Essex County vs Norfolk County

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

Essex 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.

Essex County has the higher population (807,258 vs 724,540 in Norfolk County). Norfolk County has the higher median household income ($126,497 vs $99,431 in Essex County). Norfolk County has the higher median home value ($649,400 vs $584,000 in Essex County).

Population, income & housing

	Essex County	Norfolk County
Population	807,258	724,540
Median age	41.1 yrs	40.9 yrs
Median household income	$99,431	$126,497
Median home value	$584,000	$649,400
Median gross rent	$1,673	$2,072
Housing units	328,460	293,420
Homeownership rate	64.0%	68.5%
Bachelor's degree or higher	42.3%	57.6%
Unemployment rate	5.1%	4.9%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Essex County	Norfolk County
Population	783,676 → 807,258 (+3.0%)	700,437 → 724,540 (+3.4%)
Median household income	$79,263 → $99,431 (+25.4%)	$103,291 → $126,497 (+22.5%)
Median home value	$409,900 → $584,000 (+42.5%)	$470,800 → $649,400 (+37.9%)
Median gross rent	$1,241 → $1,673 (+34.8%)	$1,589 → $2,072 (+30.4%)

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

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)

	Essex County	Norfolk County
Under 5	5.4%	5.2%
5 to 17	15.6%	15.5%
18 to 24	8.8%	8.6%
25 to 34	12.5%	12.9%
35 to 44	12.6%	13.2%
45 to 54	12.8%	13.3%
55 to 64	14.3%	14.0%
65 to 74	10.7%	10.0%
75 and over	7.3%	7.4%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Essex County	Norfolk County
White (non-Hispanic)	65.9%	70.0%
Black or African American	3.5%	6.9%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.1%	0.1%
Asian	3.4%	12.0%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.0%	0.0%
Some other race	0.7%	1.0%
Two or more races	3.2%	4.4%
Hispanic or Latino	23.2%	5.5%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Essex County	Norfolk County
No high school diploma	9.9%	5.6%
High school graduate	24.4%	17.4%
Some college or associate's	23.4%	19.3%
Bachelor's degree	24.9%	30.0%
Graduate or professional degree	17.5%	27.7%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Essex County	Norfolk County
Drove alone	69.3%	59.0%
Carpooled	7.0%	5.6%
Public transit	3.7%	9.5%
Walked	2.8%	3.2%
Bicycle	0.2%	0.6%
Worked from home	14.6%	20.6%
Other means	2.4%	1.5%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Essex County	Norfolk County
1-unit, detached	50.3%	56.7%
1-unit, attached	6.8%	5.5%
2 to 4 units	21.5%	12.3%
5 to 19 units	9.6%	10.5%
20 or more units	11.2%	14.7%
Mobile home & other	0.5%	0.4%

Poverty & households

	Essex County	Norfolk County
Poverty rate	9.4%	6.6%
Average household size	2.54	2.51
Mean commute (minutes)	29	33
Median year structure built	1960	1964