Hennepin County vs Washington County

A side-by-side comparison of Hennepin County and Washington County: population, income, housing, and more.

Hennepin County and Washington County are counties in Minnesota. This page compares them across population, income, housing, education, commuting, and how each has changed since 2019.

Hennepin County has the higher population (1,268,903 vs 272,298 in Washington County). Washington County has the higher median household income ($114,457 vs $96,339 in Hennepin County). Washington County has the higher median home value ($400,900 vs $376,500 in Hennepin County).

Population, income & housing

	Hennepin County	Washington County
Population	1,268,903	272,298
Median age	37.4 yrs	39.9 yrs
Median household income	$96,339	$114,457
Median home value	$376,500	$400,900
Median gross rent	$1,439	$1,637
Housing units	564,441	107,035
Homeownership rate	63.0%	81.2%
Bachelor's degree or higher	53.3%	48.9%
Unemployment rate	4.3%	3.3%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Hennepin County	Washington County
Population	1,245,837 → 1,268,903 (+1.9%)	255,938 → 272,298 (+6.4%)
Median household income	$78,167 → $96,339 (+23.2%)	$96,671 → $114,457 (+18.4%)
Median home value	$276,900 → $376,500 (+36.0%)	$289,400 → $400,900 (+38.5%)
Median gross rent	$1,135 → $1,439 (+26.8%)	$1,307 → $1,637 (+25.2%)

Hennepin County

Population

1,245,8371,268,903

Median household income

$78,167$96,339

Median home value

$276,900$376,500

Median gross rent

$1,135$1,439

Washington County

Population

255,938272,298

Median household income

$96,671$114,457

Median home value

$289,400$400,900

Median gross rent

$1,307$1,637

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Hennepin County	Washington County
Under 5	6.0%	5.7%
5 to 17	15.8%	18.5%
18 to 24	8.4%	7.7%
25 to 34	16.1%	11.4%
35 to 44	14.5%	13.9%
45 to 54	11.7%	13.0%
55 to 64	12.3%	13.7%
65 to 74	9.1%	9.7%
75 and over	6.0%	6.5%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Hennepin County	Washington County
White (non-Hispanic)	66.0%	78.4%
Black or African American	13.2%	4.8%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.4%	0.2%
Asian	7.1%	7.3%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.0%	0.0%
Some other race	0.7%	0.6%
Two or more races	5.0%	3.7%
Hispanic or Latino	7.7%	5.1%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Hennepin County	Washington County
No high school diploma	6.0%	3.7%
High school graduate	15.2%	18.7%
Some college or associate's	25.5%	28.7%
Bachelor's degree	33.4%	31.4%
Graduate or professional degree	20.0%	17.5%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Hennepin County	Washington County
Drove alone	62.1%	68.5%
Carpooled	6.4%	7.2%
Public transit	4.0%	0.8%
Walked	2.8%	0.9%
Bicycle	0.9%	0.2%
Worked from home	22.4%	21.5%
Other means	1.4%	0.9%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Hennepin County	Washington County
1-unit, detached	52.2%	67.6%
1-unit, attached	8.2%	16.2%
2 to 4 units	5.9%	2.4%
5 to 19 units	7.6%	2.6%
20 or more units	25.6%	9.5%
Mobile home & other	0.4%	1.7%

Poverty & households

	Hennepin County	Washington County
Poverty rate	10.0%	5.0%
Average household size	2.32	2.60
Mean commute (minutes)	22	24
Median year structure built	1973	1992