Chautauqua County vs Ontario County

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

Chautauqua County and Ontario 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 112,405 in Ontario County). Ontario County has the higher median household income ($79,814 vs $56,507 in Chautauqua County). Ontario County has the higher median home value ($202,900 vs $119,300 in Chautauqua County).

Population, income & housing

	Chautauqua County	Ontario County
Population	126,329	112,405
Median age	42.7 yrs	43.9 yrs
Median household income	$56,507	$79,814
Median home value	$119,300	$202,900
Median gross rent	$797	$1,126
Housing units	66,328	53,001
Homeownership rate	69.1%	72.8%
Bachelor's degree or higher	25.1%	37.2%
Unemployment rate	5.5%	4.0%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Chautauqua County	Ontario County
Population	128,496 → 126,329 (-1.7%)	109,511 → 112,405 (+2.6%)
Median household income	$46,820 → $56,507 (+20.7%)	$64,944 → $79,814 (+22.9%)
Median home value	$88,000 → $119,300 (+35.6%)	$161,800 → $202,900 (+25.4%)
Median gross rent	$659 → $797 (+20.9%)	$896 → $1,126 (+25.7%)

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

Ontario County

Population

109,511112,405

Median household income

$64,944$79,814

Median home value

$161,800$202,900

Median gross rent

$896$1,126

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Chautauqua County	Ontario County
Under 5	5.3%	4.6%
5 to 17	15.4%	14.8%
18 to 24	9.2%	8.9%
25 to 34	11.2%	11.0%
35 to 44	11.2%	11.5%
45 to 54	11.8%	12.5%
55 to 64	14.8%	15.2%
65 to 74	12.5%	12.8%
75 and over	8.5%	8.8%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Chautauqua County	Ontario County
White (non-Hispanic)	84.3%	87.4%
Black or African American	2.1%	2.0%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.1%	0.0%
Asian	0.6%	1.3%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.0%	0.0%
Some other race	0.2%	0.3%
Two or more races	3.2%	3.3%
Hispanic or Latino	9.3%	5.6%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Chautauqua County	Ontario County
No high school diploma	10.0%	6.7%
High school graduate	33.0%	25.9%
Some college or associate's	31.9%	30.3%
Bachelor's degree	13.8%	20.1%
Graduate or professional degree	11.3%	17.1%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Chautauqua County	Ontario County
Drove alone	76.5%	76.7%
Carpooled	10.1%	6.8%
Public transit	0.5%	0.3%
Walked	3.9%	3.3%
Bicycle	0.4%	0.4%
Worked from home	7.0%	11.5%
Other means	1.6%	1.0%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Chautauqua County	Ontario County
1-unit, detached	68.9%	66.1%
1-unit, attached	1.6%	5.8%
2 to 4 units	16.1%	9.9%
5 to 19 units	3.6%	6.2%
20 or more units	3.5%	4.7%
Mobile home & other	6.4%	7.4%

Poverty & households

	Chautauqua County	Ontario County
Poverty rate	17.0%	9.2%
Average household size	2.26	2.27
Mean commute (minutes)	19	22
Median year structure built	1953	1975