Essex County, Massachusetts

• White (non-Hispanic) 524,651 64.5%
• Hispanic or Latino (any race) 195,593 24.1%
• Black or African American (non-Hispanic) 28,297 3.5%
• Asian (non-Hispanic) 28,724 3.5%
• Two or more races (non-Hispanic) 28,781 3.5%
• American Indian / Alaska Native (non-Hispanic) 292 0.0%
• Native Hawaiian / Pacific Islander (non-Hispanic) 174 0.0%
• Some other race (non-Hispanic) 6,542 0.8%

• Under 18 169,485 20.8%
• 18–24 71,532 8.8%
• 25–44 205,506 25.3%
• 45–64 216,425 26.6%
• 65 and over 150,106 18.5%

Median household income

$102,044

90% interval $98,229–$105,859

−$2,525 vs MA · 6th of 14

Below poverty line

9.3%

90% interval 8.2%–10.4%

−0.5 pp vs MA · 8th of 14

Unemployment (12-mo)

4.7%

+0.06 pp vs. state

County GDP

$60.7B

7.8% of state

Avg. annual pay

$78,072

Establishments

29,604

• Education & health services 99,642 30.5%
• Trade, transportation & utilities 57,620 17.6%
• Manufacturing 38,816 11.9%
• Professional & business services 37,619 11.5%
• Leisure & hospitality 35,757 10.9%
• Construction 16,415 5.0%
• Other services 12,640 3.9%
• Financial activities 10,200 3.1%
• Public administration 8,796 2.7%
• Information 4,159 1.3%
• Natural resources & mining 900 0.3%

The sectors listed cover 98.7% of covered employment; BLS withholds the rest to avoid disclosing individual employers.

Home ownership

63.5%

+1.0 pp vs MA · 10th of 14

Median gross rent

$1,756

−$6 vs MA · 5th of 14

Owner-occupied

198,838

Renter-occupied

114,309

• Moderately concentrated

  Top three sectors employ 60% of the county workforce. Substantial intra-sector overlap among panelists is likely; confirm employer relationships before sector-specific framing.

• Moderate wage spread

  Highest-paid sector (Financial activities, $132,560/yr) pays 4.0× the lowest (Leisure & hospitality, $33,319/yr). Expect meaningful income variation across the panel.

• Mixed business scale

  Average establishment employs 11 workers, a mix of institutional employers and small businesses. Both employed-by-large-institution and small-business-owner perspectives are likely on the panel.

• Democratic 236,624 59.2%
• Republican 155,336 38.9%
• Other / third-party 7,759 1.9%

• Spanish 147,061 19.1%
• French, Haitian, or Cajun 9,232 1.2%
• Russian, Polish, or other Slavic 5,838 0.8%
• Arabic 4,751 0.6%
• Chinese 4,594 0.6%
• Vietnamese 2,400 0.3%
• Korean 1,327 0.2%
• German or other West Germanic 1,128 0.1%
• Tagalog 596 0.1%

Households

313,147

Family households

206,812

66.0% of households

Married couples w/ children

58,164

28.1% of families

Single-mother families

20,954

10.1% of families

Veterans

27,478

4.3% of civilians 18+

• Catholic 299,218 36.9%
• Other (non-Christian + minor traditions) 33,761 4.2%
• Evangelical Protestant 26,616 3.3%
• Mainline Protestant 26,424 3.3%
• Orthodox 10,600 1.3%
• Black Protestant 864 0.1%

Health insured

97.2%

±0.2 pp

Uninsured

2.8%

±0.2 pp

5th of 14

With a disability

12.3%

±0.3 pp

9th of 14

Bachelor's or higher

43.0%

±0.7 pp

−4.3 pp vs MA · 8th of 14

Uninsured, under 65 (2024)

3.7%

90% interval 3.4%–4.0% · Census SAHIE

The under-65 uninsured rate is not comparable to the ACS insurance figures, which cover all ages.

Trial court

Essex County Superior Court

Judges

7 (Superior Court Justice base assignments per county (general civil + felony criminal jurisdiction); vintage 2026 mass.gov/orgs/superior-court. Under Mass. Gen. Laws ch. 212, Justices may be reassigned across counties by the Chief Justice of the Superior Court Department; counts here reflect typical base allocations rather than a permanently-fixed roster. Other Trial Court departments (District Court, Boston Municipal Court, Probate and Family Court, Juvenile Court, Land Court, Housing Court) handle limited-jurisdiction matters and are not counted here.)

Court seats

Salem

Traffic fatalities

29

4.51 per 100k adults (18+)

Fatal crashes

27