Passaic County vs Union County

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

Passaic 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.

Union County has the higher population (572,549 vs 518,289 in Passaic County). Union County has the higher median household income ($100,117 vs $87,137 in Passaic County). Union County has the higher median home value ($488,800 vs $439,400 in Passaic County).

Population, income & housing

	Passaic County	Union County
Population	518,289	572,549
Median age	38.1 yrs	39.1 yrs
Median household income	$87,137	$100,117
Median home value	$439,400	$488,800
Median gross rent	$1,553	$1,664
Housing units	185,439	211,269
Homeownership rate	52.8%	57.6%
Bachelor's degree or higher	30.3%	38.6%
Unemployment rate	7.8%	6.3%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Passaic County	Union County
Population	503,637 → 518,289 (+2.9%)	554,033 → 572,549 (+3.3%)
Median household income	$69,688 → $87,137 (+25.0%)	$80,198 → $100,117 (+24.8%)
Median home value	$342,600 → $439,400 (+28.3%)	$367,200 → $488,800 (+33.1%)
Median gross rent	$1,293 → $1,553 (+20.1%)	$1,290 → $1,664 (+29.0%)

Passaic County

Population

503,637518,289

Median household income

$69,688$87,137

Median home value

$342,600$439,400

Median gross rent

$1,293$1,553

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)

	Passaic County	Union County
Under 5	6.4%	6.2%
5 to 17	17.3%	17.4%
18 to 24	9.3%	8.2%
25 to 34	13.3%	12.4%
35 to 44	12.7%	14.0%
45 to 54	12.7%	13.8%
55 to 64	12.9%	13.2%
65 to 74	9.1%	8.7%
75 and over	6.5%	6.1%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Passaic County	Union County
White (non-Hispanic)	38.9%	36.3%
Black or African American	10.0%	19.6%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.1%	0.0%
Asian	5.4%	5.5%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.0%	0.0%
Some other race	0.5%	1.4%
Two or more races	1.8%	2.8%
Hispanic or Latino	43.4%	34.4%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Passaic County	Union County
No high school diploma	14.9%	13.7%
High school graduate	33.7%	26.7%
Some college or associate's	21.1%	21.0%
Bachelor's degree	20.2%	22.9%
Graduate or professional degree	10.1%	15.6%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Passaic County	Union County
Drove alone	66.5%	62.4%
Carpooled	10.8%	8.3%
Public transit	7.0%	9.6%
Walked	3.9%	2.4%
Bicycle	0.1%	0.2%
Worked from home	10.3%	12.9%
Other means	1.3%	4.2%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Passaic County	Union County
1-unit, detached	41.7%	49.7%
1-unit, attached	6.0%	5.0%
2 to 4 units	31.0%	24.8%
5 to 19 units	10.3%	7.6%
20 or more units	10.7%	12.7%
Mobile home & other	0.3%	0.2%

Poverty & households

	Passaic County	Union County
Poverty rate	13.7%	8.9%
Average household size	2.86	2.81
Mean commute (minutes)	27	31
Median year structure built	1956	1956