Hale County vs Howard County

A side-by-side comparison of Hale County and Howard County: population, income, housing, and more.

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

Howard County has the higher population (33,127 vs 32,247 in Hale County). Howard County has the higher median household income ($71,457 vs $52,788 in Hale County). Howard County has the higher median home value ($150,300 vs $106,100 in Hale County).

Population, income & housing

	Hale County	Howard County
Population	32,247	33,127
Median age	34.1 yrs	37.0 yrs
Median household income	$52,788	$71,457
Median home value	$106,100	$150,300
Median gross rent	$798	$993
Housing units	13,399	13,999
Homeownership rate	60.1%	68.6%
Bachelor's degree or higher	15.6%	15.3%
Unemployment rate	4.1%	5.0%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Hale County	Howard County
Population	33,826 → 32,247 (-4.7%)	36,349 → 33,127 (-8.9%)
Median household income	$48,384 → $52,788 (+9.1%)	$54,208 → $71,457 (+31.8%)
Median home value	$82,700 → $106,100 (+28.3%)	$99,000 → $150,300 (+51.8%)
Median gross rent	$647 → $798 (+23.3%)	$868 → $993 (+14.4%)

Hale County

Population

33,82632,247

Median household income

$48,384$52,788

Median home value

$82,700$106,100

Median gross rent

$647$798

Howard County

Population

36,34933,127

Median household income

$54,208$71,457

Median home value

$99,000$150,300

Median gross rent

$868$993

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Hale County	Howard County
Under 5	6.5%	6.0%
5 to 17	20.4%	16.5%
18 to 24	11.2%	8.8%
25 to 34	13.2%	15.0%
35 to 44	12.6%	16.0%
45 to 54	11.0%	13.4%
55 to 64	11.0%	11.2%
65 to 74	8.0%	8.0%
75 and over	6.0%	5.1%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Hale County	Howard County
White (non-Hispanic)	32.1%	44.0%
Black or African American	4.0%	4.9%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.1%	0.3%
Asian	0.6%	1.0%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.1%	0.1%
Some other race	0.4%	0.3%
Two or more races	1.9%	2.5%
Hispanic or Latino	60.8%	46.9%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Hale County	Howard County
No high school diploma	24.9%	18.8%
High school graduate	33.3%	33.2%
Some college or associate's	26.2%	32.7%
Bachelor's degree	9.6%	10.5%
Graduate or professional degree	6.0%	4.9%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Hale County	Howard County
Drove alone	80.8%	79.8%
Carpooled	14.1%	15.0%
Public transit	0.1%	0.0%
Walked	1.1%	0.9%
Bicycle	0.0%	0.1%
Worked from home	2.8%	3.8%
Other means	1.1%	0.4%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Hale County	Howard County
1-unit, detached	75.7%	74.9%
1-unit, attached	2.3%	1.7%
2 to 4 units	6.0%	2.8%
5 to 19 units	5.4%	5.1%
20 or more units	2.8%	6.1%
Mobile home & other	7.8%	9.4%

Poverty & households

	Hale County	Howard County
Poverty rate	19.0%	15.1%
Average household size	2.73	2.47
Mean commute (minutes)	18	20
Median year structure built	1968	1967