Butte County vs Santa Cruz County

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

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

Santa Cruz County has the higher population (266,021 vs 209,470 in Butte County). Santa Cruz County has the higher median household income ($109,266 vs $68,574 in Butte County). Santa Cruz County has the higher median home value ($1,015,200 vs $408,700 in Butte County).

Population, income & housing

	Butte County	Santa Cruz County
Population	209,470	266,021
Median age	36.3 yrs	39.6 yrs
Median household income	$68,574	$109,266
Median home value	$408,700	$1,015,200
Median gross rent	$1,369	$2,172
Housing units	91,176	106,635
Homeownership rate	58.3%	60.0%
Bachelor's degree or higher	31.7%	43.6%
Unemployment rate	7.1%	5.6%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Butte County	Santa Cruz County
Population	225,817 → 209,470 (-7.2%)	273,962 → 266,021 (-2.9%)
Median household income	$52,537 → $68,574 (+30.5%)	$82,234 → $109,266 (+32.9%)
Median home value	$271,700 → $408,700 (+50.4%)	$756,600 → $1,015,200 (+34.2%)
Median gross rent	$1,060 → $1,369 (+29.2%)	$1,717 → $2,172 (+26.5%)

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

Santa Cruz County

Population

273,962266,021

Median household income

$82,234$109,266

Median home value

$756,600$1,015,200

Median gross rent

$1,717$2,172

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Butte County	Santa Cruz County
Under 5	5.3%	4.5%
5 to 17	15.2%	14.2%
18 to 24	14.5%	13.7%
25 to 34	13.1%	12.0%
35 to 44	11.8%	12.0%
45 to 54	10.3%	12.2%
55 to 64	11.7%	13.0%
65 to 74	11.0%	11.6%
75 and over	7.2%	6.8%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Butte County	Santa Cruz County
White (non-Hispanic)	66.6%	54.6%
Black or African American	1.7%	0.7%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.8%	0.1%
Asian	5.3%	4.5%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.3%	0.1%
Some other race	0.5%	0.7%
Two or more races	5.4%	4.2%
Hispanic or Latino	19.5%	35.0%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Butte County	Santa Cruz County
No high school diploma	9.7%	11.5%
High school graduate	22.3%	15.2%
Some college or associate's	36.3%	29.7%
Bachelor's degree	20.7%	25.3%
Graduate or professional degree	11.0%	18.3%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Butte County	Santa Cruz County
Drove alone	72.6%	63.4%
Carpooled	9.7%	8.5%
Public transit	0.7%	1.9%
Walked	2.9%	4.3%
Bicycle	1.3%	2.1%
Worked from home	11.3%	17.6%
Other means	1.5%	2.3%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Butte County	Santa Cruz County
1-unit, detached	61.4%	63.8%
1-unit, attached	3.1%	8.4%
2 to 4 units	9.4%	8.2%
5 to 19 units	8.9%	6.4%
20 or more units	6.2%	6.4%
Mobile home & other	11.0%	6.8%

Poverty & households

	Butte County	Santa Cruz County
Poverty rate	18.3%	11.2%
Average household size	2.47	2.60
Mean commute (minutes)	21	27
Median year structure built	1980	1973