Luzerne County vs Northampton County

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

Luzerne 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.

Luzerne County has the higher population (325,978 vs 315,927 in Northampton County). Northampton County has the higher median household income ($86,687 vs $62,321 in Luzerne County). Northampton County has the higher median home value ($285,000 vs $163,800 in Luzerne County).

Population, income & housing

	Luzerne County	Northampton County
Population	325,978	315,927
Median age	42.1 yrs	42.0 yrs
Median household income	$62,321	$86,687
Median home value	$163,800	$285,000
Median gross rent	$958	$1,335
Housing units	151,012	128,612
Homeownership rate	67.8%	71.1%
Bachelor's degree or higher	25.0%	33.8%
Unemployment rate	5.7%	4.8%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Luzerne County	Northampton County
Population	317,663 → 325,978 (+2.6%)	302,809 → 315,927 (+4.3%)
Median household income	$53,473 → $62,321 (+16.5%)	$70,471 → $86,687 (+23.0%)
Median home value	$127,000 → $163,800 (+29.0%)	$219,800 → $285,000 (+29.7%)
Median gross rent	$785 → $958 (+22.0%)	$1,078 → $1,335 (+23.8%)

Luzerne County

Population

317,663325,978

Median household income

$53,473$62,321

Median home value

$127,000$163,800

Median gross rent

$785$958

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)

	Luzerne County	Northampton County
Under 5	5.3%	4.7%
5 to 17	15.0%	14.8%
18 to 24	8.5%	10.3%
25 to 34	12.6%	11.9%
35 to 44	12.0%	12.0%
45 to 54	12.7%	12.4%
55 to 64	14.0%	14.1%
65 to 74	11.5%	11.3%
75 and over	8.4%	8.6%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Luzerne County	Northampton County
White (non-Hispanic)	75.9%	73.1%
Black or African American	4.1%	5.3%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.0%	0.0%
Asian	1.1%	3.0%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.1%	0.0%
Some other race	0.2%	0.6%
Two or more races	2.6%	3.1%
Hispanic or Latino	15.9%	14.9%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Luzerne County	Northampton County
No high school diploma	9.3%	7.3%
High school graduate	37.1%	32.9%
Some college or associate's	28.6%	26.0%
Bachelor's degree	15.3%	20.6%
Graduate or professional degree	9.6%	13.2%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Luzerne County	Northampton County
Drove alone	76.0%	76.0%
Carpooled	10.1%	6.4%
Public transit	0.7%	1.1%
Walked	2.6%	2.0%
Bicycle	0.1%	0.2%
Worked from home	9.3%	12.6%
Other means	1.2%	1.6%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Luzerne County	Northampton County
1-unit, detached	64.1%	58.5%
1-unit, attached	13.5%	19.8%
2 to 4 units	11.0%	8.8%
5 to 19 units	3.8%	5.7%
20 or more units	4.4%	5.0%
Mobile home & other	3.1%	2.3%

Poverty & households

	Luzerne County	Northampton County
Poverty rate	15.4%	8.8%
Average household size	2.36	2.50
Mean commute (minutes)	24	27
Median year structure built	1959	1970