Salem County vs Sussex County

A side-by-side comparison of Salem County and Sussex County: population, income, housing, and more.

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

Sussex County has the higher population (145,117 vs 64,973 in Salem County). Sussex County has the higher median household income ($114,316 vs $78,412 in Salem County). Sussex County has the higher median home value ($342,800 vs $223,000 in Salem County).

Population, income & housing

	Salem County	Sussex County
Population	64,973	145,117
Median age	41.9 yrs	44.1 yrs
Median household income	$78,412	$114,316
Median home value	$223,000	$342,800
Median gross rent	$1,185	$1,503
Housing units	27,740	62,825
Homeownership rate	71.3%	84.9%
Bachelor's degree or higher	24.0%	40.0%
Unemployment rate	7.5%	5.3%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Salem County	Sussex County
Population	62,990 → 64,973 (+3.1%)	141,483 → 145,117 (+2.6%)
Median household income	$66,842 → $78,412 (+17.3%)	$94,520 → $114,316 (+20.9%)
Median home value	$184,600 → $223,000 (+20.8%)	$267,500 → $342,800 (+28.1%)
Median gross rent	$1,019 → $1,185 (+16.3%)	$1,314 → $1,503 (+14.4%)

Salem County

Population

62,99064,973

Median household income

$66,842$78,412

Median home value

$184,600$223,000

Median gross rent

$1,019$1,185

Sussex County

Population

141,483145,117

Median household income

$94,520$114,316

Median home value

$267,500$342,800

Median gross rent

$1,314$1,503

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Salem County	Sussex County
Under 5	5.5%	4.7%
5 to 17	16.3%	14.9%
18 to 24	8.3%	7.6%
25 to 34	11.2%	11.5%
35 to 44	12.5%	12.2%
45 to 54	12.5%	14.0%
55 to 64	14.7%	16.7%
65 to 74	11.2%	11.6%
75 and over	7.7%	6.8%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Salem County	Sussex County
White (non-Hispanic)	71.0%	81.0%
Black or African American	13.3%	2.3%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.1%	0.0%
Asian	0.9%	1.9%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.1%	0.0%
Some other race	0.3%	0.5%
Two or more races	3.6%	3.3%
Hispanic or Latino	10.7%	11.1%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Salem County	Sussex County
No high school diploma	9.9%	4.6%
High school graduate	38.6%	27.7%
Some college or associate's	27.5%	27.8%
Bachelor's degree	15.5%	25.8%
Graduate or professional degree	8.5%	14.2%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Salem County	Sussex County
Drove alone	79.8%	77.4%
Carpooled	7.1%	6.2%
Public transit	0.6%	1.1%
Walked	1.6%	0.8%
Bicycle	0.0%	0.0%
Worked from home	9.5%	13.7%
Other means	1.3%	0.8%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Salem County	Sussex County
1-unit, detached	74.3%	78.2%
1-unit, attached	4.9%	6.5%
2 to 4 units	6.8%	5.2%
5 to 19 units	5.5%	5.4%
20 or more units	4.7%	2.8%
Mobile home & other	3.9%	1.9%

Poverty & households

	Salem County	Sussex County
Poverty rate	12.8%	5.4%
Average household size	2.55	2.50
Mean commute (minutes)	26	36
Median year structure built	1963	1972