Bristol County vs Norfolk County

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

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

Norfolk County has the higher population (724,540 vs 578,436 in Bristol County). Norfolk County has the higher median household income ($126,497 vs $84,198 in Bristol County). Norfolk County has the higher median home value ($649,400 vs $421,800 in Bristol County).

Population, income & housing

	Bristol County	Norfolk County
Population	578,436	724,540
Median age	40.9 yrs	40.9 yrs
Median household income	$84,198	$126,497
Median home value	$421,800	$649,400
Median gross rent	$1,181	$2,072
Housing units	244,166	293,420
Homeownership rate	62.2%	68.5%
Bachelor's degree or higher	30.6%	57.6%
Unemployment rate	5.6%	4.9%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Bristol County	Norfolk County
Population	561,037 → 578,436 (+3.1%)	700,437 → 724,540 (+3.4%)
Median household income	$69,095 → $84,198 (+21.9%)	$103,291 → $126,497 (+22.5%)
Median home value	$299,800 → $421,800 (+40.7%)	$470,800 → $649,400 (+37.9%)
Median gross rent	$901 → $1,181 (+31.1%)	$1,589 → $2,072 (+30.4%)

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

Norfolk County

Population

700,437724,540

Median household income

$103,291$126,497

Median home value

$470,800$649,400

Median gross rent

$1,589$2,072

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Bristol County	Norfolk County
Under 5	5.1%	5.2%
5 to 17	15.6%	15.5%
18 to 24	8.5%	8.6%
25 to 34	12.9%	12.9%
35 to 44	12.8%	13.2%
45 to 54	13.3%	13.3%
55 to 64	14.3%	14.0%
65 to 74	10.3%	10.0%
75 and over	7.1%	7.4%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Bristol County	Norfolk County
White (non-Hispanic)	76.7%	70.0%
Black or African American	4.0%	6.9%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.1%	0.1%
Asian	2.4%	12.0%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.0%	0.0%
Some other race	1.6%	1.0%
Two or more races	5.5%	4.4%
Hispanic or Latino	9.8%	5.5%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Bristol County	Norfolk County
No high school diploma	13.8%	5.6%
High school graduate	30.1%	17.4%
Some college or associate's	25.5%	19.3%
Bachelor's degree	19.5%	30.0%
Graduate or professional degree	11.1%	27.7%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Bristol County	Norfolk County
Drove alone	76.0%	59.0%
Carpooled	9.1%	5.6%
Public transit	1.8%	9.5%
Walked	2.0%	3.2%
Bicycle	0.2%	0.6%
Worked from home	9.8%	20.6%
Other means	1.1%	1.5%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Bristol County	Norfolk County
1-unit, detached	52.3%	56.7%
1-unit, attached	4.0%	5.5%
2 to 4 units	25.4%	12.3%
5 to 19 units	10.7%	10.5%
20 or more units	6.2%	14.7%
Mobile home & other	1.5%	0.4%

Poverty & households

	Bristol County	Norfolk County
Poverty rate	11.6%	6.6%
Average household size	2.43	2.51
Mean commute (minutes)	28	33
Median year structure built	1963	1964