Charles County vs Howard County

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

Charles 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 168,710 in Charles County). Howard County has the higher median household income ($146,982 vs $120,592 in Charles County). Howard County has the higher median home value ($576,700 vs $402,300 in Charles County).

Population, income & housing

	Charles County	Howard County
Population	168,710	333,916
Median age	38.8 yrs	39.4 yrs
Median household income	$120,592	$146,982
Median home value	$402,300	$576,700
Median gross rent	$1,897	$2,038
Housing units	63,053	124,489
Homeownership rate	81.2%	71.7%
Bachelor's degree or higher	31.6%	64.5%
Unemployment rate	5.2%	3.6%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Charles County	Howard County
Population	159,428 → 168,710 (+5.8%)	318,855 → 333,916 (+4.7%)
Median household income	$100,003 → $120,592 (+20.6%)	$121,160 → $146,982 (+21.3%)
Median home value	$313,300 → $402,300 (+28.4%)	$455,700 → $576,700 (+26.6%)
Median gross rent	$1,682 → $1,897 (+12.8%)	$1,716 → $2,038 (+18.8%)

Charles County

Population

159,428168,710

Median household income

$100,003$120,592

Median home value

$313,300$402,300

Median gross rent

$1,682$1,897

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)

	Charles County	Howard County
Under 5	5.8%	5.5%
5 to 17	18.2%	18.5%
18 to 24	8.3%	7.9%
25 to 34	12.6%	11.9%
35 to 44	13.6%	14.6%
45 to 54	14.2%	13.8%
55 to 64	14.2%	13.0%
65 to 74	8.1%	8.8%
75 and over	5.0%	6.0%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Charles County	Howard County
White (non-Hispanic)	33.5%	47.0%
Black or African American	48.5%	19.6%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.3%	0.1%
Asian	3.2%	18.8%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.0%	0.0%
Some other race	0.6%	0.6%
Two or more races	6.5%	5.4%
Hispanic or Latino	7.5%	8.4%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Charles County	Howard County
No high school diploma	5.7%	4.7%
High school graduate	30.1%	12.4%
Some college or associate's	32.6%	18.4%
Bachelor's degree	17.8%	30.7%
Graduate or professional degree	13.9%	33.8%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Charles County	Howard County
Drove alone	72.8%	67.4%
Carpooled	7.4%	5.4%
Public transit	3.9%	1.9%
Walked	0.7%	0.9%
Bicycle	0.0%	0.1%
Worked from home	14.2%	23.2%
Other means	0.9%	1.2%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Charles County	Howard County
1-unit, detached	70.6%	50.5%
1-unit, attached	19.4%	22.3%
2 to 4 units	1.4%	1.7%
5 to 19 units	4.3%	15.3%
20 or more units	3.4%	9.2%
Mobile home & other	0.9%	1.0%

Poverty & households

	Charles County	Howard County
Poverty rate	6.6%	5.1%
Average household size	2.78	2.76
Mean commute (minutes)	43	29
Median year structure built	1990	1989