Howard County vs Montgomery County

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

Howard 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 333,916 in Howard County). Howard County has the higher median household income ($146,982 vs $128,733 in Montgomery County). Montgomery County has the higher median home value ($615,200 vs $576,700 in Howard County).

Population, income & housing

	Howard County	Montgomery County
Population	333,916	1,057,586
Median age	39.4 yrs	40.1 yrs
Median household income	$146,982	$128,733
Median home value	$576,700	$615,200
Median gross rent	$2,038	$2,030
Housing units	124,489	405,127
Homeownership rate	71.7%	65.3%
Bachelor's degree or higher	64.5%	60.3%
Unemployment rate	3.6%	4.8%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Howard County	Montgomery County
Population	318,855 → 333,916 (+4.7%)	1,043,530 → 1,057,586 (+1.3%)
Median household income	$121,160 → $146,982 (+21.3%)	$108,820 → $128,733 (+18.3%)
Median home value	$455,700 → $576,700 (+26.6%)	$484,900 → $615,200 (+26.9%)
Median gross rent	$1,716 → $2,038 (+18.8%)	$1,768 → $2,030 (+14.8%)

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

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)

	Howard County	Montgomery County
Under 5	5.5%	5.8%
5 to 17	18.5%	17.1%
18 to 24	7.9%	7.7%
25 to 34	11.9%	12.1%
35 to 44	14.6%	13.9%
45 to 54	13.8%	13.6%
55 to 64	13.0%	13.2%
65 to 74	8.8%	9.5%
75 and over	6.0%	7.0%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Howard County	Montgomery County
White (non-Hispanic)	47.0%	40.4%
Black or African American	19.6%	18.3%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.1%	0.1%
Asian	18.8%	15.1%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.0%	0.0%
Some other race	0.6%	0.9%
Two or more races	5.4%	4.5%
Hispanic or Latino	8.4%	20.6%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Howard County	Montgomery County
No high school diploma	4.7%	8.8%
High school graduate	12.4%	13.5%
Some college or associate's	18.4%	17.5%
Bachelor's degree	30.7%	27.2%
Graduate or professional degree	33.8%	33.1%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Howard County	Montgomery County
Drove alone	67.4%	54.2%
Carpooled	5.4%	7.8%
Public transit	1.9%	8.5%
Walked	0.9%	1.7%
Bicycle	0.1%	0.4%
Worked from home	23.2%	25.5%
Other means	1.2%	1.8%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Howard County	Montgomery County
1-unit, detached	50.5%	46.8%
1-unit, attached	22.3%	17.8%
2 to 4 units	1.7%	2.1%
5 to 19 units	15.3%	13.2%
20 or more units	9.2%	19.8%
Mobile home & other	1.0%	0.2%

Poverty & households

	Howard County	Montgomery County
Poverty rate	5.1%	7.1%
Average household size	2.76	2.70
Mean commute (minutes)	29	32
Median year structure built	1989	1980