Bell County vs Galveston County

A side-by-side comparison of Bell County and Galveston County: population, income, housing, and more.

Bell County and Galveston County are counties in Texas. This page compares them across population, income, housing, education, commuting, and how each has changed since 2019.

Bell County has the higher population (379,811 vs 354,721 in Galveston County). Galveston County has the higher median household income ($85,348 vs $66,051 in Bell County). Galveston County has the higher median home value ($284,900 vs $221,100 in Bell County).

Population, income & housing

	Bell County	Galveston County
Population	379,811	354,721
Median age	32.1 yrs	38.5 yrs
Median household income	$66,051	$85,348
Median home value	$221,100	$284,900
Median gross rent	$1,168	$1,360
Housing units	151,858	159,379
Homeownership rate	56.2%	67.5%
Bachelor's degree or higher	27.2%	34.3%
Unemployment rate	7.3%	5.5%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Bell County	Galveston County
Population	348,574 → 379,811 (+9.0%)	332,885 → 354,721 (+6.6%)
Median household income	$54,884 → $66,051 (+20.3%)	$73,330 → $85,348 (+16.4%)
Median home value	$147,700 → $221,100 (+49.7%)	$199,200 → $284,900 (+43.0%)
Median gross rent	$927 → $1,168 (+26.0%)	$1,078 → $1,360 (+26.2%)

Bell County

Population

348,574379,811

Median household income

$54,884$66,051

Median home value

$147,700$221,100

Median gross rent

$927$1,168

Galveston County

Population

332,885354,721

Median household income

$73,330$85,348

Median home value

$199,200$284,900

Median gross rent

$1,078$1,360

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Bell County	Galveston County
Under 5	7.9%	5.8%
5 to 17	19.8%	18.0%
18 to 24	10.8%	8.3%
25 to 34	16.0%	12.9%
35 to 44	13.6%	13.7%
45 to 54	10.6%	12.8%
55 to 64	9.8%	13.2%
65 to 74	7.2%	9.7%
75 and over	4.4%	5.6%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Bell County	Galveston County
White (non-Hispanic)	43.1%	54.8%
Black or African American	21.6%	12.0%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.1%	0.1%
Asian	2.9%	3.3%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.6%	0.0%
Some other race	0.4%	0.4%
Two or more races	5.4%	3.4%
Hispanic or Latino	25.8%	25.9%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Bell County	Galveston County
No high school diploma	9.0%	10.2%
High school graduate	26.1%	23.1%
Some college or associate's	37.7%	32.5%
Bachelor's degree	18.0%	22.9%
Graduate or professional degree	9.2%	11.4%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Bell County	Galveston County
Drove alone	76.7%	78.2%
Carpooled	10.9%	7.5%
Public transit	0.3%	0.5%
Walked	2.2%	1.5%
Bicycle	0.1%	0.5%
Worked from home	8.6%	10.6%
Other means	1.2%	1.2%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Bell County	Galveston County
1-unit, detached	64.1%	71.9%
1-unit, attached	4.5%	1.8%
2 to 4 units	11.3%	4.4%
5 to 19 units	9.0%	8.8%
20 or more units	4.8%	8.8%
Mobile home & other	6.2%	4.3%

Poverty & households

	Bell County	Galveston County
Poverty rate	14.6%	11.2%
Average household size	2.67	2.52
Mean commute (minutes)	23	28
Median year structure built	1995	1989