Essex County
New York · County seat: Elizabethtown · Active county or equivalent
FIPS code 36031 is Essex County, New York. With a population of 37,314 (2022 ACS estimate), it ranks #56 in New York and #1264 nationally. The state FIPS code for New York is 36. This code is used in Census Bureau, BLS, EPA, HUD, and USDA federal datasets to identify this county.
County FIPS
36031
Population
37,314
2022 ACS · #1264 nationally
Density
20.8/mi²
people per sq mile
Land Area
1,794
sq miles
Urban/Rural
Nonmetro — urban 2.5K–19.9K, adjacent to metro
RUCC 6
How This FIPS Code Works
The 5-digit FIPS code 36031 is formed by combining the 2-digit state identifier 36 (New York) with the 3-digit county identifier 031. Together they uniquely identify Essex County in every US federal dataset. No two counties share the same 5-digit FIPS code.
Census ACS Data for FIPS 36031
From the 2022 ACS 5-year estimates — the same values you'd retrieve by querying the Census API with county FIPS 36031.
Median Household Income
$68,090
ACS B19013_001E
Poverty Rate
10.4%
ACS B17001 (below poverty level)
Median Age
49.2
ACS B01002_001E
Adjacent Counties (7)
Counties that share a border with Essex County. Useful for regional analysis — these are the geographies you'd typically include when studying labor markets, commuting zones, or environmental spillovers around FIPS 36031.
Federal Datasets Using Code 36031
FIPS code 36031 appears as the county identifier in the following federal datasets. Analysts joining data across these sources use this code as the common geographic key.
Using FIPS Code 36031 in Code
Common patterns for querying federal datasets by this county's FIPS code. The leading zeros are significant — always treat FIPS codes as strings, not integers.
import requests
url = "https://api.census.gov/data/2022/acs/acs5"
params = {
"get": "NAME,B19013_001E,B01003_001E",
"for": "county:031",
"in": "state:36",
"key": "YOUR_CENSUS_API_KEY",
}
r = requests.get(url, params=params)
data = r.json() # [[header...], [Essex County, New York, income, pop, ...]-- 5-digit combined FIPS (state + county)
SELECT * FROM your_table WHERE county_fips = '36031';
-- Some datasets store state and county separately
SELECT * FROM your_table
WHERE state_fips = '36'
AND county_fips = '031';
-- ⚠ Never cast to integer — leading zeros are lost:
-- county_fips = 36031 is WRONG for this countylibrary(tidycensus)
get_acs(
geography = "county",
variables = c(income = "B19013_001E", pop = "B01003_001E"),
state = "36",
county = "031",
year = 2022
)ZIP Codes in Essex County
ZIP codes do not align perfectly with county boundaries — a single ZIP code can span multiple counties, and a county can contain parts of many ZIP codes. The ratios below (from the Census 2020 ZCTA relationship file) show the land area share of each ZCTA that falls within Essex County. Why FIPS ≠ ZIP →
| ZIP Code | % in county |
|---|---|
| 12998 | 100.0% |
| 12851 | 100.0% |
| 12852 | 100.0% |
| 12956 | 100.0% |
| 12960 | 100.0% |
| 12961 | 100.0% |
| 12964 | 100.0% |
| 12974 | 100.0% |
| 12975 | 100.0% |
| 12977 | 100.0% |
| 12987 | 100.0% |
| 12993 | 100.0% |
| 12996 | 100.0% |
| 12997 | 100.0% |
| 12855 | 100.0% |
| 12858 | 100.0% |
| 12872 | 100.0% |
| 12928 | 100.0% |
| 12932 | 100.0% |
| 12936 | 100.0% |
| 12941 | 100.0% |
| 12942 | 100.0% |
| 12943 | 100.0% |
| 12946 | 100.0% |
| 12950 | 100.0% |
| 12883 | 98.8% |
| 12857 | 98.2% |
| 12870 | 98.0% |
| 12944 | 87.8% |
| 12983 | 48.6% |
Showing top 30 of 36 ZIP codes by residential address share.