Essex County vs Richmond County

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

Essex County and Richmond 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 9,047 in Richmond County). Richmond County has the higher median household income ($64,184 vs $56,481 in Essex County). Essex County has the higher median home value ($228,600 vs $214,200 in Richmond County).

Population, income & housing

	Essex County	Richmond County
Population	10,604	9,047
Median age	47.1 yrs	46.1 yrs
Median household income	$56,481	$64,184
Median home value	$228,600	$214,200
Median gross rent	$967	$1,011
Housing units	5,785	3,959
Homeownership rate	68.9%	70.5%
Bachelor's degree or higher	17.5%	17.4%
Unemployment rate	6.3%	2.9%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Essex County	Richmond County
Population	10,998 → 10,604 (-3.6%)	8,884 → 9,047 (+1.8%)
Median household income	$51,954 → $56,481 (+8.7%)	$49,517 → $64,184 (+29.6%)
Median home value	$202,800 → $228,600 (+12.7%)	$180,300 → $214,200 (+18.8%)
Median gross rent	$885 → $967 (+9.3%)	$797 → $1,011 (+26.9%)

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

Richmond County

Population

8,8849,047

Median household income

$49,517$64,184

Median home value

$180,300$214,200

Median gross rent

$797$1,011

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Essex County	Richmond County
Under 5	4.8%	5.2%
5 to 17	13.1%	12.4%
18 to 24	9.1%	6.7%
25 to 34	8.8%	11.6%
35 to 44	11.0%	13.1%
45 to 54	13.1%	16.3%
55 to 64	16.4%	14.5%
65 to 74	14.4%	11.8%
75 and over	9.2%	8.4%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Essex County	Richmond County
White (non-Hispanic)	53.8%	60.4%
Black or African American	37.4%	27.9%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.1%	0.4%
Asian	0.5%	0.0%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.1%	0.0%
Some other race	0.1%	0.2%
Two or more races	3.7%	3.8%
Hispanic or Latino	4.3%	7.2%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Essex County	Richmond County
No high school diploma	14.3%	22.9%
High school graduate	39.5%	36.6%
Some college or associate's	28.8%	23.1%
Bachelor's degree	11.1%	11.9%
Graduate or professional degree	6.4%	5.5%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Essex County	Richmond County
Drove alone	75.4%	73.6%
Carpooled	8.3%	7.2%
Public transit	0.0%	0.8%
Walked	1.9%	0.0%
Bicycle	0.0%	0.0%
Worked from home	11.7%	17.6%
Other means	2.6%	0.8%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Essex County	Richmond County
1-unit, detached	73.1%	80.5%
1-unit, attached	2.8%	0.3%
2 to 4 units	2.3%	5.3%
5 to 19 units	5.6%	2.0%
20 or more units	2.5%	3.2%
Mobile home & other	13.6%	8.8%

Poverty & households

	Essex County	Richmond County
Poverty rate	15.5%	9.3%
Average household size	2.38	2.53
Mean commute (minutes)	36	30
Median year structure built	1981	1975