Essex County vs Monmouth County

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

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

Essex County has the higher population (854,130 vs 643,615 in Monmouth County). Monmouth County has the higher median household income ($122,727 vs $76,712 in Essex County). Monmouth County has the higher median home value ($566,500 vs $494,400 in Essex County).

Population, income & housing

	Essex County	Monmouth County
Population	854,130	643,615
Median age	37.7 yrs	43.2 yrs
Median household income	$76,712	$122,727
Median home value	$494,400	$566,500
Median gross rent	$1,459	$1,771
Housing units	335,550	269,728
Homeownership rate	44.5%	75.4%
Bachelor's degree or higher	37.9%	50.6%
Unemployment rate	8.3%	5.2%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Essex County	Monmouth County
Population	795,404 → 854,130 (+7.4%)	621,659 → 643,615 (+3.5%)
Median household income	$61,510 → $76,712 (+24.7%)	$99,733 → $122,727 (+23.1%)
Median home value	$386,000 → $494,400 (+28.1%)	$421,900 → $566,500 (+34.3%)
Median gross rent	$1,178 → $1,459 (+23.9%)	$1,399 → $1,771 (+26.6%)

Essex County

Population

795,404854,130

Median household income

$61,510$76,712

Median home value

$386,000$494,400

Median gross rent

$1,178$1,459

Monmouth County

Population

621,659643,615

Median household income

$99,733$122,727

Median home value

$421,900$566,500

Median gross rent

$1,399$1,771

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Essex County	Monmouth County
Under 5	6.3%	5.0%
5 to 17	17.4%	16.1%
18 to 24	8.9%	8.2%
25 to 34	13.5%	11.0%
35 to 44	14.1%	11.8%
45 to 54	13.6%	13.7%
55 to 64	12.2%	15.8%
65 to 74	8.2%	11.0%
75 and over	5.7%	7.5%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Essex County	Monmouth County
White (non-Hispanic)	27.9%	72.1%
Black or African American	36.0%	5.9%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.1%	0.0%
Asian	5.7%	5.3%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.0%	0.0%
Some other race	1.4%	0.7%
Two or more races	4.0%	3.3%
Hispanic or Latino	24.7%	12.7%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Essex County	Monmouth County
No high school diploma	13.2%	5.8%
High school graduate	27.7%	21.4%
Some college or associate's	21.2%	22.2%
Bachelor's degree	22.0%	30.9%
Graduate or professional degree	15.9%	19.7%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Essex County	Monmouth County
Drove alone	53.9%	66.8%
Carpooled	8.0%	7.2%
Public transit	16.2%	5.5%
Walked	3.1%	1.5%
Bicycle	0.2%	0.5%
Worked from home	14.2%	16.8%
Other means	4.5%	1.7%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Essex County	Monmouth County
1-unit, detached	32.8%	66.1%
1-unit, attached	7.7%	9.5%
2 to 4 units	28.3%	6.4%
5 to 19 units	11.7%	7.8%
20 or more units	19.3%	9.1%
Mobile home & other	0.2%	1.1%

Poverty & households

	Essex County	Monmouth County
Poverty rate	15.0%	6.4%
Average household size	2.62	2.55
Mean commute (minutes)	34	33
Median year structure built	1958	1975