Columbia County vs Ferry County

A side-by-side comparison of Columbia County and Ferry County: population, income, housing, and more.

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

Ferry County has the higher population (7,326 vs 3,996 in Columbia County). Columbia County has the higher median household income ($71,528 vs $54,650 in Ferry County). Ferry County has the higher median home value ($274,500 vs $256,100 in Columbia County).

Population, income & housing

	Columbia County	Ferry County
Population	3,996	7,326
Median age	52.1 yrs	52.8 yrs
Median household income	$71,528	$54,650
Median home value	$256,100	$274,500
Median gross rent	$944	$703
Housing units	2,218	4,105
Homeownership rate	77.9%	75.6%
Bachelor's degree or higher	27.2%	18.3%
Unemployment rate	3.4%	10.1%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Columbia County	Ferry County
Population	3,992 → 3,996 (+0.1%)	7,578 → 7,326 (-3.3%)
Median household income	$53,423 → $71,528 (+33.9%)	$41,939 → $54,650 (+30.3%)
Median home value	$179,400 → $256,100 (+42.8%)	$169,600 → $274,500 (+61.9%)
Median gross rent	$763 → $944 (+23.7%)	$672 → $703 (+4.6%)

Columbia County

Population

3,9923,996

Median household income

$53,423$71,528

Median home value

$179,400$256,100

Median gross rent

$763$944

Ferry County

Population

7,5787,326

Median household income

$41,939$54,650

Median home value

$169,600$274,500

Median gross rent

$672$703

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Columbia County	Ferry County
Under 5	4.2%	4.1%
5 to 17	12.7%	12.8%
18 to 24	5.6%	5.8%
25 to 34	8.9%	7.4%
35 to 44	11.6%	10.5%
45 to 54	10.7%	11.8%
55 to 64	16.6%	17.5%
65 to 74	17.1%	20.0%
75 and over	12.6%	10.2%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Columbia County	Ferry County
White (non-Hispanic)	81.5%	72.6%
Black or African American	0.7%	0.2%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.4%	13.0%
Asian	0.0%	0.3%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.0%	1.8%
Some other race	0.2%	0.4%
Two or more races	9.0%	8.5%
Hispanic or Latino	8.2%	3.3%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Columbia County	Ferry County
No high school diploma	11.1%	7.9%
High school graduate	22.4%	30.1%
Some college or associate's	39.3%	43.7%
Bachelor's degree	16.0%	11.2%
Graduate or professional degree	11.2%	7.1%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Columbia County	Ferry County
Drove alone	75.6%	67.4%
Carpooled	9.2%	9.8%
Public transit	0.5%	0.0%
Walked	6.6%	6.7%
Bicycle	2.1%	0.2%
Worked from home	5.1%	14.5%
Other means	0.9%	1.3%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Columbia County	Ferry County
1-unit, detached	86.2%	73.7%
1-unit, attached	2.7%	1.1%
2 to 4 units	2.2%	0.7%
5 to 19 units	0.7%	2.8%
20 or more units	0.8%	0.1%
Mobile home & other	7.5%	21.6%

Poverty & households

	Columbia County	Ferry County
Poverty rate	9.0%	15.6%
Average household size	2.07	2.28
Mean commute (minutes)	20	23
Median year structure built	1948	1986