Ocean County vs Union County

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

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

Ocean County has the higher population (646,434 vs 572,549 in Union County). Union County has the higher median household income ($100,117 vs $86,411 in Ocean County). Union County has the higher median home value ($488,800 vs $366,600 in Ocean County).

Population, income & housing

	Ocean County	Union County
Population	646,434	572,549
Median age	41.4 yrs	39.1 yrs
Median household income	$86,411	$100,117
Median home value	$366,600	$488,800
Median gross rent	$1,702	$1,664
Housing units	295,201	211,269
Homeownership rate	80.2%	57.6%
Bachelor's degree or higher	33.7%	38.6%
Unemployment rate	5.5%	6.3%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Ocean County	Union County
Population	596,415 → 646,434 (+8.4%)	554,033 → 572,549 (+3.3%)
Median household income	$70,909 → $86,411 (+21.9%)	$80,198 → $100,117 (+24.8%)
Median home value	$279,000 → $366,600 (+31.4%)	$367,200 → $488,800 (+33.1%)
Median gross rent	$1,428 → $1,702 (+19.2%)	$1,290 → $1,664 (+29.0%)

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

Union County

Population

554,033572,549

Median household income

$80,198$100,117

Median home value

$367,200$488,800

Median gross rent

$1,290$1,664

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Ocean County	Union County
Under 5	7.3%	6.2%
5 to 17	17.6%	17.4%
18 to 24	7.3%	8.2%
25 to 34	11.0%	12.4%
35 to 44	10.3%	14.0%
45 to 54	10.7%	13.8%
55 to 64	13.5%	13.2%
65 to 74	12.3%	8.7%
75 and over	10.1%	6.1%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Ocean County	Union County
White (non-Hispanic)	81.8%	36.3%
Black or African American	2.9%	19.6%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.0%	0.0%
Asian	1.8%	5.5%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.0%	0.0%
Some other race	0.5%	1.4%
Two or more races	2.3%	2.8%
Hispanic or Latino	10.6%	34.4%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Ocean County	Union County
No high school diploma	6.7%	13.7%
High school graduate	33.1%	26.7%
Some college or associate's	26.6%	21.0%
Bachelor's degree	21.7%	22.9%
Graduate or professional degree	12.0%	15.6%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Ocean County	Union County
Drove alone	76.5%	62.4%
Carpooled	8.0%	8.3%
Public transit	1.2%	9.6%
Walked	1.3%	2.4%
Bicycle	0.4%	0.2%
Worked from home	11.6%	12.9%
Other means	1.2%	4.2%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Ocean County	Union County
1-unit, detached	74.7%	49.7%
1-unit, attached	9.7%	5.0%
2 to 4 units	5.4%	24.8%
5 to 19 units	4.2%	7.6%
20 or more units	3.9%	12.7%
Mobile home & other	2.1%	0.2%

Poverty & households

	Ocean County	Union County
Poverty rate	10.4%	8.9%
Average household size	2.65	2.81
Mean commute (minutes)	31	31
Median year structure built	1981	1956