Bristol County vs Suffolk County

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

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

Suffolk County has the higher population (782,172 vs 578,436 in Bristol County). Suffolk County has the higher median household income ($92,859 vs $84,198 in Bristol County). Suffolk County has the higher median home value ($680,700 vs $421,800 in Bristol County).

Population, income & housing

	Bristol County	Suffolk County
Population	578,436	782,172
Median age	40.9 yrs	33.8 yrs
Median household income	$84,198	$92,859
Median home value	$421,800	$680,700
Median gross rent	$1,181	$2,069
Housing units	244,166	353,930
Homeownership rate	62.2%	36.6%
Bachelor's degree or higher	30.6%	49.9%
Unemployment rate	5.6%	6.2%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Bristol County	Suffolk County
Population	561,037 → 578,436 (+3.1%)	796,605 → 782,172 (-1.8%)
Median household income	$69,095 → $84,198 (+21.9%)	$69,669 → $92,859 (+33.3%)
Median home value	$299,800 → $421,800 (+40.7%)	$496,500 → $680,700 (+37.1%)
Median gross rent	$901 → $1,181 (+31.1%)	$1,590 → $2,069 (+30.1%)

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

Suffolk County

Population

796,605782,172

Median household income

$69,669$92,859

Median home value

$496,500$680,700

Median gross rent

$1,590$2,069

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Bristol County	Suffolk County
Under 5	5.1%	4.9%
5 to 17	15.6%	11.3%
18 to 24	8.5%	13.4%
25 to 34	12.9%	22.5%
35 to 44	12.8%	13.6%
45 to 54	13.3%	10.7%
55 to 64	14.3%	10.7%
65 to 74	10.3%	7.7%
75 and over	7.1%	5.3%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Bristol County	Suffolk County
White (non-Hispanic)	76.7%	44.1%
Black or African American	4.0%	17.9%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.1%	0.1%
Asian	2.4%	8.9%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.0%	0.1%
Some other race	1.6%	1.1%
Two or more races	5.5%	5.0%
Hispanic or Latino	9.8%	22.8%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Bristol County	Suffolk County
No high school diploma	13.8%	12.4%
High school graduate	30.1%	20.5%
Some college or associate's	25.5%	17.2%
Bachelor's degree	19.5%	26.8%
Graduate or professional degree	11.1%	23.1%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Bristol County	Suffolk County
Drove alone	76.0%	36.6%
Carpooled	9.1%	6.2%
Public transit	1.8%	23.6%
Walked	2.0%	12.3%
Bicycle	0.2%	1.9%
Worked from home	9.8%	17.5%
Other means	1.1%	1.9%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Bristol County	Suffolk County
1-unit, detached	52.3%	13.5%
1-unit, attached	4.0%	6.1%
2 to 4 units	25.4%	35.9%
5 to 19 units	10.7%	17.6%
20 or more units	6.2%	26.6%
Mobile home & other	1.5%	0.3%

Poverty & households

	Bristol County	Suffolk County
Poverty rate	11.6%	16.5%
Average household size	2.43	2.29
Mean commute (minutes)	28	31
Median year structure built	1963	1948