Bristol County vs Washington County

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

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

Washington County has the higher population (130,073 vs 50,568 in Bristol County). Bristol County has the higher median household income ($110,926 vs $102,478 in Washington County). Washington County has the higher median home value ($469,800 vs $468,000 in Bristol County).

Population, income & housing

	Bristol County	Washington County
Population	50,568	130,073
Median age	44.1 yrs	45.3 yrs
Median household income	$110,926	$102,478
Median home value	$468,000	$469,800
Median gross rent	$1,348	$1,303
Housing units	21,557	66,068
Homeownership rate	73.3%	76.8%
Bachelor's degree or higher	51.8%	50.5%
Unemployment rate	3.1%	4.8%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Bristol County	Washington County
Population	48,764 → 50,568 (+3.7%)	126,060 → 130,073 (+3.2%)
Median household income	$83,092 → $110,926 (+33.5%)	$85,531 → $102,478 (+19.8%)
Median home value	$358,100 → $468,000 (+30.7%)	$343,000 → $469,800 (+37.0%)
Median gross rent	$1,037 → $1,348 (+30.0%)	$1,133 → $1,303 (+15.0%)

Bristol County

Population

48,76450,568

Median household income

$83,092$110,926

Median home value

$358,100$468,000

Median gross rent

$1,037$1,348

Washington County

Population

126,060130,073

Median household income

$85,531$102,478

Median home value

$343,000$469,800

Median gross rent

$1,133$1,303

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Bristol County	Washington County
Under 5	3.6%	3.6%
5 to 17	14.5%	12.1%
18 to 24	11.5%	14.1%
25 to 34	10.2%	10.1%
35 to 44	11.6%	9.9%
45 to 54	12.7%	11.5%
55 to 64	15.4%	16.1%
65 to 74	11.6%	13.5%
75 and over	8.8%	9.1%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Bristol County	Washington County
White (non-Hispanic)	88.7%	89.6%
Black or African American	1.0%	1.2%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.0%	0.2%
Asian	2.3%	2.1%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.0%	0.0%
Some other race	0.3%	0.1%
Two or more races	3.6%	3.2%
Hispanic or Latino	4.0%	3.7%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Bristol County	Washington County
No high school diploma	6.5%	4.7%
High school graduate	20.9%	20.2%
Some college or associate's	20.9%	24.6%
Bachelor's degree	27.6%	28.4%
Graduate or professional degree	24.1%	22.1%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Bristol County	Washington County
Drove alone	74.3%	76.7%
Carpooled	5.7%	5.6%
Public transit	1.3%	1.0%
Walked	4.8%	2.4%
Bicycle	0.4%	0.5%
Worked from home	12.7%	13.2%
Other means	0.9%	0.7%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Bristol County	Washington County
1-unit, detached	67.2%	76.7%
1-unit, attached	3.2%	3.5%
2 to 4 units	18.1%	9.1%
5 to 19 units	6.7%	5.2%
20 or more units	4.8%	3.6%
Mobile home & other	0.0%	1.7%

Poverty & households

	Bristol County	Washington County
Poverty rate	6.8%	8.0%
Average household size	2.41	2.36
Mean commute (minutes)	26	27
Median year structure built	1959	1976