Alachua vs Gainesville

A side-by-side comparison of Alachua and Gainesville: population, income, housing, and more.

Alachua and Gainesville are places in Florida. This page compares them across population, income, housing, education, commuting, and how each has changed since 2019.

Gainesville has the higher population (143,611 vs 10,638 in Alachua). Alachua has the higher median household income ($78,526 vs $45,611 in Gainesville). Alachua has the higher median home value ($285,700 vs $235,000 in Gainesville).

Population, income & housing

	Alachua	Gainesville
Population	10,638	143,611
Median age	39.6 yrs	26.5 yrs
Median household income	$78,526	$45,611
Median home value	$285,700	$235,000
Median gross rent	$1,132	$1,214
Housing units	4,767	65,747
Homeownership rate	73.6%	38.5%
Bachelor's degree or higher	43.4%	51.7%
Unemployment rate	2.3%	4.8%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Alachua	Gainesville
Population	9,867 → 10,638 (+7.8%)	132,127 → 143,611 (+8.7%)
Median household income	$63,318 → $78,526 (+24.0%)	$37,264 → $45,611 (+22.4%)
Median home value	$179,500 → $285,700 (+59.2%)	$161,900 → $235,000 (+45.2%)
Median gross rent	$1,064 → $1,132 (+6.4%)	$953 → $1,214 (+27.4%)

Alachua

Population

9,86710,638

Median household income

$63,318$78,526

Median home value

$179,500$285,700

Median gross rent

$1,064$1,132

Gainesville

Population

132,127143,611

Median household income

$37,264$45,611

Median home value

$161,900$235,000

Median gross rent

$953$1,214

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Alachua	Gainesville
Under 5	8.4%	3.7%
5 to 17	14.2%	9.5%
18 to 24	7.5%	33.8%
25 to 34	14.5%	17.0%
35 to 44	11.3%	9.6%
45 to 54	10.6%	7.3%
55 to 64	13.7%	7.3%
65 to 74	13.4%	6.7%
75 and over	6.3%	5.0%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Alachua	Gainesville
White (non-Hispanic)	61.1%	54.3%
Black or African American	24.5%	21.1%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.0%	0.1%
Asian	1.5%	6.1%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.0%	0.1%
Some other race	0.4%	0.8%
Two or more races	2.9%	4.1%
Hispanic or Latino	9.5%	13.4%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Alachua	Gainesville
No high school diploma	4.1%	5.7%
High school graduate	26.0%	17.7%
Some college or associate's	26.5%	24.9%
Bachelor's degree	26.3%	25.7%
Graduate or professional degree	17.1%	26.0%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Alachua	Gainesville
Drove alone	71.5%	62.9%
Carpooled	8.8%	9.0%
Public transit	0.0%	4.9%
Walked	0.8%	5.0%
Bicycle	0.0%	3.5%
Worked from home	16.8%	12.4%
Other means	2.0%	2.3%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Alachua	Gainesville
1-unit, detached	83.4%	37.7%
1-unit, attached	3.5%	5.1%
2 to 4 units	3.0%	12.3%
5 to 19 units	1.6%	25.9%
20 or more units	2.9%	17.2%
Mobile home & other	5.5%	1.8%

Poverty & households

	Alachua	Gainesville
Poverty rate	11.5%	28.0%
Average household size	2.45	2.17
Mean commute (minutes)	26	18
Median year structure built	1994	1983