Atlantic County vs Mercer County

A side-by-side comparison of Atlantic County and Mercer County: population, income, housing, and more.

Atlantic County and Mercer County are counties in New Jersey. This page compares them across population, income, housing, education, commuting, and how each has changed since 2019.

Mercer County has the higher population (383,286 vs 274,704 in Atlantic County). Mercer County has the higher median household income ($96,333 vs $76,819 in Atlantic County). Mercer County has the higher median home value ($351,000 vs $272,700 in Atlantic County).

Population, income & housing

	Atlantic County	Mercer County
Population	274,704	383,286
Median age	42.2 yrs	39.2 yrs
Median household income	$76,819	$96,333
Median home value	$272,700	$351,000
Median gross rent	$1,325	$1,515
Housing units	132,102	150,600
Homeownership rate	67.8%	61.9%
Bachelor's degree or higher	31.2%	44.9%
Unemployment rate	8.1%	6.1%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Atlantic County	Mercer County
Population	266,105 → 274,704 (+3.2%)	367,922 → 383,286 (+4.2%)
Median household income	$62,110 → $76,819 (+23.7%)	$81,057 → $96,333 (+18.8%)
Median home value	$217,900 → $272,700 (+25.1%)	$291,100 → $351,000 (+20.6%)
Median gross rent	$1,120 → $1,325 (+18.3%)	$1,266 → $1,515 (+19.7%)

Atlantic County

Population

266,105274,704

Median household income

$62,110$76,819

Median home value

$217,900$272,700

Median gross rent

$1,120$1,325

Mercer County

Population

367,922383,286

Median household income

$81,057$96,333

Median home value

$291,100$351,000

Median gross rent

$1,266$1,515

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Atlantic County	Mercer County
Under 5	5.2%	5.6%
5 to 17	15.8%	16.3%
18 to 24	8.8%	10.4%
25 to 34	12.0%	12.4%
35 to 44	11.3%	13.0%
45 to 54	12.6%	13.6%
55 to 64	15.1%	13.1%
65 to 74	11.5%	9.2%
75 and over	7.7%	6.5%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Atlantic County	Mercer County
White (non-Hispanic)	54.5%	44.2%
Black or African American	13.2%	18.3%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.1%	0.1%
Asian	7.7%	12.0%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.0%	0.0%
Some other race	0.5%	0.3%
Two or more races	4.0%	2.8%
Hispanic or Latino	19.9%	22.2%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Atlantic County	Mercer County
No high school diploma	11.1%	10.1%
High school graduate	32.1%	24.5%
Some college or associate's	25.6%	20.5%
Bachelor's degree	20.7%	24.3%
Graduate or professional degree	10.5%	20.6%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Atlantic County	Mercer County
Drove alone	73.3%	61.5%
Carpooled	8.8%	9.2%
Public transit	4.0%	5.2%
Walked	3.3%	3.5%
Bicycle	0.5%	0.7%
Worked from home	8.5%	17.8%
Other means	1.5%	2.1%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Atlantic County	Mercer County
1-unit, detached	57.7%	47.5%
1-unit, attached	9.4%	20.6%
2 to 4 units	9.4%	8.5%
5 to 19 units	9.9%	12.2%
20 or more units	10.7%	10.8%
Mobile home & other	3.0%	0.5%

Poverty & households

	Atlantic County	Mercer County
Poverty rate	13.1%	11.1%
Average household size	2.47	2.58
Mean commute (minutes)	25	28
Median year structure built	1977	1967