Essex vs Topsfield

A side-by-side comparison of Essex and Topsfield: population, income, housing, and more.

Essex and Topsfield are places in Massachusetts. This page compares them across population, income, housing, education, commuting, and how each has changed since 2019.

Topsfield has the higher population (2,573 vs 1,775 in Essex). Topsfield has the higher median household income ($169,468 vs $156,094 in Essex). Topsfield has the higher median home value ($793,300 vs $774,400 in Essex).

Population, income & housing

	Essex	Topsfield
Population	1,775	2,573
Median age	42.2 yrs	42.3 yrs
Median household income	$156,094	$169,468
Median home value	$774,400	$793,300
Median gross rent	$1,750	$866
Housing units	632	942
Homeownership rate	75.2%	79.6%
Bachelor's degree or higher	67.9%	65.3%
Unemployment rate	1.4%	1.6%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Essex	Topsfield
Population	1,393 → 1,775 (+27.4%)	3,216 → 2,573 (-20.0%)
Median household income	$114,479 → $156,094 (+36.4%)	$135,444 → $169,468 (+25.1%)
Median home value	$493,500 → $774,400 (+56.9%)	$578,600 → $793,300 (+37.1%)
Median gross rent	$483 → $1,750 (+262.3%)	$850 → $866 (+1.9%)

Essex

Population

1,3931,775

Median household income

$114,479$156,094

Median home value

$493,500$774,400

Median gross rent

$483$1,750

Topsfield

Population

3,2162,573

Median household income

$135,444$169,468

Median home value

$578,600$793,300

Median gross rent

$850$866

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Essex	Topsfield
Under 5	6.9%	7.7%
5 to 17	18.5%	15.6%
18 to 24	5.1%	5.5%
25 to 34	7.7%	9.2%
35 to 44	13.2%	14.9%
45 to 54	18.3%	9.0%
55 to 64	17.2%	15.8%
65 to 74	8.0%	12.0%
75 and over	5.1%	10.3%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Essex	Topsfield
White (non-Hispanic)	98.6%	82.4%
Black or African American	0.0%	1.6%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.0%	0.0%
Asian	0.0%	1.9%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.0%	0.0%
Some other race	0.0%	0.0%
Two or more races	0.5%	6.4%
Hispanic or Latino	0.8%	7.8%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Essex	Topsfield
No high school diploma	1.9%	1.7%
High school graduate	11.0%	16.0%
Some college or associate's	19.2%	16.9%
Bachelor's degree	40.0%	31.1%
Graduate or professional degree	27.8%	34.3%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Essex	Topsfield
Drove alone	64.6%	76.6%
Carpooled	10.1%	7.1%
Public transit	0.9%	1.5%
Walked	10.0%	2.7%
Bicycle	0.0%	0.0%
Worked from home	14.5%	12.0%
Other means	0.0%	0.0%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Essex	Topsfield
1-unit, detached	58.2%	74.5%
1-unit, attached	12.2%	2.5%
2 to 4 units	28.5%	13.8%
5 to 19 units	1.1%	7.5%
20 or more units	0.0%	1.6%
Mobile home & other	0.0%	0.0%

Poverty & households

	Essex	Topsfield
Poverty rate	3.3%	5.4%
Average household size	2.81	2.63
Mean commute (minutes)	23	22
Median year structure built	1959	1962