Bucks County vs Chester County

A side-by-side comparison of Bucks County and Chester County: population, income, housing, and more.

Bucks County and Chester County are counties in Pennsylvania. This page compares them across population, income, housing, education, commuting, and how each has changed since 2019.

Bucks County has the higher population (645,993 vs 540,896 in Chester County). Chester County has the higher median household income ($123,041 vs $111,951 in Bucks County). Chester County has the higher median home value ($461,800 vs $421,700 in Bucks County).

Population, income & housing

	Bucks County	Chester County
Population	645,993	540,896
Median age	44.1 yrs	40.7 yrs
Median household income	$111,951	$123,041
Median home value	$421,700	$461,800
Median gross rent	$1,537	$1,691
Housing units	256,416	210,730
Homeownership rate	78.0%	74.9%
Bachelor's degree or higher	43.9%	56.6%
Unemployment rate	4.6%	3.8%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Bucks County	Chester County
Population	626,806 → 645,993 (+3.1%)	519,560 → 540,896 (+4.1%)
Median household income	$89,139 → $111,951 (+25.6%)	$100,214 → $123,041 (+22.8%)
Median home value	$330,600 → $421,700 (+27.6%)	$357,100 → $461,800 (+29.3%)
Median gross rent	$1,228 → $1,537 (+25.2%)	$1,330 → $1,691 (+27.1%)

Bucks County

Population

626,806645,993

Median household income

$89,139$111,951

Median home value

$330,600$421,700

Median gross rent

$1,228$1,537

Chester County

Population

519,560540,896

Median household income

$100,214$123,041

Median home value

$357,100$461,800

Median gross rent

$1,330$1,691

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Bucks County	Chester County
Under 5	4.7%	5.4%
5 to 17	15.4%	16.9%
18 to 24	7.7%	9.0%
25 to 34	10.9%	11.4%
35 to 44	12.3%	12.9%
45 to 54	13.2%	13.1%
55 to 64	15.8%	13.9%
65 to 74	11.7%	10.3%
75 and over	8.2%	7.0%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Bucks County	Chester County
White (non-Hispanic)	80.8%	76.3%
Black or African American	3.6%	4.9%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.0%	0.0%
Asian	4.9%	6.4%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.0%	0.0%
Some other race	0.7%	0.4%
Two or more races	3.6%	3.8%
Hispanic or Latino	6.3%	8.2%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Bucks County	Chester County
No high school diploma	5.1%	5.1%
High school graduate	27.5%	19.3%
Some college or associate's	23.4%	19.0%
Bachelor's degree	26.0%	32.9%
Graduate or professional degree	17.9%	23.7%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Bucks County	Chester County
Drove alone	72.0%	66.9%
Carpooled	6.1%	6.6%
Public transit	2.1%	1.4%
Walked	1.2%	1.9%
Bicycle	0.1%	0.1%
Worked from home	17.3%	21.7%
Other means	1.0%	1.4%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Bucks County	Chester County
1-unit, detached	63.9%	60.4%
1-unit, attached	16.0%	19.1%
2 to 4 units	4.7%	4.2%
5 to 19 units	6.8%	7.3%
20 or more units	6.6%	6.8%
Mobile home & other	2.0%	2.2%

Poverty & households

	Bucks County	Chester County
Poverty rate	6.1%	5.9%
Average household size	2.57	2.60
Mean commute (minutes)	30	27
Median year structure built	1975	1983