Delaware County vs Essex County

A side-by-side comparison of Delaware County and Essex County: population, income, housing, and more.

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

Delaware County has the higher population (44,551 vs 37,077 in Essex County). Essex County has the higher median household income ($70,215 vs $60,226 in Delaware County). Essex County has the higher median home value ($200,000 vs $176,200 in Delaware County).

Population, income & housing

	Delaware County	Essex County
Population	44,551	37,077
Median age	48.8 yrs	49.5 yrs
Median household income	$60,226	$70,215
Median home value	$176,200	$200,000
Median gross rent	$848	$890
Housing units	30,038	25,318
Homeownership rate	76.7%	78.1%
Bachelor's degree or higher	26.7%	31.3%
Unemployment rate	6.4%	5.0%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Delaware County	Essex County
Population	44,995 → 44,551 (-1.0%)	37,459 → 37,077 (-1.0%)
Median household income	$49,544 → $60,226 (+21.6%)	$56,763 → $70,215 (+23.7%)
Median home value	$139,300 → $176,200 (+26.5%)	$153,600 → $200,000 (+30.2%)
Median gross rent	$691 → $848 (+22.7%)	$812 → $890 (+9.6%)

Delaware County

Population

44,99544,551

Median household income

$49,544$60,226

Median home value

$139,300$176,200

Median gross rent

$691$848

Essex County

Population

37,45937,077

Median household income

$56,763$70,215

Median home value

$153,600$200,000

Median gross rent

$812$890

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Delaware County	Essex County
Under 5	4.1%	3.8%
5 to 17	12.2%	12.1%
18 to 24	9.3%	6.2%
25 to 34	9.6%	11.4%
35 to 44	10.5%	11.4%
45 to 54	12.2%	12.5%
55 to 64	16.5%	16.9%
65 to 74	14.8%	15.2%
75 and over	10.8%	10.5%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Delaware County	Essex County
White (non-Hispanic)	89.7%	91.7%
Black or African American	1.5%	2.1%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.1%	0.2%
Asian	0.8%	0.3%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.0%	0.0%
Some other race	0.3%	0.7%
Two or more races	2.8%	2.1%
Hispanic or Latino	4.7%	2.8%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Delaware County	Essex County
No high school diploma	9.6%	8.5%
High school graduate	37.1%	33.1%
Some college or associate's	26.6%	27.1%
Bachelor's degree	14.6%	16.9%
Graduate or professional degree	12.1%	14.4%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Delaware County	Essex County
Drove alone	72.3%	73.0%
Carpooled	7.9%	10.4%
Public transit	0.9%	0.3%
Walked	6.3%	4.3%
Bicycle	0.2%	0.2%
Worked from home	11.4%	11.0%
Other means	1.0%	0.8%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Delaware County	Essex County
1-unit, detached	75.9%	79.4%
1-unit, attached	1.1%	2.0%
2 to 4 units	7.1%	7.0%
5 to 19 units	2.8%	3.7%
20 or more units	0.9%	1.7%
Mobile home & other	12.1%	6.2%

Poverty & households

	Delaware County	Essex County
Poverty rate	14.9%	11.8%
Average household size	2.24	2.18
Mean commute (minutes)	25	23
Median year structure built	1971	1970