Apache County vs Santa Cruz County

A side-by-side comparison of Apache County and Santa Cruz County: population, income, housing, and more.

Apache County and Santa Cruz County are counties in Arizona. This page compares them across population, income, housing, education, commuting, and how each has changed since 2019.

Apache County has the higher population (65,680 vs 48,209 in Santa Cruz County). Santa Cruz County has the higher median household income ($53,614 vs $40,338 in Apache County). Santa Cruz County has the higher median home value ($216,100 vs $68,500 in Apache County).

Population, income & housing

	Apache County	Santa Cruz County
Population	65,680	48,209
Median age	36.2 yrs	37.9 yrs
Median household income	$40,338	$53,614
Median home value	$68,500	$216,100
Median gross rent	$647	$781
Housing units	29,001	18,997
Homeownership rate	79.1%	68.4%
Bachelor's degree or higher	15.3%	24.1%
Unemployment rate	10.0%	10.5%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Apache County	Santa Cruz County
Population	71,511 → 65,680 (-8.2%)	46,480 → 48,209 (+3.7%)
Median household income	$32,508 → $40,338 (+24.1%)	$41,259 → $53,614 (+29.9%)
Median home value	$59,900 → $68,500 (+14.4%)	$151,200 → $216,100 (+42.9%)
Median gross rent	$506 → $647 (+27.9%)	$675 → $781 (+15.7%)

Apache County

Population

71,51165,680

Median household income

$32,508$40,338

Median home value

$59,900$68,500

Median gross rent

$506$647

Santa Cruz County

Population

46,48048,209

Median household income

$41,259$53,614

Median home value

$151,200$216,100

Median gross rent

$675$781

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Apache County	Santa Cruz County
Under 5	6.0%	6.4%
5 to 17	20.3%	19.8%
18 to 24	9.0%	9.0%
25 to 34	13.0%	11.8%
35 to 44	11.6%	11.3%
45 to 54	10.8%	11.1%
55 to 64	13.0%	11.8%
65 to 74	10.0%	11.0%
75 and over	6.2%	7.9%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Apache County	Santa Cruz County
White (non-Hispanic)	18.6%	15.3%
Black or African American	0.9%	0.2%
American Indian & Alaska Native	71.4%	0.2%
Asian	0.6%	0.1%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.1%	0.2%
Some other race	0.1%	0.1%
Two or more races	2.0%	1.1%
Hispanic or Latino	6.2%	82.7%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Apache County	Santa Cruz County
No high school diploma	15.1%	22.3%
High school graduate	31.2%	26.4%
Some college or associate's	38.4%	27.3%
Bachelor's degree	8.9%	15.4%
Graduate or professional degree	6.4%	8.7%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Apache County	Santa Cruz County
Drove alone	80.5%	78.5%
Carpooled	4.7%	11.0%
Public transit	0.6%	0.7%
Walked	4.0%	1.3%
Bicycle	0.1%	0.5%
Worked from home	9.3%	6.3%
Other means	0.9%	1.7%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Apache County	Santa Cruz County
1-unit, detached	70.1%	70.2%
1-unit, attached	0.5%	8.1%
2 to 4 units	4.5%	8.3%
5 to 19 units	1.8%	5.2%
20 or more units	0.2%	1.2%
Mobile home & other	22.9%	7.0%

Poverty & households

	Apache County	Santa Cruz County
Poverty rate	31.2%	20.2%
Average household size	3.14	2.85
Mean commute (minutes)	28	24
Median year structure built	1988	1990