Atlantic County vs Sussex County

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

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

Atlantic County has the higher population (274,704 vs 145,117 in Sussex County). Sussex County has the higher median household income ($114,316 vs $76,819 in Atlantic County). Sussex County has the higher median home value ($342,800 vs $272,700 in Atlantic County).

Population, income & housing

	Atlantic County	Sussex County
Population	274,704	145,117
Median age	42.2 yrs	44.1 yrs
Median household income	$76,819	$114,316
Median home value	$272,700	$342,800
Median gross rent	$1,325	$1,503
Housing units	132,102	62,825
Homeownership rate	67.8%	84.9%
Bachelor's degree or higher	31.2%	40.0%
Unemployment rate	8.1%	5.3%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Atlantic County	Sussex County
Population	266,105 → 274,704 (+3.2%)	141,483 → 145,117 (+2.6%)
Median household income	$62,110 → $76,819 (+23.7%)	$94,520 → $114,316 (+20.9%)
Median home value	$217,900 → $272,700 (+25.1%)	$267,500 → $342,800 (+28.1%)
Median gross rent	$1,120 → $1,325 (+18.3%)	$1,314 → $1,503 (+14.4%)

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

Sussex County

Population

141,483145,117

Median household income

$94,520$114,316

Median home value

$267,500$342,800

Median gross rent

$1,314$1,503

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Atlantic County	Sussex County
Under 5	5.2%	4.7%
5 to 17	15.8%	14.9%
18 to 24	8.8%	7.6%
25 to 34	12.0%	11.5%
35 to 44	11.3%	12.2%
45 to 54	12.6%	14.0%
55 to 64	15.1%	16.7%
65 to 74	11.5%	11.6%
75 and over	7.7%	6.8%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Atlantic County	Sussex County
White (non-Hispanic)	54.5%	81.0%
Black or African American	13.2%	2.3%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.1%	0.0%
Asian	7.7%	1.9%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.0%	0.0%
Some other race	0.5%	0.5%
Two or more races	4.0%	3.3%
Hispanic or Latino	19.9%	11.1%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Atlantic County	Sussex County
No high school diploma	11.1%	4.6%
High school graduate	32.1%	27.7%
Some college or associate's	25.6%	27.8%
Bachelor's degree	20.7%	25.8%
Graduate or professional degree	10.5%	14.2%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Atlantic County	Sussex County
Drove alone	73.3%	77.4%
Carpooled	8.8%	6.2%
Public transit	4.0%	1.1%
Walked	3.3%	0.8%
Bicycle	0.5%	0.0%
Worked from home	8.5%	13.7%
Other means	1.5%	0.8%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Atlantic County	Sussex County
1-unit, detached	57.7%	78.2%
1-unit, attached	9.4%	6.5%
2 to 4 units	9.4%	5.2%
5 to 19 units	9.9%	5.4%
20 or more units	10.7%	2.8%
Mobile home & other	3.0%	1.9%

Poverty & households

	Atlantic County	Sussex County
Poverty rate	13.1%	5.4%
Average household size	2.47	2.50
Mean commute (minutes)	25	36
Median year structure built	1977	1972