Essex County vs Lancaster County

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

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

Lancaster County has the higher population (10,876 vs 10,604 in Essex County). Lancaster County has the higher median household income ($67,169 vs $56,481 in Essex County). Lancaster County has the higher median home value ($307,600 vs $228,600 in Essex County).

Population, income & housing

	Essex County	Lancaster County
Population	10,604	10,876
Median age	47.1 yrs	59.1 yrs
Median household income	$56,481	$67,169
Median home value	$228,600	$307,600
Median gross rent	$967	$978
Housing units	5,785	7,483
Homeownership rate	68.9%	79.8%
Bachelor's degree or higher	17.5%	37.4%
Unemployment rate	6.3%	10.0%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Essex County	Lancaster County
Population	10,998 → 10,604 (-3.6%)	10,724 → 10,876 (+1.4%)
Median household income	$51,954 → $56,481 (+8.7%)	$53,711 → $67,169 (+25.1%)
Median home value	$202,800 → $228,600 (+12.7%)	$257,200 → $307,600 (+19.6%)
Median gross rent	$885 → $967 (+9.3%)	$763 → $978 (+28.2%)

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

Lancaster County

Population

10,72410,876

Median household income

$53,711$67,169

Median home value

$257,200$307,600

Median gross rent

$763$978

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Essex County	Lancaster County
Under 5	4.8%	3.1%
5 to 17	13.1%	11.6%
18 to 24	9.1%	4.7%
25 to 34	8.8%	7.5%
35 to 44	11.0%	6.3%
45 to 54	13.1%	10.9%
55 to 64	16.4%	15.9%
65 to 74	14.4%	21.7%
75 and over	9.2%	18.3%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Essex County	Lancaster County
White (non-Hispanic)	53.8%	67.3%
Black or African American	37.4%	27.6%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.1%	0.0%
Asian	0.5%	0.5%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.1%	0.0%
Some other race	0.1%	0.5%
Two or more races	3.7%	2.6%
Hispanic or Latino	4.3%	1.6%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Essex County	Lancaster County
No high school diploma	14.3%	13.0%
High school graduate	39.5%	27.4%
Some college or associate's	28.8%	22.1%
Bachelor's degree	11.1%	21.7%
Graduate or professional degree	6.4%	15.7%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Essex County	Lancaster County
Drove alone	75.4%	79.2%
Carpooled	8.3%	3.9%
Public transit	0.0%	0.4%
Walked	1.9%	0.6%
Bicycle	0.0%	0.2%
Worked from home	11.7%	13.8%
Other means	2.6%	2.0%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Essex County	Lancaster County
1-unit, detached	73.1%	83.7%
1-unit, attached	2.8%	2.3%
2 to 4 units	2.3%	5.7%
5 to 19 units	5.6%	3.1%
20 or more units	2.5%	1.3%
Mobile home & other	13.6%	4.0%

Poverty & households

	Essex County	Lancaster County
Poverty rate	15.5%	13.1%
Average household size	2.38	1.94
Mean commute (minutes)	36	25
Median year structure built	1981	1981