Jefferson County vs Ontario County

A side-by-side comparison of Jefferson County and Ontario County: population, income, housing, and more.

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

Jefferson County has the higher population (116,130 vs 112,405 in Ontario County). Ontario County has the higher median household income ($79,814 vs $64,978 in Jefferson County). Ontario County has the higher median home value ($202,900 vs $181,000 in Jefferson County).

Population, income & housing

	Jefferson County	Ontario County
Population	116,130	112,405
Median age	33.2 yrs	43.9 yrs
Median household income	$64,978	$79,814
Median home value	$181,000	$202,900
Median gross rent	$1,214	$1,126
Housing units	61,721	53,001
Homeownership rate	54.1%	72.8%
Bachelor's degree or higher	25.7%	37.2%
Unemployment rate	6.4%	4.0%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Jefferson County	Ontario County
Population	112,842 → 116,130 (+2.9%)	109,511 → 112,405 (+2.6%)
Median household income	$52,685 → $64,978 (+23.3%)	$64,944 → $79,814 (+22.9%)
Median home value	$149,900 → $181,000 (+20.7%)	$161,800 → $202,900 (+25.4%)
Median gross rent	$987 → $1,214 (+23.0%)	$896 → $1,126 (+25.7%)

Jefferson County

Population

112,842116,130

Median household income

$52,685$64,978

Median home value

$149,900$181,000

Median gross rent

$987$1,214

Ontario County

Population

109,511112,405

Median household income

$64,944$79,814

Median home value

$161,800$202,900

Median gross rent

$896$1,126

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Jefferson County	Ontario County
Under 5	7.4%	4.6%
5 to 17	16.6%	14.8%
18 to 24	11.8%	8.9%
25 to 34	16.7%	11.0%
35 to 44	12.1%	11.5%
45 to 54	9.7%	12.5%
55 to 64	11.1%	15.2%
65 to 74	8.7%	12.8%
75 and over	5.9%	8.8%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Jefferson County	Ontario County
White (non-Hispanic)	80.8%	87.4%
Black or African American	4.6%	2.0%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.1%	0.0%
Asian	1.8%	1.3%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.2%	0.0%
Some other race	0.3%	0.3%
Two or more races	4.9%	3.3%
Hispanic or Latino	7.3%	5.6%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Jefferson County	Ontario County
No high school diploma	8.7%	6.7%
High school graduate	32.1%	25.9%
Some college or associate's	33.5%	30.3%
Bachelor's degree	15.2%	20.1%
Graduate or professional degree	10.5%	17.1%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Jefferson County	Ontario County
Drove alone	77.4%	76.7%
Carpooled	8.3%	6.8%
Public transit	0.5%	0.3%
Walked	4.5%	3.3%
Bicycle	0.2%	0.4%
Worked from home	7.4%	11.5%
Other means	1.7%	1.0%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Jefferson County	Ontario County
1-unit, detached	56.3%	66.1%
1-unit, attached	6.8%	5.8%
2 to 4 units	15.2%	9.9%
5 to 19 units	5.7%	6.2%
20 or more units	4.6%	4.7%
Mobile home & other	11.4%	7.4%

Poverty & households

	Jefferson County	Ontario County
Poverty rate	13.4%	9.2%
Average household size	2.38	2.27
Mean commute (minutes)	20	22
Median year structure built	1972	1975