Harris County vs Tarrant County

A side-by-side comparison of Harris County and Tarrant County: population, income, housing, and more.

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

Harris County has the higher population (4,758,579 vs 2,135,743 in Tarrant County). Tarrant County has the higher median household income ($81,905 vs $73,104 in Harris County). Tarrant County has the higher median home value ($294,100 vs $255,000 in Harris County).

Population, income & housing

	Harris County	Tarrant County
Population	4,758,579	2,135,743
Median age	34.4 yrs	35.1 yrs
Median household income	$73,104	$81,905
Median home value	$255,000	$294,100
Median gross rent	$1,349	$1,447
Housing units	1,884,607	827,874
Homeownership rate	54.8%	59.4%
Bachelor's degree or higher	33.7%	34.5%
Unemployment rate	6.4%	4.7%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Harris County	Tarrant County
Population	4,646,630 → 4,758,579 (+2.4%)	2,049,770 → 2,135,743 (+4.2%)
Median household income	$61,705 → $73,104 (+18.5%)	$67,700 → $81,905 (+21.0%)
Median home value	$175,700 → $255,000 (+45.1%)	$188,500 → $294,100 (+56.0%)
Median gross rent	$1,078 → $1,349 (+25.1%)	$1,095 → $1,447 (+32.1%)

Harris County

Population

4,646,6304,758,579

Median household income

$61,705$73,104

Median home value

$175,700$255,000

Median gross rent

$1,078$1,349

Tarrant County

Population

2,049,7702,135,743

Median household income

$67,700$81,905

Median home value

$188,500$294,100

Median gross rent

$1,095$1,447

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Harris County	Tarrant County
Under 5	6.9%	6.5%
5 to 17	19.2%	19.2%
18 to 24	9.3%	9.4%
25 to 34	15.5%	14.8%
35 to 44	14.5%	14.0%
45 to 54	12.5%	12.6%
55 to 64	10.7%	11.5%
65 to 74	7.3%	7.5%
75 and over	4.2%	4.5%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Harris County	Tarrant County
White (non-Hispanic)	27.4%	43.2%
Black or African American	18.7%	17.2%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.1%	0.2%
Asian	7.1%	5.8%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.1%	0.2%
Some other race	0.4%	0.4%
Two or more races	2.8%	3.2%
Hispanic or Latino	43.4%	29.9%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Harris County	Tarrant County
No high school diploma	17.5%	12.9%
High school graduate	22.7%	23.6%
Some college or associate's	26.0%	29.0%
Bachelor's degree	21.0%	22.7%
Graduate or professional degree	12.8%	11.9%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Harris County	Tarrant County
Drove alone	72.4%	73.8%
Carpooled	10.2%	9.7%
Public transit	2.1%	0.4%
Walked	1.4%	1.1%
Bicycle	0.3%	0.1%
Worked from home	11.4%	13.5%
Other means	2.2%	1.4%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Harris County	Tarrant County
1-unit, detached	56.8%	65.5%
1-unit, attached	3.8%	3.8%
2 to 4 units	5.0%	5.2%
5 to 19 units	14.1%	13.5%
20 or more units	17.7%	10.1%
Mobile home & other	2.7%	1.9%

Poverty & households

	Harris County	Tarrant County
Poverty rate	15.9%	10.9%
Average household size	2.73	2.74
Mean commute (minutes)	29	27
Median year structure built	1988	1989