Butte County vs Shasta County

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

Butte County and Shasta 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 181,554 in Shasta County). Shasta County has the higher median household income ($71,931 vs $68,574 in Butte County). Butte County has the higher median home value ($408,700 vs $347,200 in Shasta County).

Population, income & housing

	Butte County	Shasta County
Population	209,470	181,554
Median age	36.3 yrs	41.7 yrs
Median household income	$68,574	$71,931
Median home value	$408,700	$347,200
Median gross rent	$1,369	$1,267
Housing units	91,176	79,748
Homeownership rate	58.3%	65.4%
Bachelor's degree or higher	31.7%	23.3%
Unemployment rate	7.1%	6.2%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Butte County	Shasta County
Population	225,817 → 209,470 (-7.2%)	179,212 → 181,554 (+1.3%)
Median household income	$52,537 → $68,574 (+30.5%)	$54,667 → $71,931 (+31.6%)
Median home value	$271,700 → $408,700 (+50.4%)	$252,300 → $347,200 (+37.6%)
Median gross rent	$1,060 → $1,369 (+29.2%)	$1,039 → $1,267 (+21.9%)

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

Shasta County

Population

179,212181,554

Median household income

$54,667$71,931

Median home value

$252,300$347,200

Median gross rent

$1,039$1,267

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Butte County	Shasta County
Under 5	5.3%	5.5%
5 to 17	15.2%	16.2%
18 to 24	14.5%	7.3%
25 to 34	13.1%	12.5%
35 to 44	11.8%	12.4%
45 to 54	10.3%	11.0%
55 to 64	11.7%	13.9%
65 to 74	11.0%	12.6%
75 and over	7.2%	8.7%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Butte County	Shasta County
White (non-Hispanic)	66.6%	76.5%
Black or African American	1.7%	0.9%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.8%	1.4%
Asian	5.3%	3.3%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.3%	0.1%
Some other race	0.5%	0.4%
Two or more races	5.4%	6.0%
Hispanic or Latino	19.5%	11.3%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Butte County	Shasta County
No high school diploma	9.7%	7.9%
High school graduate	22.3%	26.4%
Some college or associate's	36.3%	42.4%
Bachelor's degree	20.7%	15.9%
Graduate or professional degree	11.0%	7.4%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Butte County	Shasta County
Drove alone	72.6%	78.3%
Carpooled	9.7%	8.9%
Public transit	0.7%	0.5%
Walked	2.9%	2.0%
Bicycle	1.3%	0.8%
Worked from home	11.3%	8.6%
Other means	1.5%	0.9%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Butte County	Shasta County
1-unit, detached	61.4%	70.2%
1-unit, attached	3.1%	2.4%
2 to 4 units	9.4%	8.3%
5 to 19 units	8.9%	4.2%
20 or more units	6.2%	3.8%
Mobile home & other	11.0%	11.2%

Poverty & households

	Butte County	Shasta County
Poverty rate	18.3%	13.0%
Average household size	2.47	2.49
Mean commute (minutes)	21	20
Median year structure built	1980	1982