Dauphin County vs Northampton County

A side-by-side comparison of Dauphin County and Northampton County: population, income, housing, and more.

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

Northampton County has the higher population (315,927 vs 287,484 in Dauphin County). Northampton County has the higher median household income ($86,687 vs $74,159 in Dauphin County). Northampton County has the higher median home value ($285,000 vs $222,300 in Dauphin County).

Population, income & housing

	Dauphin County	Northampton County
Population	287,484	315,927
Median age	39.4 yrs	42.0 yrs
Median household income	$74,159	$86,687
Median home value	$222,300	$285,000
Median gross rent	$1,153	$1,335
Housing units	127,259	128,612
Homeownership rate	63.3%	71.1%
Bachelor's degree or higher	34.3%	33.8%
Unemployment rate	4.3%	4.8%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Dauphin County	Northampton County
Population	275,632 → 287,484 (+4.3%)	302,809 → 315,927 (+4.3%)
Median household income	$60,715 → $74,159 (+22.1%)	$70,471 → $86,687 (+23.0%)
Median home value	$167,900 → $222,300 (+32.4%)	$219,800 → $285,000 (+29.7%)
Median gross rent	$949 → $1,153 (+21.5%)	$1,078 → $1,335 (+23.8%)

Dauphin County

Population

275,632287,484

Median household income

$60,715$74,159

Median home value

$167,900$222,300

Median gross rent

$949$1,153

Northampton County

Population

302,809315,927

Median household income

$70,471$86,687

Median home value

$219,800$285,000

Median gross rent

$1,078$1,335

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Dauphin County	Northampton County
Under 5	6.0%	4.7%
5 to 17	16.5%	14.8%
18 to 24	8.2%	10.3%
25 to 34	13.8%	11.9%
35 to 44	12.3%	12.0%
45 to 54	12.2%	12.4%
55 to 64	13.3%	14.1%
65 to 74	10.7%	11.3%
75 and over	7.0%	8.6%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Dauphin County	Northampton County
White (non-Hispanic)	61.7%	73.1%
Black or African American	16.7%	5.3%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.1%	0.0%
Asian	6.1%	3.0%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.0%	0.0%
Some other race	0.5%	0.6%
Two or more races	3.6%	3.1%
Hispanic or Latino	11.3%	14.9%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Dauphin County	Northampton County
No high school diploma	8.5%	7.3%
High school graduate	32.1%	32.9%
Some college or associate's	25.1%	26.0%
Bachelor's degree	21.9%	20.6%
Graduate or professional degree	12.4%	13.2%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Dauphin County	Northampton County
Drove alone	70.8%	76.0%
Carpooled	8.3%	6.4%
Public transit	1.4%	1.1%
Walked	2.8%	2.0%
Bicycle	0.2%	0.2%
Worked from home	14.8%	12.6%
Other means	1.8%	1.6%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Dauphin County	Northampton County
1-unit, detached	49.7%	58.5%
1-unit, attached	22.4%	19.8%
2 to 4 units	8.3%	8.8%
5 to 19 units	10.4%	5.7%
20 or more units	6.5%	5.0%
Mobile home & other	2.7%	2.3%

Poverty & households

	Dauphin County	Northampton County
Poverty rate	12.3%	8.8%
Average household size	2.35	2.50
Mean commute (minutes)	22	27
Median year structure built	1970	1970