Erie County vs Richmond County

A side-by-side comparison of Erie County and Richmond County: population, income, housing, and more.

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

Erie County has the higher population (950,044 vs 492,734 in Richmond County). Richmond County has the higher median household income ($98,290 vs $71,175 in Erie County). Richmond County has the higher median home value ($658,500 vs $217,400 in Erie County).

Population, income & housing

	Erie County	Richmond County
Population	950,044	492,734
Median age	40.3 yrs	40.4 yrs
Median household income	$71,175	$98,290
Median home value	$217,400	$658,500
Median gross rent	$1,037	$1,689
Housing units	439,987	184,074
Homeownership rate	65.5%	67.9%
Bachelor's degree or higher	36.9%	35.8%
Unemployment rate	4.8%	5.5%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Erie County	Richmond County
Population	919,355 → 950,044 (+3.3%)	474,893 → 492,734 (+3.8%)
Median household income	$58,121 → $71,175 (+22.5%)	$82,783 → $98,290 (+18.7%)
Median home value	$153,400 → $217,400 (+41.7%)	$504,800 → $658,500 (+30.4%)
Median gross rent	$829 → $1,037 (+25.1%)	$1,319 → $1,689 (+28.1%)

Erie County

Population

919,355950,044

Median household income

$58,121$71,175

Median home value

$153,400$217,400

Median gross rent

$829$1,037

Richmond County

Population

474,893492,734

Median household income

$82,783$98,290

Median home value

$504,800$658,500

Median gross rent

$1,319$1,689

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Erie County	Richmond County
Under 5	5.3%	5.4%
5 to 17	15.0%	16.3%
18 to 24	9.0%	8.1%
25 to 34	13.9%	13.2%
35 to 44	12.2%	12.7%
45 to 54	11.7%	13.3%
55 to 64	14.1%	14.0%
65 to 74	11.1%	10.1%
75 and over	7.7%	6.7%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Erie County	Richmond County
White (non-Hispanic)	73.0%	56.6%
Black or African American	12.3%	9.0%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.3%	0.2%
Asian	4.5%	12.0%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.0%	0.0%
Some other race	0.4%	0.5%
Two or more races	3.2%	2.2%
Hispanic or Latino	6.3%	19.5%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Erie County	Richmond County
No high school diploma	7.6%	11.5%
High school graduate	25.8%	29.4%
Some college or associate's	29.7%	23.4%
Bachelor's degree	20.5%	21.4%
Graduate or professional degree	16.5%	14.3%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Erie County	Richmond County
Drove alone	74.1%	52.7%
Carpooled	7.5%	9.2%
Public transit	3.0%	24.3%
Walked	2.4%	2.7%
Bicycle	0.3%	0.1%
Worked from home	11.4%	9.5%
Other means	1.3%	1.5%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Erie County	Richmond County
1-unit, detached	58.8%	34.5%
1-unit, attached	3.3%	25.6%
2 to 4 units	23.1%	26.3%
5 to 19 units	6.8%	3.4%
20 or more units	6.5%	9.9%
Mobile home & other	1.6%	0.3%

Poverty & households

	Erie County	Richmond County
Poverty rate	14.0%	10.9%
Average household size	2.26	2.86
Mean commute (minutes)	21	43
Median year structure built	1957	1974