Monroe County vs Orange County

A side-by-side comparison of Monroe County and Orange County: population, income, housing, and more.

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

Monroe County has the higher population (754,068 vs 403,840 in Orange County). Orange County has the higher median household income ($96,497 vs $74,409 in Monroe County). Orange County has the higher median home value ($361,100 vs $197,100 in Monroe County).

Population, income & housing

	Monroe County	Orange County
Population	754,068	403,840
Median age	39.5 yrs	36.9 yrs
Median household income	$74,409	$96,497
Median home value	$197,100	$361,100
Median gross rent	$1,126	$1,602
Housing units	337,688	148,460
Homeownership rate	63.5%	68.4%
Bachelor's degree or higher	41.2%	32.2%
Unemployment rate	5.1%	5.4%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Monroe County	Orange County
Population	743,341 → 754,068 (+1.4%)	380,085 → 403,840 (+6.2%)
Median household income	$60,075 → $74,409 (+23.9%)	$79,944 → $96,497 (+20.7%)
Median home value	$148,400 → $197,100 (+32.8%)	$271,200 → $361,100 (+33.1%)
Median gross rent	$927 → $1,126 (+21.5%)	$1,259 → $1,602 (+27.2%)

Monroe County

Population

743,341754,068

Median household income

$60,075$74,409

Median home value

$148,400$197,100

Median gross rent

$927$1,126

Orange County

Population

380,085403,840

Median household income

$79,944$96,497

Median home value

$271,200$361,100

Median gross rent

$1,259$1,602

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Monroe County	Orange County
Under 5	5.3%	6.7%
5 to 17	15.3%	19.0%
18 to 24	9.7%	10.3%
25 to 34	13.8%	11.9%
35 to 44	12.3%	12.3%
45 to 54	11.7%	12.8%
55 to 64	13.7%	12.8%
65 to 74	10.7%	8.6%
75 and over	7.6%	5.7%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Monroe County	Orange County
White (non-Hispanic)	68.4%	59.2%
Black or African American	13.8%	10.5%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.1%	0.1%
Asian	3.7%	2.8%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.0%	0.0%
Some other race	0.4%	0.6%
Two or more races	3.9%	3.5%
Hispanic or Latino	9.8%	23.2%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Monroe County	Orange County
No high school diploma	8.2%	10.3%
High school graduate	22.9%	28.0%
Some college or associate's	27.7%	29.4%
Bachelor's degree	22.8%	18.2%
Graduate or professional degree	18.4%	14.1%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Monroe County	Orange County
Drove alone	72.9%	69.0%
Carpooled	7.6%	9.5%
Public transit	1.8%	4.4%
Walked	2.4%	3.7%
Bicycle	0.4%	0.1%
Worked from home	13.7%	11.5%
Other means	1.2%	1.9%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Monroe County	Orange County
1-unit, detached	62.1%	62.4%
1-unit, attached	6.4%	6.8%
2 to 4 units	12.9%	11.7%
5 to 19 units	9.2%	10.7%
20 or more units	8.4%	6.5%
Mobile home & other	0.9%	1.9%

Poverty & households

	Monroe County	Orange County
Poverty rate	13.1%	13.0%
Average household size	2.30	2.86
Mean commute (minutes)	20	34
Median year structure built	1965	1975