Kent County vs Washtenaw County

A side-by-side comparison of Kent County and Washtenaw County: population, income, housing, and more.

Kent County and Washtenaw County are counties in Michigan. This page compares them across population, income, housing, education, commuting, and how each has changed since 2019.

Kent County has the higher population (658,844 vs 368,394 in Washtenaw County). Washtenaw County has the higher median household income ($87,156 vs $80,390 in Kent County). Washtenaw County has the higher median home value ($353,000 vs $265,700 in Kent County).

Population, income & housing

	Kent County	Washtenaw County
Population	658,844	368,394
Median age	35.7 yrs	34.8 yrs
Median household income	$80,390	$87,156
Median home value	$265,700	$353,000
Median gross rent	$1,176	$1,400
Housing units	267,071	158,115
Homeownership rate	70.4%	61.6%
Bachelor's degree or higher	39.6%	58.1%
Unemployment rate	4.2%	4.4%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Kent County	Washtenaw County
Population	648,121 → 658,844 (+1.7%)	367,000 → 368,394 (+0.4%)
Median household income	$63,053 → $80,390 (+27.5%)	$72,586 → $87,156 (+20.1%)
Median home value	$173,700 → $265,700 (+53.0%)	$263,600 → $353,000 (+33.9%)
Median gross rent	$899 → $1,176 (+30.8%)	$1,114 → $1,400 (+25.7%)

Kent County

Population

648,121658,844

Median household income

$63,053$80,390

Median home value

$173,700$265,700

Median gross rent

$899$1,176

Washtenaw County

Population

367,000368,394

Median household income

$72,586$87,156

Median home value

$263,600$353,000

Median gross rent

$1,114$1,400

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Kent County	Washtenaw County
Under 5	6.3%	4.6%
5 to 17	17.4%	13.7%
18 to 24	9.3%	17.6%
25 to 34	15.7%	14.2%
35 to 44	13.3%	11.9%
45 to 54	11.4%	11.3%
55 to 64	12.0%	11.3%
65 to 74	8.9%	9.2%
75 and over	5.6%	6.1%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Kent County	Washtenaw County
White (non-Hispanic)	71.1%	67.9%
Black or African American	9.2%	11.4%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.2%	0.2%
Asian	3.1%	8.8%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.0%	0.0%
Some other race	0.5%	0.5%
Two or more races	4.5%	5.5%
Hispanic or Latino	11.5%	5.6%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Kent County	Washtenaw County
No high school diploma	7.7%	4.2%
High school graduate	23.5%	14.2%
Some college or associate's	29.1%	23.4%
Bachelor's degree	25.5%	27.1%
Graduate or professional degree	14.1%	31.0%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Kent County	Washtenaw County
Drove alone	74.5%	61.9%
Carpooled	8.0%	6.3%
Public transit	1.6%	3.8%
Walked	1.9%	5.8%
Bicycle	0.4%	1.0%
Worked from home	12.7%	20.3%
Other means	0.8%	0.8%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Kent County	Washtenaw County
1-unit, detached	65.4%	57.0%
1-unit, attached	6.4%	7.1%
2 to 4 units	7.1%	6.6%
5 to 19 units	9.3%	16.8%
20 or more units	8.0%	8.7%
Mobile home & other	3.7%	3.8%

Poverty & households

	Kent County	Washtenaw County
Poverty rate	10.6%	13.8%
Average household size	2.54	2.34
Mean commute (minutes)	21	23
Median year structure built	1976	1978