Cumberland County vs Essex County

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

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

Essex County has the higher population (10,604 vs 9,745 in Cumberland County). Cumberland County has the higher median household income ($57,057 vs $56,481 in Essex County). Essex County has the higher median home value ($228,600 vs $220,100 in Cumberland County).

Population, income & housing

	Cumberland County	Essex County
Population	9,745	10,604
Median age	45.2 yrs	47.1 yrs
Median household income	$57,057	$56,481
Median home value	$220,100	$228,600
Median gross rent	$847	$967
Housing units	4,695	5,785
Homeownership rate	75.4%	68.9%
Bachelor's degree or higher	18.2%	17.5%
Unemployment rate	2.9%	6.3%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Cumberland County	Essex County
Population	9,824 → 9,745 (-0.8%)	10,998 → 10,604 (-3.6%)
Median household income	$47,469 → $57,057 (+20.2%)	$51,954 → $56,481 (+8.7%)
Median home value	$146,000 → $220,100 (+50.8%)	$202,800 → $228,600 (+12.7%)
Median gross rent	$855 → $847 (-0.9%)	$885 → $967 (+9.3%)

Cumberland County

Population

9,8249,745

Median household income

$47,469$57,057

Median home value

$146,000$220,100

Median gross rent

$855$847

Essex County

Population

10,99810,604

Median household income

$51,954$56,481

Median home value

$202,800$228,600

Median gross rent

$885$967

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Cumberland County	Essex County
Under 5	4.7%	4.8%
5 to 17	14.7%	13.1%
18 to 24	5.8%	9.1%
25 to 34	10.9%	8.8%
35 to 44	13.5%	11.0%
45 to 54	11.2%	13.1%
55 to 64	15.8%	16.4%
65 to 74	12.6%	14.4%
75 and over	10.7%	9.2%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Cumberland County	Essex County
White (non-Hispanic)	64.0%	53.8%
Black or African American	28.8%	37.4%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.1%	0.1%
Asian	0.0%	0.5%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.1%	0.1%
Some other race	0.0%	0.1%
Two or more races	5.3%	3.7%
Hispanic or Latino	1.8%	4.3%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Cumberland County	Essex County
No high school diploma	11.4%	14.3%
High school graduate	38.0%	39.5%
Some college or associate's	32.4%	28.8%
Bachelor's degree	9.9%	11.1%
Graduate or professional degree	8.3%	6.4%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Cumberland County	Essex County
Drove alone	82.5%	75.4%
Carpooled	8.1%	8.3%
Public transit	0.0%	0.0%
Walked	1.7%	1.9%
Bicycle	0.0%	0.0%
Worked from home	6.8%	11.7%
Other means	0.9%	2.6%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Cumberland County	Essex County
1-unit, detached	73.1%	73.1%
1-unit, attached	1.7%	2.8%
2 to 4 units	2.1%	2.3%
5 to 19 units	0.0%	5.6%
20 or more units	0.9%	2.5%
Mobile home & other	22.2%	13.6%

Poverty & households

	Cumberland County	Essex County
Poverty rate	7.7%	15.5%
Average household size	2.33	2.38
Mean commute (minutes)	41	36
Median year structure built	1983	1981