Ottawa County vs Washtenaw County

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

Ottawa 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.

Washtenaw County has the higher population (368,394 vs 298,614 in Ottawa County). Washtenaw County has the higher median household income ($87,156 vs $87,144 in Ottawa County). Washtenaw County has the higher median home value ($353,000 vs $291,200 in Ottawa County).

Population, income & housing

	Ottawa County	Washtenaw County
Population	298,614	368,394
Median age	36.3 yrs	34.8 yrs
Median household income	$87,144	$87,156
Median home value	$291,200	$353,000
Median gross rent	$1,148	$1,400
Housing units	116,173	158,115
Homeownership rate	78.5%	61.6%
Bachelor's degree or higher	37.5%	58.1%
Unemployment rate	3.6%	4.4%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Ottawa County	Washtenaw County
Population	286,558 → 298,614 (+4.2%)	367,000 → 368,394 (+0.4%)
Median household income	$69,314 → $87,144 (+25.7%)	$72,586 → $87,156 (+20.1%)
Median home value	$191,800 → $291,200 (+51.8%)	$263,600 → $353,000 (+33.9%)
Median gross rent	$898 → $1,148 (+27.8%)	$1,114 → $1,400 (+25.7%)

Ottawa County

Population

286,558298,614

Median household income

$69,314$87,144

Median home value

$191,800$291,200

Median gross rent

$898$1,148

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)

	Ottawa County	Washtenaw County
Under 5	5.7%	4.6%
5 to 17	17.7%	13.7%
18 to 24	13.0%	17.6%
25 to 34	12.2%	14.2%
35 to 44	12.3%	11.9%
45 to 54	11.0%	11.3%
55 to 64	12.0%	11.3%
65 to 74	9.5%	9.2%
75 and over	6.7%	6.1%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Ottawa County	Washtenaw County
White (non-Hispanic)	82.4%	67.9%
Black or African American	1.5%	11.4%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.1%	0.2%
Asian	2.7%	8.8%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.0%	0.0%
Some other race	0.4%	0.5%
Two or more races	2.8%	5.5%
Hispanic or Latino	10.1%	5.6%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Ottawa County	Washtenaw County
No high school diploma	5.9%	4.2%
High school graduate	26.2%	14.2%
Some college or associate's	30.4%	23.4%
Bachelor's degree	24.5%	27.1%
Graduate or professional degree	13.0%	31.0%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Ottawa County	Washtenaw County
Drove alone	78.8%	61.9%
Carpooled	7.7%	6.3%
Public transit	0.5%	3.8%
Walked	2.6%	5.8%
Bicycle	0.4%	1.0%
Worked from home	9.4%	20.3%
Other means	0.6%	0.8%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Ottawa County	Washtenaw County
1-unit, detached	69.6%	57.0%
1-unit, attached	7.7%	7.1%
2 to 4 units	5.8%	6.6%
5 to 19 units	7.7%	16.8%
20 or more units	3.8%	8.7%
Mobile home & other	5.5%	3.8%

Poverty & households

	Ottawa County	Washtenaw County
Poverty rate	8.2%	13.8%
Average household size	2.62	2.34
Mean commute (minutes)	20	23
Median year structure built	1987	1978