Lancaster County vs Montgomery County

A side-by-side comparison of Lancaster County and Montgomery County: population, income, housing, and more.

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

Montgomery County has the higher population (861,225 vs 555,151 in Lancaster County). Montgomery County has the higher median household income ($111,521 vs $83,703 in Lancaster County). Montgomery County has the higher median home value ($409,900 vs $279,400 in Lancaster County).

Population, income & housing

	Lancaster County	Montgomery County
Population	555,151	861,225
Median age	39.1 yrs	41.1 yrs
Median household income	$83,703	$111,521
Median home value	$279,400	$409,900
Median gross rent	$1,289	$1,612
Housing units	217,863	348,696
Homeownership rate	69.9%	71.7%
Bachelor's degree or higher	31.0%	52.3%
Unemployment rate	3.3%	4.4%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Lancaster County	Montgomery County
Population	540,999 → 555,151 (+2.6%)	823,823 → 861,225 (+4.5%)
Median household income	$66,056 → $83,703 (+26.7%)	$91,546 → $111,521 (+21.8%)
Median home value	$209,400 → $279,400 (+33.4%)	$316,100 → $409,900 (+29.7%)
Median gross rent	$1,009 → $1,289 (+27.8%)	$1,295 → $1,612 (+24.5%)

Lancaster County

Population

540,999555,151

Median household income

$66,056$83,703

Median home value

$209,400$279,400

Median gross rent

$1,009$1,289

Montgomery County

Population

823,823861,225

Median household income

$91,546$111,521

Median home value

$316,100$409,900

Median gross rent

$1,295$1,612

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Lancaster County	Montgomery County
Under 5	6.3%	5.3%
5 to 17	17.0%	16.2%
18 to 24	8.7%	8.0%
25 to 34	12.9%	12.3%
35 to 44	11.8%	13.3%
45 to 54	11.2%	12.7%
55 to 64	12.9%	13.9%
65 to 74	10.6%	10.5%
75 and over	8.6%	7.8%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Lancaster County	Montgomery County
White (non-Hispanic)	79.8%	72.4%
Black or African American	3.4%	9.1%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.0%	0.0%
Asian	2.3%	7.8%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.0%	0.0%
Some other race	0.5%	0.5%
Two or more races	2.7%	3.7%
Hispanic or Latino	11.3%	6.5%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Lancaster County	Montgomery County
No high school diploma	12.9%	5.1%
High school graduate	34.5%	22.0%
Some college or associate's	21.7%	20.6%
Bachelor's degree	19.7%	29.2%
Graduate or professional degree	11.3%	23.0%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Lancaster County	Montgomery County
Drove alone	73.3%	66.6%
Carpooled	10.0%	6.1%
Public transit	0.8%	3.0%
Walked	3.5%	2.0%
Bicycle	0.7%	0.2%
Worked from home	10.3%	21.1%
Other means	1.4%	1.0%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Lancaster County	Montgomery County
1-unit, detached	55.3%	53.6%
1-unit, attached	21.1%	20.1%
2 to 4 units	7.2%	6.8%
5 to 19 units	6.9%	6.5%
20 or more units	5.7%	12.1%
Mobile home & other	3.7%	0.8%

Poverty & households

	Lancaster County	Montgomery County
Poverty rate	8.7%	6.5%
Average household size	2.57	2.52
Mean commute (minutes)	24	28
Median year structure built	1977	1970