Saunders County vs Washington County

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

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

Saunders County has the higher population (22,761 vs 20,989 in Washington County). Washington County has the higher median household income ($90,188 vs $89,395 in Saunders County). Washington County has the higher median home value ($278,300 vs $241,100 in Saunders County).

Population, income & housing

	Saunders County	Washington County
Population	22,761	20,989
Median age	40.4 yrs	42.6 yrs
Median household income	$89,395	$90,188
Median home value	$241,100	$278,300
Median gross rent	$930	$958
Housing units	10,154	8,665
Homeownership rate	81.7%	82.2%
Bachelor's degree or higher	30.3%	36.5%
Unemployment rate	2.1%	1.9%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Saunders County	Washington County
Population	21,165 → 22,761 (+7.5%)	20,361 → 20,989 (+3.1%)
Median household income	$68,682 → $89,395 (+30.2%)	$71,430 → $90,188 (+26.3%)
Median home value	$165,600 → $241,100 (+45.6%)	$196,100 → $278,300 (+41.9%)
Median gross rent	$745 → $930 (+24.8%)	$739 → $958 (+29.6%)

Saunders County

Population

21,16522,761

Median household income

$68,682$89,395

Median home value

$165,600$241,100

Median gross rent

$745$930

Washington County

Population

20,36120,989

Median household income

$71,430$90,188

Median home value

$196,100$278,300

Median gross rent

$739$958

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Saunders County	Washington County
Under 5	6.2%	5.5%
5 to 17	18.7%	18.8%
18 to 24	6.8%	7.3%
25 to 34	10.3%	9.4%
35 to 44	13.2%	13.1%
45 to 54	11.3%	12.3%
55 to 64	15.3%	14.8%
65 to 74	10.8%	11.6%
75 and over	7.4%	7.3%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Saunders County	Washington County
White (non-Hispanic)	93.0%	93.3%
Black or African American	0.7%	0.2%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.1%	0.1%
Asian	0.2%	0.2%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.0%	0.0%
Some other race	0.2%	0.1%
Two or more races	3.1%	2.8%
Hispanic or Latino	2.7%	3.2%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Saunders County	Washington County
No high school diploma	3.9%	4.1%
High school graduate	29.6%	25.3%
Some college or associate's	36.2%	34.2%
Bachelor's degree	19.3%	25.7%
Graduate or professional degree	11.0%	10.8%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Saunders County	Washington County
Drove alone	78.1%	81.6%
Carpooled	8.2%	4.7%
Public transit	0.7%	0.2%
Walked	3.1%	1.3%
Bicycle	0.3%	0.0%
Worked from home	9.0%	10.8%
Other means	0.6%	1.4%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Saunders County	Washington County
1-unit, detached	86.3%	83.6%
1-unit, attached	1.9%	1.1%
2 to 4 units	2.8%	4.2%
5 to 19 units	4.1%	6.5%
20 or more units	1.1%	1.5%
Mobile home & other	3.8%	3.1%

Poverty & households

	Saunders County	Washington County
Poverty rate	6.4%	6.9%
Average household size	2.55	2.48
Mean commute (minutes)	26	23
Median year structure built	1973	1978