Onondaga County vs Rockland County

A side-by-side comparison of Onondaga County and Rockland County: population, income, housing, and more.

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

Onondaga County has the higher population (471,611 vs 338,936 in Rockland County). Rockland County has the higher median household income ($110,631 vs $74,740 in Onondaga County). Rockland County has the higher median home value ($564,200 vs $185,300 in Onondaga County).

Population, income & housing

	Onondaga County	Rockland County
Population	471,611	338,936
Median age	39.5 yrs	35.1 yrs
Median household income	$74,740	$110,631
Median home value	$185,300	$564,200
Median gross rent	$1,067	$1,826
Housing units	211,683	108,576
Homeownership rate	65.7%	68.3%
Bachelor's degree or higher	38.1%	42.1%
Unemployment rate	5.1%	5.9%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Onondaga County	Rockland County
Population	462,872 → 471,611 (+1.9%)	324,422 → 338,936 (+4.5%)
Median household income	$61,359 → $74,740 (+21.8%)	$93,024 → $110,631 (+18.9%)
Median home value	$145,400 → $185,300 (+27.4%)	$443,400 → $564,200 (+27.2%)
Median gross rent	$872 → $1,067 (+22.4%)	$1,504 → $1,826 (+21.4%)

Onondaga County

Population

462,872471,611

Median household income

$61,359$74,740

Median home value

$145,400$185,300

Median gross rent

$872$1,067

Rockland County

Population

324,422338,936

Median household income

$93,024$110,631

Median home value

$443,400$564,200

Median gross rent

$1,504$1,826

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Onondaga County	Rockland County
Under 5	5.5%	8.5%
5 to 17	15.6%	20.9%
18 to 24	10.0%	9.0%
25 to 34	13.0%	11.5%
35 to 44	12.1%	11.3%
45 to 54	11.6%	11.3%
55 to 64	13.9%	11.8%
65 to 74	10.7%	8.6%
75 and over	7.5%	7.0%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Onondaga County	Rockland County
White (non-Hispanic)	74.6%	60.6%
Black or African American	10.2%	10.5%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.4%	0.1%
Asian	4.0%	5.8%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.0%	0.0%
Some other race	0.4%	0.6%
Two or more races	4.7%	2.3%
Hispanic or Latino	5.7%	20.0%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Onondaga County	Rockland County
No high school diploma	8.3%	12.3%
High school graduate	24.4%	21.6%
Some college or associate's	29.2%	24.0%
Bachelor's degree	21.1%	23.2%
Graduate or professional degree	17.0%	18.9%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Onondaga County	Rockland County
Drove alone	72.9%	66.3%
Carpooled	8.0%	8.6%
Public transit	2.1%	6.3%
Walked	3.7%	3.2%
Bicycle	0.3%	0.0%
Worked from home	11.4%	12.8%
Other means	1.6%	2.8%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Onondaga County	Rockland County
1-unit, detached	63.3%	57.1%
1-unit, attached	3.9%	8.6%
2 to 4 units	13.2%	13.7%
5 to 19 units	9.4%	11.5%
20 or more units	9.0%	8.0%
Mobile home & other	1.3%	1.1%

Poverty & households

	Onondaga County	Rockland County
Poverty rate	13.9%	15.6%
Average household size	2.31	3.22
Mean commute (minutes)	20	30
Median year structure built	1963	1970