Howard County vs Washington County

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

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

Washington County has the higher population (36,156 vs 33,127 in Howard County). Washington County has the higher median household income ($75,085 vs $71,457 in Howard County). Washington County has the higher median home value ($270,100 vs $150,300 in Howard County).

Population, income & housing

	Howard County	Washington County
Population	33,127	36,156
Median age	37.0 yrs	40.9 yrs
Median household income	$71,457	$75,085
Median home value	$150,300	$270,100
Median gross rent	$993	$1,091
Housing units	13,999	17,371
Homeownership rate	68.6%	73.1%
Bachelor's degree or higher	15.3%	31.0%
Unemployment rate	5.0%	2.6%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Howard County	Washington County
Population	36,349 → 33,127 (-8.9%)	35,163 → 36,156 (+2.8%)
Median household income	$54,208 → $71,457 (+31.8%)	$54,971 → $75,085 (+36.6%)
Median home value	$99,000 → $150,300 (+51.8%)	$179,100 → $270,100 (+50.8%)
Median gross rent	$868 → $993 (+14.4%)	$885 → $1,091 (+23.3%)

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

Washington County

Population

35,16336,156

Median household income

$54,971$75,085

Median home value

$179,100$270,100

Median gross rent

$885$1,091

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Howard County	Washington County
Under 5	6.0%	5.2%
5 to 17	16.5%	16.3%
18 to 24	8.8%	10.4%
25 to 34	15.0%	10.8%
35 to 44	16.0%	10.4%
45 to 54	13.4%	10.9%
55 to 64	11.2%	13.6%
65 to 74	8.0%	12.6%
75 and over	5.1%	9.7%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Howard County	Washington County
White (non-Hispanic)	44.0%	61.7%
Black or African American	4.9%	15.1%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.3%	0.1%
Asian	1.0%	1.4%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.1%	0.0%
Some other race	0.3%	0.3%
Two or more races	2.5%	3.3%
Hispanic or Latino	46.9%	18.1%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Howard County	Washington County
No high school diploma	18.8%	9.6%
High school graduate	33.2%	28.3%
Some college or associate's	32.7%	31.1%
Bachelor's degree	10.5%	21.1%
Graduate or professional degree	4.9%	9.9%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Howard County	Washington County
Drove alone	79.8%	77.3%
Carpooled	15.0%	8.1%
Public transit	0.0%	0.0%
Walked	0.9%	3.7%
Bicycle	0.1%	0.7%
Worked from home	3.8%	8.1%
Other means	0.4%	2.2%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Howard County	Washington County
1-unit, detached	74.9%	74.5%
1-unit, attached	1.7%	1.7%
2 to 4 units	2.8%	6.5%
5 to 19 units	5.1%	2.1%
20 or more units	6.1%	4.4%
Mobile home & other	9.4%	10.8%

Poverty & households

	Howard County	Washington County
Poverty rate	15.1%	12.6%
Average household size	2.47	2.21
Mean commute (minutes)	20	21
Median year structure built	1967	1990