Butte County vs Marin County

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

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

Marin County has the higher population (258,765 vs 209,470 in Butte County). Marin County has the higher median household income ($142,785 vs $68,574 in Butte County). Marin County has the higher median home value ($1,390,000 vs $408,700 in Butte County).

Population, income & housing

	Butte County	Marin County
Population	209,470	258,765
Median age	36.3 yrs	47.3 yrs
Median household income	$68,574	$142,785
Median home value	$408,700	$1,390,000
Median gross rent	$1,369	$2,584
Housing units	91,176	111,860
Homeownership rate	58.3%	63.9%
Bachelor's degree or higher	31.7%	60.5%
Unemployment rate	7.1%	6.1%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Butte County	Marin County
Population	225,817 → 209,470 (-7.2%)	259,943 → 258,765 (-0.5%)
Median household income	$52,537 → $68,574 (+30.5%)	$115,246 → $142,785 (+23.9%)
Median home value	$271,700 → $408,700 (+50.4%)	$995,800 → $1,390,000 (+39.6%)
Median gross rent	$1,060 → $1,369 (+29.2%)	$2,069 → $2,584 (+24.9%)

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

Marin County

Population

259,943258,765

Median household income

$115,246$142,785

Median home value

$995,800$1,390,000

Median gross rent

$2,069$2,584

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Butte County	Marin County
Under 5	5.3%	4.4%
5 to 17	15.2%	15.3%
18 to 24	14.5%	6.9%
25 to 34	13.1%	8.5%
35 to 44	11.8%	11.8%
45 to 54	10.3%	14.9%
55 to 64	11.7%	15.0%
65 to 74	11.0%	13.1%
75 and over	7.2%	10.2%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Butte County	Marin County
White (non-Hispanic)	66.6%	66.6%
Black or African American	1.7%	2.1%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.8%	0.1%
Asian	5.3%	6.1%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.3%	0.2%
Some other race	0.5%	0.8%
Two or more races	5.4%	5.2%
Hispanic or Latino	19.5%	19.0%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Butte County	Marin County
No high school diploma	9.7%	7.3%
High school graduate	22.3%	10.8%
Some college or associate's	36.3%	21.5%
Bachelor's degree	20.7%	33.2%
Graduate or professional degree	11.0%	27.2%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Butte County	Marin County
Drove alone	72.6%	53.7%
Carpooled	9.7%	7.7%
Public transit	0.7%	4.9%
Walked	2.9%	3.5%
Bicycle	1.3%	1.0%
Worked from home	11.3%	27.9%
Other means	1.5%	1.3%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Butte County	Marin County
1-unit, detached	61.4%	62.9%
1-unit, attached	3.1%	7.7%
2 to 4 units	9.4%	8.5%
5 to 19 units	8.9%	10.4%
20 or more units	6.2%	8.7%
Mobile home & other	11.0%	1.6%

Poverty & households

	Butte County	Marin County
Poverty rate	18.3%	7.8%
Average household size	2.47	2.44
Mean commute (minutes)	21	28
Median year structure built	1980	1966