Bristol County vs Middlesex County

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

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

Middlesex County has the higher population (1,622,896 vs 578,436 in Bristol County). Middlesex County has the higher median household income ($126,779 vs $84,198 in Bristol County). Middlesex County has the higher median home value ($687,200 vs $421,800 in Bristol County).

Population, income & housing

	Bristol County	Middlesex County
Population	578,436	1,622,896
Median age	40.9 yrs	38.9 yrs
Median household income	$84,198	$126,779
Median home value	$421,800	$687,200
Median gross rent	$1,181	$2,126
Housing units	244,166	660,814
Homeownership rate	62.2%	61.6%
Bachelor's degree or higher	30.6%	59.0%
Unemployment rate	5.6%	4.2%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Bristol County	Middlesex County
Population	561,037 → 578,436 (+3.1%)	1,600,842 → 1,622,896 (+1.4%)
Median household income	$69,095 → $84,198 (+21.9%)	$102,603 → $126,779 (+23.6%)
Median home value	$299,800 → $421,800 (+40.7%)	$500,700 → $687,200 (+37.2%)
Median gross rent	$901 → $1,181 (+31.1%)	$1,636 → $2,126 (+30.0%)

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

Middlesex County

Population

1,600,8421,622,896

Median household income

$102,603$126,779

Median home value

$500,700$687,200

Median gross rent

$1,636$2,126

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Bristol County	Middlesex County
Under 5	5.1%	5.1%
5 to 17	15.6%	14.5%
18 to 24	8.5%	9.6%
25 to 34	12.9%	15.1%
35 to 44	12.8%	13.8%
45 to 54	13.3%	12.8%
55 to 64	14.3%	13.1%
65 to 74	10.3%	9.3%
75 and over	7.1%	6.7%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Bristol County	Middlesex County
White (non-Hispanic)	76.7%	66.7%
Black or African American	4.0%	4.8%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.1%	0.1%
Asian	2.4%	13.1%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.0%	0.0%
Some other race	1.6%	1.3%
Two or more races	5.5%	5.0%
Hispanic or Latino	9.8%	9.0%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Bristol County	Middlesex County
No high school diploma	13.8%	6.6%
High school graduate	30.1%	17.5%
Some college or associate's	25.5%	17.0%
Bachelor's degree	19.5%	28.8%
Graduate or professional degree	11.1%	30.2%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Bristol County	Middlesex County
Drove alone	76.0%	56.0%
Carpooled	9.1%	6.4%
Public transit	1.8%	8.0%
Walked	2.0%	4.2%
Bicycle	0.2%	1.6%
Worked from home	9.8%	22.2%
Other means	1.1%	1.6%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Bristol County	Middlesex County
1-unit, detached	52.3%	46.9%
1-unit, attached	4.0%	6.9%
2 to 4 units	25.4%	20.6%
5 to 19 units	10.7%	9.7%
20 or more units	6.2%	15.3%
Mobile home & other	1.5%	0.4%

Poverty & households

	Bristol County	Middlesex County
Poverty rate	11.6%	7.5%
Average household size	2.43	2.48
Mean commute (minutes)	28	30
Median year structure built	1963	1961