Merino vs Sterling

A side-by-side comparison of Merino and Sterling: population, income, housing, and more.

Merino and Sterling are places in Colorado. This page compares them across population, income, housing, education, commuting, and how each has changed since 2019.

Sterling has the higher population (13,273 vs 286 in Merino). Merino has the higher median household income ($63,125 vs $44,242 in Sterling). Sterling has the higher median home value ($205,200 vs $161,300 in Merino).

Population, income & housing

	Merino	Sterling
Population	286	13,273
Median age	38.0 yrs	38.0 yrs
Median household income	$63,125	$44,242
Median home value	$161,300	$205,200
Median gross rent	$1,159	$1,052
Housing units	165	5,298
Homeownership rate	64.6%	59.0%
Bachelor's degree or higher	16.1%	14.6%
Unemployment rate	1.7%	7.6%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Merino	Sterling
Population	233 → 286 (+22.7%)	14,478 → 13,273 (-8.3%)
Median household income	$47,917 → $63,125 (+31.7%)	$45,647 → $44,242 (-3.1%)
Median home value	$94,500 → $161,300 (+70.7%)	$136,800 → $205,200 (+50.0%)
Median gross rent	$925 → $1,159 (+25.3%)	$786 → $1,052 (+33.8%)

Merino

Population

233286

Median household income

$47,917$63,125

Median home value

$94,500$161,300

Median gross rent

$925$1,159

Sterling

Population

14,47813,273

Median household income

$45,647$44,242

Median home value

$136,800$205,200

Median gross rent

$786$1,052

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Merino	Sterling
Under 5	1.0%	4.2%
5 to 17	11.2%	12.4%
18 to 24	26.9%	10.5%
25 to 34	5.9%	17.4%
35 to 44	14.0%	15.7%
45 to 54	12.9%	9.9%
55 to 64	13.3%	11.1%
65 to 74	6.3%	10.3%
75 and over	8.4%	8.6%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Merino	Sterling
White (non-Hispanic)	86.0%	70.6%
Black or African American	3.5%	2.3%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.7%	0.8%
Asian	0.0%	0.4%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.0%	2.4%
Some other race	0.0%	0.2%
Two or more races	3.5%	2.4%
Hispanic or Latino	6.3%	20.9%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Merino	Sterling
No high school diploma	9.2%	14.0%
High school graduate	37.9%	43.0%
Some college or associate's	36.8%	28.4%
Bachelor's degree	10.3%	8.4%
Graduate or professional degree	5.7%	6.2%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Merino	Sterling
Drove alone	81.7%	71.7%
Carpooled	8.6%	12.8%
Public transit	0.0%	3.4%
Walked	1.7%	4.1%
Bicycle	0.0%	0.4%
Worked from home	8.0%	7.6%
Other means	0.0%	0.0%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Merino	Sterling
1-unit, detached	82.4%	66.4%
1-unit, attached	0.0%	4.5%
2 to 4 units	0.6%	6.9%
5 to 19 units	1.2%	3.5%
20 or more units	0.0%	7.6%
Mobile home & other	15.8%	11.0%

Poverty & households

	Merino	Sterling
Poverty rate	11.9%	15.2%
Average household size	1.99	2.27
Mean commute (minutes)	26	13
Median year structure built	1956	1960