Los Banos vs Merced

A side-by-side comparison of Los Banos and Merced: population, income, housing, and more.

Los Banos and Merced are places in California. This page compares them across population, income, housing, education, commuting, and how each has changed since 2019.

Merced has the higher population (89,766 vs 46,776 in Los Banos). Los Banos has the higher median household income ($70,893 vs $59,938 in Merced). Los Banos has the higher median home value ($419,600 vs $347,700 in Merced).

Population, income & housing

	Los Banos	Merced
Population	46,776	89,766
Median age	30.4 yrs	29.8 yrs
Median household income	$70,893	$59,938
Median home value	$419,600	$347,700
Median gross rent	$1,515	$1,293
Housing units	13,723	29,208
Homeownership rate	58.3%	44.4%
Bachelor's degree or higher	13.2%	18.0%
Unemployment rate	9.0%	12.3%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Los Banos	Merced
Population	38,914 → 46,776 (+20.2%)	82,662 → 89,766 (+8.6%)
Median household income	$62,874 → $70,893 (+12.8%)	$45,232 → $59,938 (+32.5%)
Median home value	$293,400 → $419,600 (+43.0%)	$237,500 → $347,700 (+46.4%)
Median gross rent	$1,260 → $1,515 (+20.2%)	$1,005 → $1,293 (+28.7%)

Los Banos

Population

38,91446,776

Median household income

$62,874$70,893

Median home value

$293,400$419,600

Median gross rent

$1,260$1,515

Merced

Population

82,66289,766

Median household income

$45,232$59,938

Median home value

$237,500$347,700

Median gross rent

$1,005$1,293

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Los Banos	Merced
Under 5	8.5%	7.6%
5 to 17	23.6%	22.5%
18 to 24	10.0%	11.9%
25 to 34	13.1%	16.6%
35 to 44	12.0%	12.1%
45 to 54	11.5%	10.0%
55 to 64	9.5%	9.5%
65 to 74	7.0%	6.0%
75 and over	4.8%	3.8%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Los Banos	Merced
White (non-Hispanic)	19.6%	22.7%
Black or African American	1.7%	4.6%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.3%	0.3%
Asian	2.4%	9.7%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.0%	0.3%
Some other race	0.2%	0.6%
Two or more races	2.6%	3.3%
Hispanic or Latino	73.2%	58.5%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Los Banos	Merced
No high school diploma	28.9%	22.8%
High school graduate	32.9%	26.8%
Some college or associate's	25.1%	32.5%
Bachelor's degree	9.5%	11.7%
Graduate or professional degree	3.6%	6.3%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Los Banos	Merced
Drove alone	76.0%	75.4%
Carpooled	16.0%	7.4%
Public transit	0.5%	0.8%
Walked	1.2%	1.7%
Bicycle	0.2%	0.6%
Worked from home	6.2%	7.9%
Other means	0.0%	6.2%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Los Banos	Merced
1-unit, detached	84.0%	65.1%
1-unit, attached	1.7%	1.7%
2 to 4 units	5.1%	12.5%
5 to 19 units	4.8%	12.2%
20 or more units	1.6%	5.5%
Mobile home & other	2.8%	3.1%

Poverty & households

	Los Banos	Merced
Poverty rate	16.2%	23.0%
Average household size	3.48	3.22
Mean commute (minutes)	52	27
Median year structure built	1995	1983