Chautauqua County vs Jefferson County

A side-by-side comparison of Chautauqua County and Jefferson County: population, income, housing, and more.

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

Chautauqua County has the higher population (126,329 vs 116,130 in Jefferson County). Jefferson County has the higher median household income ($64,978 vs $56,507 in Chautauqua County). Jefferson County has the higher median home value ($181,000 vs $119,300 in Chautauqua County).

Population, income & housing

	Chautauqua County	Jefferson County
Population	126,329	116,130
Median age	42.7 yrs	33.2 yrs
Median household income	$56,507	$64,978
Median home value	$119,300	$181,000
Median gross rent	$797	$1,214
Housing units	66,328	61,721
Homeownership rate	69.1%	54.1%
Bachelor's degree or higher	25.1%	25.7%
Unemployment rate	5.5%	6.4%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Chautauqua County	Jefferson County
Population	128,496 → 126,329 (-1.7%)	112,842 → 116,130 (+2.9%)
Median household income	$46,820 → $56,507 (+20.7%)	$52,685 → $64,978 (+23.3%)
Median home value	$88,000 → $119,300 (+35.6%)	$149,900 → $181,000 (+20.7%)
Median gross rent	$659 → $797 (+20.9%)	$987 → $1,214 (+23.0%)

Chautauqua County

Population

128,496126,329

Median household income

$46,820$56,507

Median home value

$88,000$119,300

Median gross rent

$659$797

Jefferson County

Population

112,842116,130

Median household income

$52,685$64,978

Median home value

$149,900$181,000

Median gross rent

$987$1,214

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Chautauqua County	Jefferson County
Under 5	5.3%	7.4%
5 to 17	15.4%	16.6%
18 to 24	9.2%	11.8%
25 to 34	11.2%	16.7%
35 to 44	11.2%	12.1%
45 to 54	11.8%	9.7%
55 to 64	14.8%	11.1%
65 to 74	12.5%	8.7%
75 and over	8.5%	5.9%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Chautauqua County	Jefferson County
White (non-Hispanic)	84.3%	80.8%
Black or African American	2.1%	4.6%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.1%	0.1%
Asian	0.6%	1.8%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.0%	0.2%
Some other race	0.2%	0.3%
Two or more races	3.2%	4.9%
Hispanic or Latino	9.3%	7.3%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Chautauqua County	Jefferson County
No high school diploma	10.0%	8.7%
High school graduate	33.0%	32.1%
Some college or associate's	31.9%	33.5%
Bachelor's degree	13.8%	15.2%
Graduate or professional degree	11.3%	10.5%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Chautauqua County	Jefferson County
Drove alone	76.5%	77.4%
Carpooled	10.1%	8.3%
Public transit	0.5%	0.5%
Walked	3.9%	4.5%
Bicycle	0.4%	0.2%
Worked from home	7.0%	7.4%
Other means	1.6%	1.7%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Chautauqua County	Jefferson County
1-unit, detached	68.9%	56.3%
1-unit, attached	1.6%	6.8%
2 to 4 units	16.1%	15.2%
5 to 19 units	3.6%	5.7%
20 or more units	3.5%	4.6%
Mobile home & other	6.4%	11.4%

Poverty & households

	Chautauqua County	Jefferson County
Poverty rate	17.0%	13.4%
Average household size	2.26	2.38
Mean commute (minutes)	19	20
Median year structure built	1953	1972