Harris County vs Travis County

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

Harris County and Travis 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 1,307,625 in Travis County). Travis County has the higher median household income ($97,169 vs $73,104 in Harris County). Travis County has the higher median home value ($487,600 vs $255,000 in Harris County).

Population, income & housing

	Harris County	Travis County
Population	4,758,579	1,307,625
Median age	34.4 yrs	35.5 yrs
Median household income	$73,104	$97,169
Median home value	$255,000	$487,600
Median gross rent	$1,349	$1,669
Housing units	1,884,607	594,638
Homeownership rate	54.8%	53.0%
Bachelor's degree or higher	33.7%	55.5%
Unemployment rate	6.4%	4.3%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Harris County	Travis County
Population	4,646,630 → 4,758,579 (+2.4%)	1,226,805 → 1,307,625 (+6.6%)
Median household income	$61,705 → $73,104 (+18.5%)	$75,887 → $97,169 (+28.0%)
Median home value	$175,700 → $255,000 (+45.1%)	$324,800 → $487,600 (+50.1%)
Median gross rent	$1,078 → $1,349 (+25.1%)	$1,289 → $1,669 (+29.5%)

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

Travis County

Population

1,226,8051,307,625

Median household income

$75,887$97,169

Median home value

$324,800$487,600

Median gross rent

$1,289$1,669

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Harris County	Travis County
Under 5	6.9%	5.7%
5 to 17	19.2%	14.8%
18 to 24	9.3%	9.0%
25 to 34	15.5%	19.6%
35 to 44	14.5%	16.7%
45 to 54	12.5%	13.2%
55 to 64	10.7%	10.4%
65 to 74	7.3%	7.0%
75 and over	4.2%	3.7%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Harris County	Travis County
White (non-Hispanic)	27.4%	47.7%
Black or African American	18.7%	7.8%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.1%	0.1%
Asian	7.1%	7.4%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.1%	0.0%
Some other race	0.4%	0.4%
Two or more races	2.8%	3.9%
Hispanic or Latino	43.4%	32.5%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Harris County	Travis County
No high school diploma	17.5%	8.5%
High school graduate	22.7%	14.4%
Some college or associate's	26.0%	21.7%
Bachelor's degree	21.0%	34.7%
Graduate or professional degree	12.8%	20.8%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Harris County	Travis County
Drove alone	72.4%	59.7%
Carpooled	10.2%	7.5%
Public transit	2.1%	1.7%
Walked	1.4%	2.1%
Bicycle	0.3%	0.6%
Worked from home	11.4%	27.2%
Other means	2.2%	1.3%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Harris County	Travis County
1-unit, detached	56.8%	52.3%
1-unit, attached	3.8%	4.4%
2 to 4 units	5.0%	6.0%
5 to 19 units	14.1%	14.3%
20 or more units	17.7%	20.0%
Mobile home & other	2.7%	3.1%

Poverty & households

	Harris County	Travis County
Poverty rate	15.9%	11.0%
Average household size	2.73	2.28
Mean commute (minutes)	29	25
Median year structure built	1988	1997