Alta Sierra vs Penn Valley

A side-by-side comparison of Alta Sierra and Penn Valley: population, income, housing, and more.

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

Alta Sierra has the higher population (7,061 vs 1,197 in Penn Valley). Alta Sierra has the higher median household income ($99,576 vs $62,966 in Penn Valley). Alta Sierra has the higher median home value ($560,600 vs $530,100 in Penn Valley).

Population, income & housing

	Alta Sierra	Penn Valley
Population	7,061	1,197
Median age	55.4 yrs	52.7 yrs
Median household income	$99,576	$62,966
Median home value	$560,600	$530,100
Median gross rent	$2,033	$1,608
Housing units	3,052	650
Homeownership rate	86.4%	63.9%
Bachelor's degree or higher	42.0%	17.8%
Unemployment rate	3.8%	0.0%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Alta Sierra	Penn Valley
Population	7,280 → 7,061 (-3.0%)	1,341 → 1,197 (-10.7%)
Median household income	$85,758 → $99,576 (+16.1%)	$42,904 → $62,966 (+46.8%)
Median home value	$395,700 → $560,600 (+41.7%)	$315,200 → $530,100 (+68.2%)
Median gross rent	$1,847 → $2,033 (+10.1%)	$1,279 → $1,608 (+25.7%)

Alta Sierra

Population

7,2807,061

Median household income

$85,758$99,576

Median home value

$395,700$560,600

Median gross rent

$1,847$2,033

Penn Valley

Population

1,3411,197

Median household income

$42,904$62,966

Median home value

$315,200$530,100

Median gross rent

$1,279$1,608

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Alta Sierra	Penn Valley
Under 5	3.0%	3.3%
5 to 17	11.9%	7.9%
18 to 24	5.2%	0.0%
25 to 34	11.0%	16.4%
35 to 44	8.5%	19.3%
45 to 54	9.2%	3.3%
55 to 64	18.0%	14.3%
65 to 74	23.3%	21.8%
75 and over	10.1%	13.6%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Alta Sierra	Penn Valley
White (non-Hispanic)	89.5%	80.1%
Black or African American	0.3%	0.0%
American Indian & Alaska Native	1.6%	0.0%
Asian	0.0%	0.0%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.0%	0.0%
Some other race	0.3%	0.0%
Two or more races	1.1%	9.3%
Hispanic or Latino	7.3%	10.6%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Alta Sierra	Penn Valley
No high school diploma	3.5%	6.8%
High school graduate	18.3%	21.2%
Some college or associate's	36.2%	54.2%
Bachelor's degree	25.8%	16.0%
Graduate or professional degree	16.2%	1.8%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Alta Sierra	Penn Valley
Drove alone	68.3%	87.5%
Carpooled	9.7%	12.0%
Public transit	0.0%	0.0%
Walked	0.0%	0.6%
Bicycle	0.0%	0.0%
Worked from home	20.7%	0.0%
Other means	1.3%	0.0%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Alta Sierra	Penn Valley
1-unit, detached	94.8%	58.6%
1-unit, attached	1.7%	2.2%
2 to 4 units	3.0%	10.5%
5 to 19 units	0.5%	0.0%
20 or more units	0.0%	0.0%
Mobile home & other	0.0%	28.8%

Poverty & households

	Alta Sierra	Penn Valley
Poverty rate	5.7%	11.9%
Average household size	2.41	2.20
Mean commute (minutes)	29	57
Median year structure built	1984	1977