Centre County vs Washington County

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

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

Washington County has the higher population (209,778 vs 158,041 in Centre County). Washington County has the higher median household income ($77,487 vs $72,748 in Centre County). Centre County has the higher median home value ($308,100 vs $220,600 in Washington County).

Population, income & housing

	Centre County	Washington County
Population	158,041	209,778
Median age	33.8 yrs	44.2 yrs
Median household income	$72,748	$77,487
Median home value	$308,100	$220,600
Median gross rent	$1,181	$922
Housing units	66,023	97,476
Homeownership rate	61.8%	76.4%
Bachelor's degree or higher	46.5%	32.8%
Unemployment rate	4.0%	4.9%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Centre County	Washington County
Population	161,960 → 158,041 (-2.4%)	207,212 → 209,778 (+1.2%)
Median household income	$60,403 → $72,748 (+20.4%)	$63,543 → $77,487 (+21.9%)
Median home value	$234,900 → $308,100 (+31.2%)	$167,900 → $220,600 (+31.4%)
Median gross rent	$1,000 → $1,181 (+18.1%)	$772 → $922 (+19.4%)

Centre County

Population

161,960158,041

Median household income

$60,403$72,748

Median home value

$234,900$308,100

Median gross rent

$1,000$1,181

Washington County

Population

207,212209,778

Median household income

$63,543$77,487

Median home value

$167,900$220,600

Median gross rent

$772$922

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Centre County	Washington County
Under 5	3.6%	5.0%
5 to 17	11.1%	14.7%
18 to 24	23.5%	7.9%
25 to 34	13.0%	11.3%
35 to 44	11.1%	12.0%
45 to 54	10.6%	12.6%
55 to 64	11.5%	15.1%
65 to 74	9.1%	12.8%
75 and over	6.4%	8.8%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Centre County	Washington County
White (non-Hispanic)	83.5%	90.1%
Black or African American	3.2%	3.1%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.1%	0.0%
Asian	6.0%	1.2%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.0%	0.0%
Some other race	0.2%	0.3%
Two or more races	3.3%	3.3%
Hispanic or Latino	3.6%	2.0%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Centre County	Washington County
No high school diploma	5.4%	6.0%
High school graduate	28.5%	35.2%
Some college or associate's	19.6%	26.0%
Bachelor's degree	22.4%	20.5%
Graduate or professional degree	24.1%	12.3%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Centre County	Washington County
Drove alone	66.0%	75.2%
Carpooled	6.8%	6.9%
Public transit	3.6%	0.8%
Walked	7.6%	2.1%
Bicycle	1.8%	0.0%
Worked from home	13.6%	13.8%
Other means	0.6%	1.2%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Centre County	Washington County
1-unit, detached	58.7%	74.0%
1-unit, attached	6.5%	7.3%
2 to 4 units	6.8%	5.6%
5 to 19 units	12.3%	3.8%
20 or more units	10.9%	3.9%
Mobile home & other	4.9%	5.4%

Poverty & households

	Centre County	Washington County
Poverty rate	16.9%	9.4%
Average household size	2.33	2.33
Mean commute (minutes)	20	27
Median year structure built	1980	1965