Norfolk County vs Suffolk County

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

Norfolk 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 724,540 in Norfolk County). Norfolk County has the higher median household income ($126,497 vs $92,859 in Suffolk County). Suffolk County has the higher median home value ($680,700 vs $649,400 in Norfolk County).

Population, income & housing

	Norfolk County	Suffolk County
Population	724,540	782,172
Median age	40.9 yrs	33.8 yrs
Median household income	$126,497	$92,859
Median home value	$649,400	$680,700
Median gross rent	$2,072	$2,069
Housing units	293,420	353,930
Homeownership rate	68.5%	36.6%
Bachelor's degree or higher	57.6%	49.9%
Unemployment rate	4.9%	6.2%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Norfolk County	Suffolk County
Population	700,437 → 724,540 (+3.4%)	796,605 → 782,172 (-1.8%)
Median household income	$103,291 → $126,497 (+22.5%)	$69,669 → $92,859 (+33.3%)
Median home value	$470,800 → $649,400 (+37.9%)	$496,500 → $680,700 (+37.1%)
Median gross rent	$1,589 → $2,072 (+30.4%)	$1,590 → $2,069 (+30.1%)

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

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)

	Norfolk County	Suffolk County
Under 5	5.2%	4.9%
5 to 17	15.5%	11.3%
18 to 24	8.6%	13.4%
25 to 34	12.9%	22.5%
35 to 44	13.2%	13.6%
45 to 54	13.3%	10.7%
55 to 64	14.0%	10.7%
65 to 74	10.0%	7.7%
75 and over	7.4%	5.3%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Norfolk County	Suffolk County
White (non-Hispanic)	70.0%	44.1%
Black or African American	6.9%	17.9%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.1%	0.1%
Asian	12.0%	8.9%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.0%	0.1%
Some other race	1.0%	1.1%
Two or more races	4.4%	5.0%
Hispanic or Latino	5.5%	22.8%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Norfolk County	Suffolk County
No high school diploma	5.6%	12.4%
High school graduate	17.4%	20.5%
Some college or associate's	19.3%	17.2%
Bachelor's degree	30.0%	26.8%
Graduate or professional degree	27.7%	23.1%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Norfolk County	Suffolk County
Drove alone	59.0%	36.6%
Carpooled	5.6%	6.2%
Public transit	9.5%	23.6%
Walked	3.2%	12.3%
Bicycle	0.6%	1.9%
Worked from home	20.6%	17.5%
Other means	1.5%	1.9%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Norfolk County	Suffolk County
1-unit, detached	56.7%	13.5%
1-unit, attached	5.5%	6.1%
2 to 4 units	12.3%	35.9%
5 to 19 units	10.5%	17.6%
20 or more units	14.7%	26.6%
Mobile home & other	0.4%	0.3%

Poverty & households

	Norfolk County	Suffolk County
Poverty rate	6.6%	16.5%
Average household size	2.51	2.29
Mean commute (minutes)	33	31
Median year structure built	1964	1948