Chautauqua County vs Rensselaer County

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

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

Rensselaer County has the higher population (160,341 vs 126,329 in Chautauqua County). Rensselaer County has the higher median household income ($86,663 vs $56,507 in Chautauqua County). Rensselaer County has the higher median home value ($244,300 vs $119,300 in Chautauqua County).

Population, income & housing

	Chautauqua County	Rensselaer County
Population	126,329	160,341
Median age	42.7 yrs	40.2 yrs
Median household income	$56,507	$86,663
Median home value	$119,300	$244,300
Median gross rent	$797	$1,182
Housing units	66,328	74,388
Homeownership rate	69.1%	64.1%
Bachelor's degree or higher	25.1%	37.3%
Unemployment rate	5.5%	5.6%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Chautauqua County	Rensselaer County
Population	128,496 → 126,329 (-1.7%)	159,185 → 160,341 (+0.7%)
Median household income	$46,820 → $56,507 (+20.7%)	$68,991 → $86,663 (+25.6%)
Median home value	$88,000 → $119,300 (+35.6%)	$188,700 → $244,300 (+29.5%)
Median gross rent	$659 → $797 (+20.9%)	$973 → $1,182 (+21.5%)

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

Rensselaer County

Population

159,185160,341

Median household income

$68,991$86,663

Median home value

$188,700$244,300

Median gross rent

$973$1,182

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Chautauqua County	Rensselaer County
Under 5	5.3%	4.9%
5 to 17	15.4%	14.3%
18 to 24	9.2%	10.0%
25 to 34	11.2%	13.8%
35 to 44	11.2%	12.8%
45 to 54	11.8%	12.0%
55 to 64	14.8%	14.2%
65 to 74	12.5%	10.9%
75 and over	8.5%	6.9%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Chautauqua County	Rensselaer County
White (non-Hispanic)	84.3%	79.8%
Black or African American	2.1%	6.3%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.1%	0.0%
Asian	0.6%	3.1%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.0%	0.0%
Some other race	0.2%	0.4%
Two or more races	3.2%	4.4%
Hispanic or Latino	9.3%	5.9%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Chautauqua County	Rensselaer County
No high school diploma	10.0%	7.3%
High school graduate	33.0%	25.5%
Some college or associate's	31.9%	30.0%
Bachelor's degree	13.8%	21.5%
Graduate or professional degree	11.3%	15.8%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Chautauqua County	Rensselaer County
Drove alone	76.5%	72.6%
Carpooled	10.1%	7.2%
Public transit	0.5%	2.4%
Walked	3.9%	3.7%
Bicycle	0.4%	0.2%
Worked from home	7.0%	12.5%
Other means	1.6%	1.4%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Chautauqua County	Rensselaer County
1-unit, detached	68.9%	55.7%
1-unit, attached	1.6%	3.7%
2 to 4 units	16.1%	22.3%
5 to 19 units	3.6%	8.5%
20 or more units	3.5%	7.0%
Mobile home & other	6.4%	2.7%

Poverty & households

	Chautauqua County	Rensselaer County
Poverty rate	17.0%	11.8%
Average household size	2.26	2.32
Mean commute (minutes)	19	24
Median year structure built	1953	1962