Mercer County vs Somerset County

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

Mercer County and Somerset 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 346,203 in Somerset County). Somerset County has the higher median household income ($135,960 vs $96,333 in Mercer County). Somerset County has the higher median home value ($523,900 vs $351,000 in Mercer County).

Population, income & housing

	Mercer County	Somerset County
Population	383,286	346,203
Median age	39.2 yrs	41.9 yrs
Median household income	$96,333	$135,960
Median home value	$351,000	$523,900
Median gross rent	$1,515	$1,921
Housing units	150,600	132,831
Homeownership rate	61.9%	74.5%
Bachelor's degree or higher	44.9%	57.4%
Unemployment rate	6.1%	4.8%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Mercer County	Somerset County
Population	367,922 → 383,286 (+4.2%)	329,838 → 346,203 (+5.0%)
Median household income	$81,057 → $96,333 (+18.8%)	$113,611 → $135,960 (+19.7%)
Median home value	$291,100 → $351,000 (+20.6%)	$430,700 → $523,900 (+21.6%)
Median gross rent	$1,266 → $1,515 (+19.7%)	$1,594 → $1,921 (+20.5%)

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

Somerset County

Population

329,838346,203

Median household income

$113,611$135,960

Median home value

$430,700$523,900

Median gross rent

$1,594$1,921

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Mercer County	Somerset County
Under 5	5.6%	5.0%
5 to 17	16.3%	16.5%
18 to 24	10.4%	8.0%
25 to 34	12.4%	11.3%
35 to 44	13.0%	13.2%
45 to 54	13.6%	14.6%
55 to 64	13.1%	15.0%
65 to 74	9.2%	9.5%
75 and over	6.5%	7.0%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Mercer County	Somerset County
White (non-Hispanic)	44.2%	50.6%
Black or African American	18.3%	9.3%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.1%	0.1%
Asian	12.0%	19.1%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.0%	0.0%
Some other race	0.3%	0.8%
Two or more races	2.8%	3.1%
Hispanic or Latino	22.2%	17.0%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Mercer County	Somerset County
No high school diploma	10.1%	6.2%
High school graduate	24.5%	18.0%
Some college or associate's	20.5%	18.5%
Bachelor's degree	24.3%	31.1%
Graduate or professional degree	20.6%	26.3%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Mercer County	Somerset County
Drove alone	61.5%	65.6%
Carpooled	9.2%	6.3%
Public transit	5.2%	3.7%
Walked	3.5%	1.3%
Bicycle	0.7%	0.2%
Worked from home	17.8%	20.5%
Other means	2.1%	2.4%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Mercer County	Somerset County
1-unit, detached	47.5%	58.8%
1-unit, attached	20.6%	14.4%
2 to 4 units	8.5%	9.2%
5 to 19 units	12.2%	9.9%
20 or more units	10.8%	7.5%
Mobile home & other	0.5%	0.3%

Poverty & households

	Mercer County	Somerset County
Poverty rate	11.1%	5.5%
Average household size	2.58	2.64
Mean commute (minutes)	28	31
Median year structure built	1967	1982