Bristol County vs Essex County

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

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

Essex County has the higher population (807,258 vs 578,436 in Bristol County). Essex County has the higher median household income ($99,431 vs $84,198 in Bristol County). Essex County has the higher median home value ($584,000 vs $421,800 in Bristol County).

Population, income & housing

	Bristol County	Essex County
Population	578,436	807,258
Median age	40.9 yrs	41.1 yrs
Median household income	$84,198	$99,431
Median home value	$421,800	$584,000
Median gross rent	$1,181	$1,673
Housing units	244,166	328,460
Homeownership rate	62.2%	64.0%
Bachelor's degree or higher	30.6%	42.3%
Unemployment rate	5.6%	5.1%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Bristol County	Essex County
Population	561,037 → 578,436 (+3.1%)	783,676 → 807,258 (+3.0%)
Median household income	$69,095 → $84,198 (+21.9%)	$79,263 → $99,431 (+25.4%)
Median home value	$299,800 → $421,800 (+40.7%)	$409,900 → $584,000 (+42.5%)
Median gross rent	$901 → $1,181 (+31.1%)	$1,241 → $1,673 (+34.8%)

Bristol County

Population

561,037578,436

Median household income

$69,095$84,198

Median home value

$299,800$421,800

Median gross rent

$901$1,181

Essex County

Population

783,676807,258

Median household income

$79,263$99,431

Median home value

$409,900$584,000

Median gross rent

$1,241$1,673

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Bristol County	Essex County
Under 5	5.1%	5.4%
5 to 17	15.6%	15.6%
18 to 24	8.5%	8.8%
25 to 34	12.9%	12.5%
35 to 44	12.8%	12.6%
45 to 54	13.3%	12.8%
55 to 64	14.3%	14.3%
65 to 74	10.3%	10.7%
75 and over	7.1%	7.3%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Bristol County	Essex County
White (non-Hispanic)	76.7%	65.9%
Black or African American	4.0%	3.5%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.1%	0.1%
Asian	2.4%	3.4%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.0%	0.0%
Some other race	1.6%	0.7%
Two or more races	5.5%	3.2%
Hispanic or Latino	9.8%	23.2%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Bristol County	Essex County
No high school diploma	13.8%	9.9%
High school graduate	30.1%	24.4%
Some college or associate's	25.5%	23.4%
Bachelor's degree	19.5%	24.9%
Graduate or professional degree	11.1%	17.5%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Bristol County	Essex County
Drove alone	76.0%	69.3%
Carpooled	9.1%	7.0%
Public transit	1.8%	3.7%
Walked	2.0%	2.8%
Bicycle	0.2%	0.2%
Worked from home	9.8%	14.6%
Other means	1.1%	2.4%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Bristol County	Essex County
1-unit, detached	52.3%	50.3%
1-unit, attached	4.0%	6.8%
2 to 4 units	25.4%	21.5%
5 to 19 units	10.7%	9.6%
20 or more units	6.2%	11.2%
Mobile home & other	1.5%	0.5%

Poverty & households

	Bristol County	Essex County
Poverty rate	11.6%	9.4%
Average household size	2.43	2.54
Mean commute (minutes)	28	29
Median year structure built	1963	1960