Essex County vs Orange County

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

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

Orange County has the higher population (29,594 vs 5,972 in Essex County). Orange County has the higher median household income ($77,328 vs $58,985 in Essex County). Orange County has the higher median home value ($251,000 vs $167,500 in Essex County).

Population, income & housing

	Essex County	Orange County
Population	5,972	29,594
Median age	51.4 yrs	46.9 yrs
Median household income	$58,985	$77,328
Median home value	$167,500	$251,000
Median gross rent	$915	$1,145
Housing units	4,914	15,021
Homeownership rate	83.2%	81.5%
Bachelor's degree or higher	21.2%	36.5%
Unemployment rate	5.6%	2.8%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Essex County	Orange County
Population	6,200 → 5,972 (-3.7%)	28,908 → 29,594 (+2.4%)
Median household income	$44,349 → $58,985 (+33.0%)	$60,925 → $77,328 (+26.9%)
Median home value	$136,600 → $167,500 (+22.6%)	$192,700 → $251,000 (+30.3%)
Median gross rent	$731 → $915 (+25.2%)	$898 → $1,145 (+27.5%)

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

Orange County

Population

28,90829,594

Median household income

$60,925$77,328

Median home value

$192,700$251,000

Median gross rent

$898$1,145

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Essex County	Orange County
Under 5	4.2%	4.2%
5 to 17	13.0%	13.8%
18 to 24	6.6%	7.4%
25 to 34	8.8%	10.9%
35 to 44	9.7%	12.0%
45 to 54	13.7%	12.4%
55 to 64	17.4%	16.5%
65 to 74	15.9%	14.5%
75 and over	10.8%	8.3%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Essex County	Orange County
White (non-Hispanic)	93.5%	93.4%
Black or African American	0.1%	0.4%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.6%	0.1%
Asian	1.0%	0.5%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.0%	0.0%
Some other race	0.0%	0.4%
Two or more races	3.4%	3.5%
Hispanic or Latino	1.5%	1.7%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Essex County	Orange County
No high school diploma	11.5%	5.3%
High school graduate	40.5%	31.7%
Some college or associate's	26.8%	26.6%
Bachelor's degree	12.6%	20.2%
Graduate or professional degree	8.5%	16.4%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Essex County	Orange County
Drove alone	79.9%	71.7%
Carpooled	7.4%	10.1%
Public transit	0.0%	0.3%
Walked	3.2%	3.0%
Bicycle	0.0%	0.1%
Worked from home	8.4%	14.1%
Other means	1.2%	0.7%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Essex County	Orange County
1-unit, detached	83.1%	79.4%
1-unit, attached	0.4%	1.6%
2 to 4 units	4.3%	6.6%
5 to 19 units	1.9%	2.1%
20 or more units	0.5%	1.0%
Mobile home & other	9.8%	9.2%

Poverty & households

	Essex County	Orange County
Poverty rate	14.3%	9.4%
Average household size	2.18	2.27
Mean commute (minutes)	28	26
Median year structure built	1973	1977