Lehigh County vs Northampton County

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

Lehigh 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.

Lehigh County has the higher population (375,408 vs 315,927 in Northampton County). Northampton County has the higher median household income ($86,687 vs $77,493 in Lehigh County). Northampton County has the higher median home value ($285,000 vs $276,100 in Lehigh County).

Population, income & housing

	Lehigh County	Northampton County
Population	375,408	315,927
Median age	39.3 yrs	42.0 yrs
Median household income	$77,493	$86,687
Median home value	$276,100	$285,000
Median gross rent	$1,326	$1,335
Housing units	150,547	128,612
Homeownership rate	65.2%	71.1%
Bachelor's degree or higher	33.4%	33.8%
Unemployment rate	5.5%	4.8%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Lehigh County	Northampton County
Population	365,052 → 375,408 (+2.8%)	302,809 → 315,927 (+4.3%)
Median household income	$63,897 → $77,493 (+21.3%)	$70,471 → $86,687 (+23.0%)
Median home value	$208,200 → $276,100 (+32.6%)	$219,800 → $285,000 (+29.7%)
Median gross rent	$1,072 → $1,326 (+23.7%)	$1,078 → $1,335 (+23.8%)

Lehigh County

Population

365,052375,408

Median household income

$63,897$77,493

Median home value

$208,200$276,100

Median gross rent

$1,072$1,326

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)

	Lehigh County	Northampton County
Under 5	5.8%	4.7%
5 to 17	16.7%	14.8%
18 to 24	8.8%	10.3%
25 to 34	13.0%	11.9%
35 to 44	13.0%	12.0%
45 to 54	12.3%	12.4%
55 to 64	13.1%	14.1%
65 to 74	10.1%	11.3%
75 and over	7.2%	8.6%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Lehigh County	Northampton County
White (non-Hispanic)	60.4%	73.1%
Black or African American	6.0%	5.3%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.1%	0.0%
Asian	3.5%	3.0%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.0%	0.0%
Some other race	0.5%	0.6%
Two or more races	2.6%	3.1%
Hispanic or Latino	27.0%	14.9%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Lehigh County	Northampton County
No high school diploma	9.7%	7.3%
High school graduate	32.2%	32.9%
Some college or associate's	24.8%	26.0%
Bachelor's degree	20.7%	20.6%
Graduate or professional degree	12.6%	13.2%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Lehigh County	Northampton County
Drove alone	75.1%	76.0%
Carpooled	7.4%	6.4%
Public transit	1.5%	1.1%
Walked	2.2%	2.0%
Bicycle	0.1%	0.2%
Worked from home	12.1%	12.6%
Other means	1.6%	1.6%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Lehigh County	Northampton County
1-unit, detached	49.6%	58.5%
1-unit, attached	24.4%	19.8%
2 to 4 units	8.6%	8.8%
5 to 19 units	9.3%	5.7%
20 or more units	6.3%	5.0%
Mobile home & other	1.9%	2.3%

Poverty & households

	Lehigh County	Northampton County
Poverty rate	11.9%	8.8%
Average household size	2.55	2.50
Mean commute (minutes)	25	27
Median year structure built	1968	1970