Bristol County vs Worcester County

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

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

Worcester County has the higher population (861,664 vs 578,436 in Bristol County). Worcester County has the higher median household income ($93,561 vs $84,198 in Bristol County). Bristol County has the higher median home value ($421,800 vs $390,700 in Worcester County).

Population, income & housing

	Bristol County	Worcester County
Population	578,436	861,664
Median age	40.9 yrs	40.3 yrs
Median household income	$84,198	$93,561
Median home value	$421,800	$390,700
Median gross rent	$1,181	$1,347
Housing units	244,166	353,405
Homeownership rate	62.2%	65.7%
Bachelor's degree or higher	30.6%	39.0%
Unemployment rate	5.6%	5.3%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Bristol County	Worcester County
Population	561,037 → 578,436 (+3.1%)	824,772 → 861,664 (+4.5%)
Median household income	$69,095 → $84,198 (+21.9%)	$74,679 → $93,561 (+25.3%)
Median home value	$299,800 → $421,800 (+40.7%)	$280,600 → $390,700 (+39.2%)
Median gross rent	$901 → $1,181 (+31.1%)	$1,060 → $1,347 (+27.1%)

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

Worcester County

Population

824,772861,664

Median household income

$74,679$93,561

Median home value

$280,600$390,700

Median gross rent

$1,060$1,347

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Bristol County	Worcester County
Under 5	5.1%	5.2%
5 to 17	15.6%	15.6%
18 to 24	8.5%	9.3%
25 to 34	12.9%	13.0%
35 to 44	12.8%	12.8%
45 to 54	13.3%	13.2%
55 to 64	14.3%	14.4%
65 to 74	10.3%	10.0%
75 and over	7.1%	6.5%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Bristol County	Worcester County
White (non-Hispanic)	76.7%	71.8%
Black or African American	4.0%	4.6%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.1%	0.1%
Asian	2.4%	5.2%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.0%	0.0%
Some other race	1.6%	1.0%
Two or more races	5.5%	4.0%
Hispanic or Latino	9.8%	13.3%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Bristol County	Worcester County
No high school diploma	13.8%	8.7%
High school graduate	30.1%	26.5%
Some college or associate's	25.5%	25.8%
Bachelor's degree	19.5%	22.5%
Graduate or professional degree	11.1%	16.5%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Bristol County	Worcester County
Drove alone	76.0%	71.8%
Carpooled	9.1%	7.8%
Public transit	1.8%	1.5%
Walked	2.0%	2.4%
Bicycle	0.2%	0.1%
Worked from home	9.8%	14.3%
Other means	1.1%	2.1%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Bristol County	Worcester County
1-unit, detached	52.3%	57.0%
1-unit, attached	4.0%	6.2%
2 to 4 units	25.4%	19.4%
5 to 19 units	10.7%	9.0%
20 or more units	6.2%	7.6%
Mobile home & other	1.5%	0.8%

Poverty & households

	Bristol County	Worcester County
Poverty rate	11.6%	10.3%
Average household size	2.43	2.50
Mean commute (minutes)	28	30
Median year structure built	1963	1966