Essex County vs Grand Isle County

A side-by-side comparison of Essex County and Grand Isle County: population, income, housing, and more.

Essex County and Grand Isle County are counties in Vermont. This page compares them across population, income, housing, education, commuting, and how each has changed since 2019.

Grand Isle County has the higher population (7,393 vs 5,972 in Essex County). Grand Isle County has the higher median household income ($90,625 vs $58,985 in Essex County). Grand Isle County has the higher median home value ($363,500 vs $167,500 in Essex County).

Population, income & housing

	Essex County	Grand Isle County
Population	5,972	7,393
Median age	51.4 yrs	48.7 yrs
Median household income	$58,985	$90,625
Median home value	$167,500	$363,500
Median gross rent	$915	$1,436
Housing units	4,914	5,301
Homeownership rate	83.2%	90.9%
Bachelor's degree or higher	21.2%	43.2%
Unemployment rate	5.6%	3.4%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Essex County	Grand Isle County
Population	6,200 → 5,972 (-3.7%)	7,022 → 7,393 (+5.3%)
Median household income	$44,349 → $58,985 (+33.0%)	$71,587 → $90,625 (+26.6%)
Median home value	$136,600 → $167,500 (+22.6%)	$274,800 → $363,500 (+32.3%)
Median gross rent	$731 → $915 (+25.2%)	$997 → $1,436 (+44.0%)

Essex County

Population

6,2005,972

Median household income

$44,349$58,985

Median home value

$136,600$167,500

Median gross rent

$731$915

Grand Isle County

Population

7,0227,393

Median household income

$71,587$90,625

Median home value

$274,800$363,500

Median gross rent

$997$1,436

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Essex County	Grand Isle County
Under 5	4.2%	4.3%
5 to 17	13.0%	12.8%
18 to 24	6.6%	6.1%
25 to 34	8.8%	11.2%
35 to 44	9.7%	11.5%
45 to 54	13.7%	12.3%
55 to 64	17.4%	19.1%
65 to 74	15.9%	15.4%
75 and over	10.8%	7.1%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Essex County	Grand Isle County
White (non-Hispanic)	93.5%	90.6%
Black or African American	0.1%	0.5%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.6%	1.8%
Asian	1.0%	0.4%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.0%	0.0%
Some other race	0.0%	0.5%
Two or more races	3.4%	4.1%
Hispanic or Latino	1.5%	2.1%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Essex County	Grand Isle County
No high school diploma	11.5%	3.3%
High school graduate	40.5%	29.6%
Some college or associate's	26.8%	23.9%
Bachelor's degree	12.6%	25.8%
Graduate or professional degree	8.5%	17.3%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Essex County	Grand Isle County
Drove alone	79.9%	75.1%
Carpooled	7.4%	6.3%
Public transit	0.0%	0.5%
Walked	3.2%	1.5%
Bicycle	0.0%	0.2%
Worked from home	8.4%	16.2%
Other means	1.2%	0.3%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Essex County	Grand Isle County
1-unit, detached	83.1%	83.3%
1-unit, attached	0.4%	0.5%
2 to 4 units	4.3%	2.7%
5 to 19 units	1.9%	0.7%
20 or more units	0.5%	0.1%
Mobile home & other	9.8%	12.6%

Poverty & households

	Essex County	Grand Isle County
Poverty rate	14.3%	7.6%
Average household size	2.18	2.40
Mean commute (minutes)	28	33
Median year structure built	1973	1982