Ramsey County vs Washington County

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

Ramsey 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.

Ramsey County has the higher population (544,438 vs 272,298 in Washington County). Washington County has the higher median household income ($114,457 vs $81,004 in Ramsey County). Washington County has the higher median home value ($400,900 vs $304,900 in Ramsey County).

Population, income & housing

	Ramsey County	Washington County
Population	544,438	272,298
Median age	35.9 yrs	39.9 yrs
Median household income	$81,004	$114,457
Median home value	$304,900	$400,900
Median gross rent	$1,298	$1,637
Housing units	231,606	107,035
Homeownership rate	61.0%	81.2%
Bachelor's degree or higher	45.5%	48.9%
Unemployment rate	4.7%	3.3%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Ramsey County	Washington County
Population	544,442 → 544,438 (-0.0%)	255,938 → 272,298 (+6.4%)
Median household income	$64,660 → $81,004 (+25.3%)	$96,671 → $114,457 (+18.4%)
Median home value	$229,600 → $304,900 (+32.8%)	$289,400 → $400,900 (+38.5%)
Median gross rent	$1,007 → $1,298 (+28.9%)	$1,307 → $1,637 (+25.2%)

Ramsey County

Population

544,442544,438

Median household income

$64,660$81,004

Median home value

$229,600$304,900

Median gross rent

$1,007$1,298

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)

	Ramsey County	Washington County
Under 5	6.4%	5.7%
5 to 17	16.8%	18.5%
18 to 24	9.4%	7.7%
25 to 34	16.0%	11.4%
35 to 44	13.5%	13.9%
45 to 54	10.8%	13.0%
55 to 64	11.7%	13.7%
65 to 74	9.2%	9.7%
75 and over	6.1%	6.5%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Ramsey County	Washington County
White (non-Hispanic)	58.7%	78.4%
Black or African American	12.0%	4.8%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.3%	0.2%
Asian	14.9%	7.3%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.0%	0.0%
Some other race	0.4%	0.6%
Two or more races	5.4%	3.7%
Hispanic or Latino	8.2%	5.1%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Ramsey County	Washington County
No high school diploma	8.5%	3.7%
High school graduate	20.1%	18.7%
Some college or associate's	25.9%	28.7%
Bachelor's degree	27.5%	31.4%
Graduate or professional degree	18.1%	17.5%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Ramsey County	Washington County
Drove alone	63.6%	68.5%
Carpooled	8.9%	7.2%
Public transit	4.5%	0.8%
Walked	2.8%	0.9%
Bicycle	0.7%	0.2%
Worked from home	18.3%	21.5%
Other means	1.3%	0.9%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Ramsey County	Washington County
1-unit, detached	52.1%	67.6%
1-unit, attached	7.5%	16.2%
2 to 4 units	6.7%	2.4%
5 to 19 units	9.5%	2.6%
20 or more units	22.8%	9.5%
Mobile home & other	1.3%	1.7%

Poverty & households

	Ramsey County	Washington County
Poverty rate	12.4%	5.0%
Average household size	2.41	2.60
Mean commute (minutes)	22	24
Median year structure built	1965	1992