Alameda County vs Santa Clara County

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

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

Santa Clara County has the higher population (1,903,297 vs 1,651,949 in Alameda County). Santa Clara County has the higher median household income ($159,674 vs $126,240 in Alameda County). Santa Clara County has the higher median home value ($1,382,800 vs $1,057,400 in Alameda County).

Population, income & housing

	Alameda County	Santa Clara County
Population	1,651,949	1,903,297
Median age	38.7 yrs	37.9 yrs
Median household income	$126,240	$159,674
Median home value	$1,057,400	$1,382,800
Median gross rent	$2,318	$2,814
Housing units	630,726	694,209
Homeownership rate	54.1%	55.3%
Bachelor's degree or higher	51.5%	55.9%
Unemployment rate	5.2%	4.5%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Alameda County	Santa Clara County
Population	1,656,754 → 1,651,949 (-0.3%)	1,927,470 → 1,903,297 (-1.3%)
Median household income	$99,406 → $126,240 (+27.0%)	$124,055 → $159,674 (+28.7%)
Median home value	$769,300 → $1,057,400 (+37.4%)	$984,000 → $1,382,800 (+40.5%)
Median gross rent	$1,797 → $2,318 (+29.0%)	$2,268 → $2,814 (+24.1%)

Alameda County

Population

1,656,7541,651,949

Median household income

$99,406$126,240

Median home value

$769,300$1,057,400

Median gross rent

$1,797$2,318

Santa Clara County

Population

1,927,4701,903,297

Median household income

$124,055$159,674

Median home value

$984,000$1,382,800

Median gross rent

$2,268$2,814

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Alameda County	Santa Clara County
Under 5	5.3%	5.3%
5 to 17	14.7%	15.6%
18 to 24	7.9%	8.7%
25 to 34	15.8%	15.9%
35 to 44	15.7%	14.5%
45 to 54	13.4%	13.4%
55 to 64	12.2%	12.1%
65 to 74	8.9%	8.1%
75 and over	6.1%	6.3%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Alameda County	Santa Clara County
White (non-Hispanic)	28.2%	28.2%
Black or African American	9.6%	2.3%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.2%	0.1%
Asian	32.0%	39.3%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.7%	0.4%
Some other race	0.6%	0.5%
Two or more races	5.3%	4.1%
Hispanic or Latino	23.3%	25.1%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Alameda County	Santa Clara County
No high school diploma	11.1%	10.7%
High school graduate	15.9%	13.5%
Some college or associate's	21.6%	20.0%
Bachelor's degree	28.7%	28.2%
Graduate or professional degree	22.8%	27.7%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Alameda County	Santa Clara County
Drove alone	53.6%	61.7%
Carpooled	8.1%	8.9%
Public transit	9.2%	2.7%
Walked	2.7%	2.1%
Bicycle	1.3%	1.3%
Worked from home	23.2%	21.9%
Other means	1.7%	1.3%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Alameda County	Santa Clara County
1-unit, detached	51.4%	50.8%
1-unit, attached	8.6%	11.0%
2 to 4 units	10.1%	6.7%
5 to 19 units	10.2%	9.8%
20 or more units	18.4%	18.8%
Mobile home & other	1.3%	2.8%

Poverty & households

	Alameda County	Santa Clara County
Poverty rate	9.2%	6.9%
Average household size	2.73	2.85
Mean commute (minutes)	32	27
Median year structure built	1969	1975