Erie County vs Suffolk County

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

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

Suffolk County has the higher population (1,525,680 vs 950,044 in Erie County). Suffolk County has the higher median household income ($128,329 vs $71,175 in Erie County). Suffolk County has the higher median home value ($539,500 vs $217,400 in Erie County).

Population, income & housing

	Erie County	Suffolk County
Population	950,044	1,525,680
Median age	40.3 yrs	41.7 yrs
Median household income	$71,175	$128,329
Median home value	$217,400	$539,500
Median gross rent	$1,037	$2,190
Housing units	439,987	579,790
Homeownership rate	65.5%	81.9%
Bachelor's degree or higher	36.9%	39.9%
Unemployment rate	4.8%	4.6%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Erie County	Suffolk County
Population	919,355 → 950,044 (+3.3%)	1,483,832 → 1,525,680 (+2.8%)
Median household income	$58,121 → $71,175 (+22.5%)	$101,031 → $128,329 (+27.0%)
Median home value	$153,400 → $217,400 (+41.7%)	$397,400 → $539,500 (+35.8%)
Median gross rent	$829 → $1,037 (+25.1%)	$1,742 → $2,190 (+25.7%)

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

Suffolk County

Population

1,483,8321,525,680

Median household income

$101,031$128,329

Median home value

$397,400$539,500

Median gross rent

$1,742$2,190

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Erie County	Suffolk County
Under 5	5.3%	5.3%
5 to 17	15.0%	15.6%
18 to 24	9.0%	8.9%
25 to 34	13.9%	12.1%
35 to 44	12.2%	12.0%
45 to 54	11.7%	13.6%
55 to 64	14.1%	15.0%
65 to 74	11.1%	10.1%
75 and over	7.7%	7.4%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Erie County	Suffolk County
White (non-Hispanic)	73.0%	63.2%
Black or African American	12.3%	6.8%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.3%	0.2%
Asian	4.5%	4.2%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.0%	0.0%
Some other race	0.4%	0.7%
Two or more races	3.2%	2.7%
Hispanic or Latino	6.3%	22.2%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Erie County	Suffolk County
No high school diploma	7.6%	9.5%
High school graduate	25.8%	24.8%
Some college or associate's	29.7%	25.8%
Bachelor's degree	20.5%	21.5%
Graduate or professional degree	16.5%	18.4%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Erie County	Suffolk County
Drove alone	74.1%	73.4%
Carpooled	7.5%	7.4%
Public transit	3.0%	5.2%
Walked	2.4%	1.3%
Bicycle	0.3%	0.2%
Worked from home	11.4%	10.7%
Other means	1.3%	1.7%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Erie County	Suffolk County
1-unit, detached	58.8%	79.9%
1-unit, attached	3.3%	5.8%
2 to 4 units	23.1%	4.7%
5 to 19 units	6.8%	4.8%
20 or more units	6.5%	3.5%
Mobile home & other	1.6%	1.3%

Poverty & households

	Erie County	Suffolk County
Poverty rate	14.0%	6.4%
Average household size	2.26	2.92
Mean commute (minutes)	21	32
Median year structure built	1957	1970