Population Growth for County and Regional Planning Districts Disaggregated by Race/Ethnicity

This chart shows the growth of Howard County since 1920, when the County had a population of about 16,000, 78% White and 22% Black.  In 2018, the population was about 315,000, 53% White, 18% Black, 18% Asian, 7% Hispanic or Latinx, and 4% Other (including Native Americans and those with two or more races).

Howard County

These charts show the growth of Howard County from 1970 to 2018.  One chart shows the progression of change over the years, and the other shows the population and race/ethnicity breakdown in 1970 and 2018.

Regional Planning Districts were created primarily for regional use by the Baltimore Metropolitan Council, as part of the cooperative forecasting effort. They are used by the Howard County Department of Planning and Zoning for its Residential Construction and Population Report.

The following charts show growth for each of the Regional Planning Districts from 1970 to 2018, following the pattern of the charts above for the County.  For each Regional Planning District, one chart shows the progression of change over the years, and the other shows the population and race/ethnicity breakdown in 1970 and 2018.

Clarksville

Columbia

Cooksville

Elkridge

Ellicott City

Laurel

West Friendship

The first chart shows, for each Regional Planning District, the race/ethnicity breakdown of the population.  For example, 64% of the residents of Clarksville are White.  The second chart shows for each race/ethnicity group, the percent who are residents of each Regional Planning District.  For example, 8% of the County’s White residents live in Clarksville.