Butte County vs El Dorado County

A side-by-side comparison of Butte County and El Dorado County: population, income, housing, and more.

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

Butte County has the higher population (209,470 vs 192,299 in El Dorado County). El Dorado County has the higher median household income ($106,190 vs $68,574 in Butte County). El Dorado County has the higher median home value ($640,500 vs $408,700 in Butte County).

Population, income & housing

	Butte County	El Dorado County
Population	209,470	192,299
Median age	36.3 yrs	46.1 yrs
Median household income	$68,574	$106,190
Median home value	$408,700	$640,500
Median gross rent	$1,369	$1,626
Housing units	91,176	94,258
Homeownership rate	58.3%	76.4%
Bachelor's degree or higher	31.7%	38.8%
Unemployment rate	7.1%	4.8%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Butte County	El Dorado County
Population	225,817 → 209,470 (-7.2%)	188,563 → 192,299 (+2.0%)
Median household income	$52,537 → $68,574 (+30.5%)	$83,377 → $106,190 (+27.4%)
Median home value	$271,700 → $408,700 (+50.4%)	$460,900 → $640,500 (+39.0%)
Median gross rent	$1,060 → $1,369 (+29.2%)	$1,260 → $1,626 (+29.0%)

Butte County

Population

225,817209,470

Median household income

$52,537$68,574

Median home value

$271,700$408,700

Median gross rent

$1,060$1,369

El Dorado County

Population

188,563192,299

Median household income

$83,377$106,190

Median home value

$460,900$640,500

Median gross rent

$1,260$1,626

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Butte County	El Dorado County
Under 5	5.3%	4.5%
5 to 17	15.2%	15.2%
18 to 24	14.5%	6.5%
25 to 34	13.1%	10.1%
35 to 44	11.8%	12.4%
45 to 54	10.3%	12.4%
55 to 64	11.7%	16.1%
65 to 74	11.0%	14.2%
75 and over	7.2%	8.6%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Butte County	El Dorado County
White (non-Hispanic)	66.6%	74.1%
Black or African American	1.7%	0.8%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.8%	0.4%
Asian	5.3%	5.0%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.3%	0.1%
Some other race	0.5%	0.5%
Two or more races	5.4%	4.9%
Hispanic or Latino	19.5%	14.2%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Butte County	El Dorado County
No high school diploma	9.7%	5.1%
High school graduate	22.3%	20.7%
Some college or associate's	36.3%	35.4%
Bachelor's degree	20.7%	25.7%
Graduate or professional degree	11.0%	13.1%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Butte County	El Dorado County
Drove alone	72.6%	68.8%
Carpooled	9.7%	7.8%
Public transit	0.7%	0.5%
Walked	2.9%	1.9%
Bicycle	1.3%	0.6%
Worked from home	11.3%	19.2%
Other means	1.5%	1.2%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Butte County	El Dorado County
1-unit, detached	61.4%	80.0%
1-unit, attached	3.1%	2.7%
2 to 4 units	9.4%	5.1%
5 to 19 units	8.9%	4.4%
20 or more units	6.2%	2.6%
Mobile home & other	11.0%	5.3%

Poverty & households

	Butte County	El Dorado County
Poverty rate	18.3%	8.3%
Average household size	2.47	2.51
Mean commute (minutes)	21	28
Median year structure built	1980	1983