Jefferson County vs Tompkins County

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

Jefferson County and Tompkins 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 102,879 in Tompkins County). Tompkins County has the higher median household income ($73,012 vs $64,978 in Jefferson County). Tompkins County has the higher median home value ($271,500 vs $181,000 in Jefferson County).

Population, income & housing

	Jefferson County	Tompkins County
Population	116,130	102,879
Median age	33.2 yrs	32.8 yrs
Median household income	$64,978	$73,012
Median home value	$181,000	$271,500
Median gross rent	$1,214	$1,374
Housing units	61,721	47,362
Homeownership rate	54.1%	53.8%
Bachelor's degree or higher	25.7%	59.2%
Unemployment rate	6.4%	5.3%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Jefferson County	Tompkins County
Population	112,842 → 116,130 (+2.9%)	102,642 → 102,879 (+0.2%)
Median household income	$52,685 → $64,978 (+23.3%)	$60,240 → $73,012 (+21.2%)
Median home value	$149,900 → $181,000 (+20.7%)	$204,600 → $271,500 (+32.7%)
Median gross rent	$987 → $1,214 (+23.0%)	$1,164 → $1,374 (+18.0%)

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

Tompkins County

Population

102,642102,879

Median household income

$60,240$73,012

Median home value

$204,600$271,500

Median gross rent

$1,164$1,374

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Jefferson County	Tompkins County
Under 5	7.4%	3.6%
5 to 17	16.6%	11.0%
18 to 24	11.8%	25.6%
25 to 34	16.7%	12.0%
35 to 44	12.1%	10.9%
45 to 54	9.7%	9.9%
55 to 64	11.1%	11.0%
65 to 74	8.7%	9.6%
75 and over	5.9%	6.4%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Jefferson County	Tompkins County
White (non-Hispanic)	80.8%	75.0%
Black or African American	4.6%	3.3%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.1%	0.1%
Asian	1.8%	9.5%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.2%	0.0%
Some other race	0.3%	0.8%
Two or more races	4.9%	4.7%
Hispanic or Latino	7.3%	6.5%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Jefferson County	Tompkins County
No high school diploma	8.7%	4.1%
High school graduate	32.1%	16.3%
Some college or associate's	33.5%	20.3%
Bachelor's degree	15.2%	25.2%
Graduate or professional degree	10.5%	34.1%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Jefferson County	Tompkins County
Drove alone	77.4%	53.3%
Carpooled	8.3%	9.1%
Public transit	0.5%	5.4%
Walked	4.5%	10.4%
Bicycle	0.2%	1.5%
Worked from home	7.4%	19.0%
Other means	1.7%	1.4%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Jefferson County	Tompkins County
1-unit, detached	56.3%	49.4%
1-unit, attached	6.8%	3.9%
2 to 4 units	15.2%	15.6%
5 to 19 units	5.7%	12.9%
20 or more units	4.6%	10.7%
Mobile home & other	11.4%	7.5%

Poverty & households

	Jefferson County	Tompkins County
Poverty rate	13.4%	15.3%
Average household size	2.38	2.04
Mean commute (minutes)	20	21
Median year structure built	1972	1974