Oswego County vs Tompkins County

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

Oswego 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.

Oswego County has the higher population (117,945 vs 102,879 in Tompkins County). Tompkins County has the higher median household income ($73,012 vs $68,461 in Oswego County). Tompkins County has the higher median home value ($271,500 vs $139,600 in Oswego County).

Population, income & housing

	Oswego County	Tompkins County
Population	117,945	102,879
Median age	40.6 yrs	32.8 yrs
Median household income	$68,461	$73,012
Median home value	$139,600	$271,500
Median gross rent	$943	$1,374
Housing units	54,697	47,362
Homeownership rate	73.9%	53.8%
Bachelor's degree or higher	21.9%	59.2%
Unemployment rate	6.9%	5.3%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Oswego County	Tompkins County
Population	118,339 → 117,945 (-0.3%)	102,642 → 102,879 (+0.2%)
Median household income	$55,967 → $68,461 (+22.3%)	$60,240 → $73,012 (+21.2%)
Median home value	$104,600 → $139,600 (+33.5%)	$204,600 → $271,500 (+32.7%)
Median gross rent	$777 → $943 (+21.4%)	$1,164 → $1,374 (+18.0%)

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

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)

	Oswego County	Tompkins County
Under 5	5.3%	3.6%
5 to 17	15.5%	11.0%
18 to 24	11.2%	25.6%
25 to 34	11.8%	12.0%
35 to 44	11.4%	10.9%
45 to 54	12.2%	9.9%
55 to 64	15.2%	11.0%
65 to 74	10.8%	9.6%
75 and over	6.6%	6.4%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Oswego County	Tompkins County
White (non-Hispanic)	91.6%	75.0%
Black or African American	1.0%	3.3%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.1%	0.1%
Asian	0.8%	9.5%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.0%	0.0%
Some other race	0.3%	0.8%
Two or more races	3.0%	4.7%
Hispanic or Latino	3.2%	6.5%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Oswego County	Tompkins County
No high school diploma	10.0%	4.1%
High school graduate	36.7%	16.3%
Some college or associate's	31.4%	20.3%
Bachelor's degree	13.4%	25.2%
Graduate or professional degree	8.5%	34.1%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Oswego County	Tompkins County
Drove alone	78.8%	53.3%
Carpooled	7.5%	9.1%
Public transit	0.6%	5.4%
Walked	3.1%	10.4%
Bicycle	0.0%	1.5%
Worked from home	7.8%	19.0%
Other means	2.2%	1.4%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Oswego County	Tompkins County
1-unit, detached	69.0%	49.4%
1-unit, attached	1.8%	3.9%
2 to 4 units	9.7%	15.6%
5 to 19 units	4.2%	12.9%
20 or more units	2.9%	10.7%
Mobile home & other	12.4%	7.5%

Poverty & households

	Oswego County	Tompkins County
Poverty rate	16.5%	15.3%
Average household size	2.40	2.04
Mean commute (minutes)	25	21
Median year structure built	1971	1974