Bret Harte vs Empire

A side-by-side comparison of Bret Harte and Empire: population, income, housing, and more.

Bret Harte and Empire are places in California. This page compares them across population, income, housing, education, commuting, and how each has changed since 2019.

Bret Harte has the higher population (4,807 vs 3,867 in Empire). Empire has the higher median household income ($48,990 vs $42,422 in Bret Harte). Empire has the higher median home value ($306,700 vs $289,300 in Bret Harte).

Population, income & housing

	Bret Harte	Empire
Population	4,807	3,867
Median age	23.5 yrs	38.1 yrs
Median household income	$42,422	$48,990
Median home value	$289,300	$306,700
Median gross rent	$1,360	$1,106
Housing units	1,112	1,198
Homeownership rate	36.2%	57.8%
Bachelor's degree or higher	1.8%	8.5%
Unemployment rate	8.8%	13.6%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Bret Harte	Empire
Population	5,148 → 4,807 (-6.6%)	4,051 → 3,867 (-4.5%)
Median household income	$37,526 → $42,422 (+13.0%)	$38,477 → $48,990 (+27.3%)
Median home value	$134,200 → $289,300 (+115.6%)	$160,400 → $306,700 (+91.2%)
Median gross rent	$1,045 → $1,360 (+30.1%)	$816 → $1,106 (+35.5%)

Bret Harte

Population

5,1484,807

Median household income

$37,526$42,422

Median home value

$134,200$289,300

Median gross rent

$1,045$1,360

Empire

Population

4,0513,867

Median household income

$38,477$48,990

Median home value

$160,400$306,700

Median gross rent

$816$1,106

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Bret Harte	Empire
Under 5	13.1%	7.9%
5 to 17	28.1%	12.9%
18 to 24	11.6%	7.0%
25 to 34	17.5%	16.3%
35 to 44	10.5%	13.6%
45 to 54	9.0%	13.2%
55 to 64	4.2%	13.6%
65 to 74	4.6%	11.0%
75 and over	1.3%	4.4%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Bret Harte	Empire
White (non-Hispanic)	4.9%	38.9%
Black or African American	0.5%	0.2%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.0%	0.3%
Asian	0.0%	0.0%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.0%	0.0%
Some other race	0.1%	0.0%
Two or more races	2.1%	2.3%
Hispanic or Latino	92.4%	58.3%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Bret Harte	Empire
No high school diploma	40.4%	26.4%
High school graduate	45.1%	41.6%
Some college or associate's	12.7%	23.5%
Bachelor's degree	1.4%	8.5%
Graduate or professional degree	0.4%	0.0%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Bret Harte	Empire
Drove alone	85.4%	79.1%
Carpooled	9.2%	15.2%
Public transit	0.0%	0.0%
Walked	1.5%	0.0%
Bicycle	0.0%	0.0%
Worked from home	3.4%	2.0%
Other means	0.6%	3.7%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Bret Harte	Empire
1-unit, detached	90.0%	83.1%
1-unit, attached	8.4%	0.0%
2 to 4 units	1.6%	3.3%
5 to 19 units	0.0%	0.0%
20 or more units	0.0%	0.0%
Mobile home & other	0.0%	13.6%

Poverty & households

	Bret Harte	Empire
Poverty rate	44.1%	28.7%
Average household size	4.45	3.17
Mean commute (minutes)	32	27
Median year structure built	1963	1972