Essex County vs Ocean County

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

Essex County and Ocean 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 646,434 in Ocean County). Ocean County has the higher median household income ($86,411 vs $76,712 in Essex County). Essex County has the higher median home value ($494,400 vs $366,600 in Ocean County).

Population, income & housing

	Essex County	Ocean County
Population	854,130	646,434
Median age	37.7 yrs	41.4 yrs
Median household income	$76,712	$86,411
Median home value	$494,400	$366,600
Median gross rent	$1,459	$1,702
Housing units	335,550	295,201
Homeownership rate	44.5%	80.2%
Bachelor's degree or higher	37.9%	33.7%
Unemployment rate	8.3%	5.5%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Essex County	Ocean County
Population	795,404 → 854,130 (+7.4%)	596,415 → 646,434 (+8.4%)
Median household income	$61,510 → $76,712 (+24.7%)	$70,909 → $86,411 (+21.9%)
Median home value	$386,000 → $494,400 (+28.1%)	$279,000 → $366,600 (+31.4%)
Median gross rent	$1,178 → $1,459 (+23.9%)	$1,428 → $1,702 (+19.2%)

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

Ocean County

Population

596,415646,434

Median household income

$70,909$86,411

Median home value

$279,000$366,600

Median gross rent

$1,428$1,702

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Essex County	Ocean County
Under 5	6.3%	7.3%
5 to 17	17.4%	17.6%
18 to 24	8.9%	7.3%
25 to 34	13.5%	11.0%
35 to 44	14.1%	10.3%
45 to 54	13.6%	10.7%
55 to 64	12.2%	13.5%
65 to 74	8.2%	12.3%
75 and over	5.7%	10.1%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Essex County	Ocean County
White (non-Hispanic)	27.9%	81.8%
Black or African American	36.0%	2.9%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.1%	0.0%
Asian	5.7%	1.8%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.0%	0.0%
Some other race	1.4%	0.5%
Two or more races	4.0%	2.3%
Hispanic or Latino	24.7%	10.6%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Essex County	Ocean County
No high school diploma	13.2%	6.7%
High school graduate	27.7%	33.1%
Some college or associate's	21.2%	26.6%
Bachelor's degree	22.0%	21.7%
Graduate or professional degree	15.9%	12.0%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Essex County	Ocean County
Drove alone	53.9%	76.5%
Carpooled	8.0%	8.0%
Public transit	16.2%	1.2%
Walked	3.1%	1.3%
Bicycle	0.2%	0.4%
Worked from home	14.2%	11.6%
Other means	4.5%	1.2%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Essex County	Ocean County
1-unit, detached	32.8%	74.7%
1-unit, attached	7.7%	9.7%
2 to 4 units	28.3%	5.4%
5 to 19 units	11.7%	4.2%
20 or more units	19.3%	3.9%
Mobile home & other	0.2%	2.1%

Poverty & households

	Essex County	Ocean County
Poverty rate	15.0%	10.4%
Average household size	2.62	2.65
Mean commute (minutes)	34	31
Median year structure built	1958	1981