Frederick County vs Howard County

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

Frederick 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 280,341 in Frederick County). Howard County has the higher median household income ($146,982 vs $120,458 in Frederick County). Howard County has the higher median home value ($576,700 vs $437,700 in Frederick County).

Population, income & housing

	Frederick County	Howard County
Population	280,341	333,916
Median age	38.9 yrs	39.4 yrs
Median household income	$120,458	$146,982
Median home value	$437,700	$576,700
Median gross rent	$1,706	$2,038
Housing units	106,480	124,489
Homeownership rate	77.0%	71.7%
Bachelor's degree or higher	44.9%	64.5%
Unemployment rate	3.4%	3.6%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Frederick County	Howard County
Population	251,422 → 280,341 (+11.5%)	318,855 → 333,916 (+4.7%)
Median household income	$97,730 → $120,458 (+23.3%)	$121,160 → $146,982 (+21.3%)
Median home value	$331,600 → $437,700 (+32.0%)	$455,700 → $576,700 (+26.6%)
Median gross rent	$1,422 → $1,706 (+20.0%)	$1,716 → $2,038 (+18.8%)

Frederick County

Population

251,422280,341

Median household income

$97,730$120,458

Median home value

$331,600$437,700

Median gross rent

$1,422$1,706

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)

	Frederick County	Howard County
Under 5	5.9%	5.5%
5 to 17	17.5%	18.5%
18 to 24	8.3%	7.9%
25 to 34	12.4%	11.9%
35 to 44	14.3%	14.6%
45 to 54	13.3%	13.8%
55 to 64	13.3%	13.0%
65 to 74	9.0%	8.8%
75 and over	6.0%	6.0%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Frederick County	Howard County
White (non-Hispanic)	67.3%	47.0%
Black or African American	9.9%	19.6%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.1%	0.1%
Asian	5.4%	18.8%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.0%	0.0%
Some other race	0.3%	0.6%
Two or more races	4.6%	5.4%
Hispanic or Latino	12.3%	8.4%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Frederick County	Howard County
No high school diploma	6.6%	4.7%
High school graduate	23.2%	12.4%
Some college or associate's	25.4%	18.4%
Bachelor's degree	24.7%	30.7%
Graduate or professional degree	20.1%	33.8%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Frederick County	Howard County
Drove alone	69.6%	67.4%
Carpooled	7.0%	5.4%
Public transit	1.1%	1.9%
Walked	1.6%	0.9%
Bicycle	0.2%	0.1%
Worked from home	19.2%	23.2%
Other means	1.2%	1.2%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Frederick County	Howard County
1-unit, detached	60.2%	50.5%
1-unit, attached	21.7%	22.3%
2 to 4 units	3.0%	1.7%
5 to 19 units	10.1%	15.3%
20 or more units	4.3%	9.2%
Mobile home & other	0.8%	1.0%

Poverty & households

	Frederick County	Howard County
Poverty rate	6.3%	5.1%
Average household size	2.71	2.76
Mean commute (minutes)	33	29
Median year structure built	1990	1989