Navajo County vs Santa Cruz County

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

Navajo 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.

Navajo County has the higher population (107,744 vs 48,209 in Santa Cruz County). Santa Cruz County has the higher median household income ($53,614 vs $52,752 in Navajo County). Santa Cruz County has the higher median home value ($216,100 vs $186,100 in Navajo County).

Population, income & housing

	Navajo County	Santa Cruz County
Population	107,744	48,209
Median age	39.4 yrs	37.9 yrs
Median household income	$52,752	$53,614
Median home value	$186,100	$216,100
Median gross rent	$832	$781
Housing units	56,946	18,997
Homeownership rate	72.7%	68.4%
Bachelor's degree or higher	17.6%	24.1%
Unemployment rate	8.8%	10.5%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Navajo County	Santa Cruz County
Population	109,270 → 107,744 (-1.4%)	46,480 → 48,209 (+3.7%)
Median household income	$40,067 → $52,752 (+31.7%)	$41,259 → $53,614 (+29.9%)
Median home value	$126,100 → $186,100 (+47.6%)	$151,200 → $216,100 (+42.9%)
Median gross rent	$720 → $832 (+15.6%)	$675 → $781 (+15.7%)

Navajo County

Population

109,270107,744

Median household income

$40,067$52,752

Median home value

$126,100$186,100

Median gross rent

$720$832

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)

	Navajo County	Santa Cruz County
Under 5	6.1%	6.4%
5 to 17	19.5%	19.8%
18 to 24	7.7%	9.0%
25 to 34	12.0%	11.8%
35 to 44	11.1%	11.3%
45 to 54	10.6%	11.1%
55 to 64	13.3%	11.8%
65 to 74	12.2%	11.0%
75 and over	7.4%	7.9%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Navajo County	Santa Cruz County
White (non-Hispanic)	42.4%	15.3%
Black or African American	1.1%	0.2%
American Indian & Alaska Native	41.9%	0.2%
Asian	0.4%	0.1%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.2%	0.2%
Some other race	0.3%	0.1%
Two or more races	3.1%	1.1%
Hispanic or Latino	10.6%	82.7%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Navajo County	Santa Cruz County
No high school diploma	14.0%	22.3%
High school graduate	30.1%	26.4%
Some college or associate's	38.3%	27.3%
Bachelor's degree	10.4%	15.4%
Graduate or professional degree	7.2%	8.7%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Navajo County	Santa Cruz County
Drove alone	75.6%	78.5%
Carpooled	9.6%	11.0%
Public transit	0.8%	0.7%
Walked	3.4%	1.3%
Bicycle	0.4%	0.5%
Worked from home	8.9%	6.3%
Other means	1.3%	1.7%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Navajo County	Santa Cruz County
1-unit, detached	71.5%	70.2%
1-unit, attached	2.5%	8.1%
2 to 4 units	4.0%	8.3%
5 to 19 units	1.7%	5.2%
20 or more units	0.8%	1.2%
Mobile home & other	19.5%	7.0%

Poverty & households

	Navajo County	Santa Cruz County
Poverty rate	24.7%	20.2%
Average household size	2.68	2.85
Mean commute (minutes)	24	24
Median year structure built	1988	1990