Jefferson County vs Wayne County

A side-by-side comparison of Jefferson County and Wayne County: population, income, housing, and more.

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

Wayne County has the higher population (51,189 vs 44,099 in Jefferson County). Wayne County has the higher median household income ($62,182 vs $56,898 in Jefferson County). Wayne County has the higher median home value ($228,200 vs $126,700 in Jefferson County).

Population, income & housing

	Jefferson County	Wayne County
Population	44,099	51,189
Median age	43.7 yrs	48.9 yrs
Median household income	$56,898	$62,182
Median home value	$126,700	$228,200
Median gross rent	$746	$979
Housing units	22,053	32,054
Homeownership rate	74.2%	81.9%
Bachelor's degree or higher	17.5%	21.6%
Unemployment rate	4.7%	6.0%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Jefferson County	Wayne County
Population	43,846 → 44,099 (+0.6%)	51,422 → 51,189 (-0.5%)
Median household income	$47,603 → $56,898 (+19.5%)	$56,096 → $62,182 (+10.8%)
Median home value	$103,900 → $126,700 (+21.9%)	$181,300 → $228,200 (+25.9%)
Median gross rent	$669 → $746 (+11.5%)	$820 → $979 (+19.4%)

Jefferson County

Population

43,84644,099

Median household income

$47,603$56,898

Median home value

$103,900$126,700

Median gross rent

$669$746

Wayne County

Population

51,42251,189

Median household income

$56,096$62,182

Median home value

$181,300$228,200

Median gross rent

$820$979

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Jefferson County	Wayne County
Under 5	5.5%	4.1%
5 to 17	16.0%	12.6%
18 to 24	7.2%	6.3%
25 to 34	11.2%	11.2%
35 to 44	11.4%	11.4%
45 to 54	12.1%	12.8%
55 to 64	15.1%	16.6%
65 to 74	12.7%	15.1%
75 and over	9.0%	9.9%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Jefferson County	Wayne County
White (non-Hispanic)	96.1%	88.3%
Black or African American	0.4%	2.9%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.1%	0.0%
Asian	0.2%	0.7%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.0%	0.1%
Some other race	0.3%	0.3%
Two or more races	2.0%	2.8%
Hispanic or Latino	1.0%	4.9%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Jefferson County	Wayne County
No high school diploma	8.6%	8.6%
High school graduate	51.6%	43.3%
Some college or associate's	22.3%	26.5%
Bachelor's degree	11.8%	12.6%
Graduate or professional degree	5.7%	8.9%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Jefferson County	Wayne County
Drove alone	81.1%	75.7%
Carpooled	7.9%	9.0%
Public transit	0.5%	0.3%
Walked	3.4%	3.3%
Bicycle	0.2%	0.1%
Worked from home	5.1%	10.4%
Other means	1.7%	1.2%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Jefferson County	Wayne County
1-unit, detached	77.7%	84.9%
1-unit, attached	1.3%	0.9%
2 to 4 units	7.4%	4.0%
5 to 19 units	2.9%	1.3%
20 or more units	2.5%	0.6%
Mobile home & other	8.3%	8.4%

Poverty & households

	Jefferson County	Wayne County
Poverty rate	15.3%	12.2%
Average household size	2.38	2.36
Mean commute (minutes)	24	29
Median year structure built	1962	1980