Mendocino vs Potter Valley

A side-by-side comparison of Mendocino and Potter Valley: population, income, housing, and more.

Mendocino and Potter Valley are places in California. This page compares them across population, income, housing, education, commuting, and how each has changed since 2019.

Mendocino has the higher population (630 vs 611 in Potter Valley). Potter Valley has the higher median household income ($79,844 vs $67,115 in Mendocino). Mendocino has the higher median home value ($540,500 vs $474,300 in Potter Valley).

Population, income & housing

	Mendocino	Potter Valley
Population	630	611
Median age	68.3 yrs	37.2 yrs
Median household income	$67,115	$79,844
Median home value	$540,500	$474,300
Median gross rent	$1,402	$1,652
Housing units	581	222
Homeownership rate	88.4%	60.1%
Bachelor's degree or higher	60.8%	23.7%
Unemployment rate	10.2%	0.0%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Mendocino	Potter Valley
Population	855 → 630 (-26.3%)	498 → 611 (+22.7%)
Median household income	$63,750 → $67,115 (+5.3%)	$74,236 → $79,844 (+7.6%)
Median home value	$474,600 → $540,500 (+13.9%)	$442,000 → $474,300 (+7.3%)
Median gross rent	$1,150 → $1,402 (+21.9%)	$1,494 → $1,652 (+10.6%)

Mendocino

Population

855630

Median household income

$63,750$67,115

Median home value

$474,600$540,500

Median gross rent

$1,150$1,402

Potter Valley

Population

498611

Median household income

$74,236$79,844

Median home value

$442,000$474,300

Median gross rent

$1,494$1,652

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Mendocino	Potter Valley
Under 5	0.0%	4.6%
5 to 17	7.6%	23.9%
18 to 24	9.7%	3.3%
25 to 34	7.0%	17.7%
35 to 44	4.3%	13.4%
45 to 54	3.7%	10.6%
55 to 64	8.3%	9.0%
65 to 74	44.8%	12.3%
75 and over	14.8%	5.2%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Mendocino	Potter Valley
White (non-Hispanic)	85.6%	52.5%
Black or African American	0.0%	0.0%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.0%	0.0%
Asian	4.1%	0.0%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.0%	0.0%
Some other race	0.0%	0.0%
Two or more races	0.0%	11.0%
Hispanic or Latino	10.3%	36.5%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Mendocino	Potter Valley
No high school diploma	0.6%	4.8%
High school graduate	9.2%	24.5%
Some college or associate's	29.4%	47.0%
Bachelor's degree	22.8%	21.1%
Graduate or professional degree	38.0%	2.6%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Mendocino	Potter Valley
Drove alone	74.1%	80.3%
Carpooled	6.4%	13.8%
Public transit	0.0%	0.0%
Walked	8.9%	3.5%
Bicycle	0.0%	0.0%
Worked from home	10.6%	2.4%
Other means	0.0%	0.0%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Mendocino	Potter Valley
1-unit, detached	86.2%	67.1%
1-unit, attached	13.8%	3.6%
2 to 4 units	0.0%	10.4%
5 to 19 units	0.0%	0.0%
20 or more units	0.0%	0.0%
Mobile home & other	0.0%	18.9%

Poverty & households

	Mendocino	Potter Valley
Poverty rate	0.0%	4.4%
Average household size	1.67	2.84
Mean commute (minutes)	47	32
Median year structure built	1982	1982