Essex County vs Middlesex County

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

Essex 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 807,258 in Essex County). Middlesex County has the higher median household income ($126,779 vs $99,431 in Essex County). Middlesex County has the higher median home value ($687,200 vs $584,000 in Essex County).

Population, income & housing

	Essex County	Middlesex County
Population	807,258	1,622,896
Median age	41.1 yrs	38.9 yrs
Median household income	$99,431	$126,779
Median home value	$584,000	$687,200
Median gross rent	$1,673	$2,126
Housing units	328,460	660,814
Homeownership rate	64.0%	61.6%
Bachelor's degree or higher	42.3%	59.0%
Unemployment rate	5.1%	4.2%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Essex County	Middlesex County
Population	783,676 → 807,258 (+3.0%)	1,600,842 → 1,622,896 (+1.4%)
Median household income	$79,263 → $99,431 (+25.4%)	$102,603 → $126,779 (+23.6%)
Median home value	$409,900 → $584,000 (+42.5%)	$500,700 → $687,200 (+37.2%)
Median gross rent	$1,241 → $1,673 (+34.8%)	$1,636 → $2,126 (+30.0%)

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

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)

	Essex County	Middlesex County
Under 5	5.4%	5.1%
5 to 17	15.6%	14.5%
18 to 24	8.8%	9.6%
25 to 34	12.5%	15.1%
35 to 44	12.6%	13.8%
45 to 54	12.8%	12.8%
55 to 64	14.3%	13.1%
65 to 74	10.7%	9.3%
75 and over	7.3%	6.7%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Essex County	Middlesex County
White (non-Hispanic)	65.9%	66.7%
Black or African American	3.5%	4.8%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.1%	0.1%
Asian	3.4%	13.1%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.0%	0.0%
Some other race	0.7%	1.3%
Two or more races	3.2%	5.0%
Hispanic or Latino	23.2%	9.0%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Essex County	Middlesex County
No high school diploma	9.9%	6.6%
High school graduate	24.4%	17.5%
Some college or associate's	23.4%	17.0%
Bachelor's degree	24.9%	28.8%
Graduate or professional degree	17.5%	30.2%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Essex County	Middlesex County
Drove alone	69.3%	56.0%
Carpooled	7.0%	6.4%
Public transit	3.7%	8.0%
Walked	2.8%	4.2%
Bicycle	0.2%	1.6%
Worked from home	14.6%	22.2%
Other means	2.4%	1.6%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Essex County	Middlesex County
1-unit, detached	50.3%	46.9%
1-unit, attached	6.8%	6.9%
2 to 4 units	21.5%	20.6%
5 to 19 units	9.6%	9.7%
20 or more units	11.2%	15.3%
Mobile home & other	0.5%	0.4%

Poverty & households

	Essex County	Middlesex County
Poverty rate	9.4%	7.5%
Average household size	2.54	2.48
Mean commute (minutes)	29	30
Median year structure built	1960	1961