Oswego County vs Schenectady County

A side-by-side comparison of Oswego County and Schenectady County: population, income, housing, and more.

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

Schenectady County has the higher population (159,603 vs 117,945 in Oswego County). Schenectady County has the higher median household income ($76,989 vs $68,461 in Oswego County). Schenectady County has the higher median home value ($223,100 vs $139,600 in Oswego County).

Population, income & housing

	Oswego County	Schenectady County
Population	117,945	159,603
Median age	40.6 yrs	39.6 yrs
Median household income	$68,461	$76,989
Median home value	$139,600	$223,100
Median gross rent	$943	$1,159
Housing units	54,697	71,051
Homeownership rate	73.9%	63.8%
Bachelor's degree or higher	21.9%	35.1%
Unemployment rate	6.9%	5.8%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Oswego County	Schenectady County
Population	118,339 → 117,945 (-0.3%)	154,859 → 159,603 (+3.1%)
Median household income	$55,967 → $68,461 (+22.3%)	$65,499 → $76,989 (+17.5%)
Median home value	$104,600 → $139,600 (+33.5%)	$169,600 → $223,100 (+31.5%)
Median gross rent	$777 → $943 (+21.4%)	$945 → $1,159 (+22.6%)

Oswego County

Population

118,339117,945

Median household income

$55,967$68,461

Median home value

$104,600$139,600

Median gross rent

$777$943

Schenectady County

Population

154,859159,603

Median household income

$65,499$76,989

Median home value

$169,600$223,100

Median gross rent

$945$1,159

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Oswego County	Schenectady County
Under 5	5.3%	5.8%
5 to 17	15.5%	15.8%
18 to 24	11.2%	9.5%
25 to 34	11.8%	13.2%
35 to 44	11.4%	12.7%
45 to 54	12.2%	12.1%
55 to 64	15.2%	13.4%
65 to 74	10.8%	10.3%
75 and over	6.6%	7.3%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Oswego County	Schenectady County
White (non-Hispanic)	91.6%	68.7%
Black or African American	1.0%	10.1%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.1%	0.1%
Asian	0.8%	4.8%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.0%	0.0%
Some other race	0.3%	1.7%
Two or more races	3.0%	6.5%
Hispanic or Latino	3.2%	8.1%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Oswego County	Schenectady County
No high school diploma	10.0%	8.2%
High school graduate	36.7%	26.3%
Some college or associate's	31.4%	30.5%
Bachelor's degree	13.4%	19.4%
Graduate or professional degree	8.5%	15.7%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Oswego County	Schenectady County
Drove alone	78.8%	72.2%
Carpooled	7.5%	8.1%
Public transit	0.6%	3.5%
Walked	3.1%	2.8%
Bicycle	0.0%	0.2%
Worked from home	7.8%	12.3%
Other means	2.2%	0.9%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Oswego County	Schenectady County
1-unit, detached	69.0%	59.9%
1-unit, attached	1.8%	2.1%
2 to 4 units	9.7%	21.3%
5 to 19 units	4.2%	8.4%
20 or more units	2.9%	7.6%
Mobile home & other	12.4%	0.7%

Poverty & households

	Oswego County	Schenectady County
Poverty rate	16.5%	12.5%
Average household size	2.40	2.33
Mean commute (minutes)	25	23
Median year structure built	1971	1955