Chautauqua County vs Schenectady County

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

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

Schenectady County has the higher population (159,603 vs 126,329 in Chautauqua County). Schenectady County has the higher median household income ($76,989 vs $56,507 in Chautauqua County). Schenectady County has the higher median home value ($223,100 vs $119,300 in Chautauqua County).

Population, income & housing

	Chautauqua County	Schenectady County
Population	126,329	159,603
Median age	42.7 yrs	39.6 yrs
Median household income	$56,507	$76,989
Median home value	$119,300	$223,100
Median gross rent	$797	$1,159
Housing units	66,328	71,051
Homeownership rate	69.1%	63.8%
Bachelor's degree or higher	25.1%	35.1%
Unemployment rate	5.5%	5.8%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Chautauqua County	Schenectady County
Population	128,496 → 126,329 (-1.7%)	154,859 → 159,603 (+3.1%)
Median household income	$46,820 → $56,507 (+20.7%)	$65,499 → $76,989 (+17.5%)
Median home value	$88,000 → $119,300 (+35.6%)	$169,600 → $223,100 (+31.5%)
Median gross rent	$659 → $797 (+20.9%)	$945 → $1,159 (+22.6%)

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

Schenectady County

Population

154,859159,603

Median household income

$65,499$76,989

Median home value

$169,600$223,100

Median gross rent

$945$1,159

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Chautauqua County	Schenectady County
Under 5	5.3%	5.8%
5 to 17	15.4%	15.8%
18 to 24	9.2%	9.5%
25 to 34	11.2%	13.2%
35 to 44	11.2%	12.7%
45 to 54	11.8%	12.1%
55 to 64	14.8%	13.4%
65 to 74	12.5%	10.3%
75 and over	8.5%	7.3%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Chautauqua County	Schenectady County
White (non-Hispanic)	84.3%	68.7%
Black or African American	2.1%	10.1%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.1%	0.1%
Asian	0.6%	4.8%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.0%	0.0%
Some other race	0.2%	1.7%
Two or more races	3.2%	6.5%
Hispanic or Latino	9.3%	8.1%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Chautauqua County	Schenectady County
No high school diploma	10.0%	8.2%
High school graduate	33.0%	26.3%
Some college or associate's	31.9%	30.5%
Bachelor's degree	13.8%	19.4%
Graduate or professional degree	11.3%	15.7%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Chautauqua County	Schenectady County
Drove alone	76.5%	72.2%
Carpooled	10.1%	8.1%
Public transit	0.5%	3.5%
Walked	3.9%	2.8%
Bicycle	0.4%	0.2%
Worked from home	7.0%	12.3%
Other means	1.6%	0.9%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Chautauqua County	Schenectady County
1-unit, detached	68.9%	59.9%
1-unit, attached	1.6%	2.1%
2 to 4 units	16.1%	21.3%
5 to 19 units	3.6%	8.4%
20 or more units	3.5%	7.6%
Mobile home & other	6.4%	0.7%

Poverty & households

	Chautauqua County	Schenectady County
Poverty rate	17.0%	12.5%
Average household size	2.26	2.33
Mean commute (minutes)	19	23
Median year structure built	1953	1955