate	5.3%	5.1%
Average household size	2.68	2.76
Mean commute (minutes)	35	29
Median year structure built	1983	1989