Contra Costa County vs Santa Clara County

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

Contra Costa 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 1,161,458 in Contra Costa County). Santa Clara County has the higher median household income ($159,674 vs $125,727 in Contra Costa County). Santa Clara County has the higher median home value ($1,382,800 vs $830,800 in Contra Costa County).

Population, income & housing

	Contra Costa County	Santa Clara County
Population	1,161,458	1,903,297
Median age	40.3 yrs	37.9 yrs
Median household income	$125,727	$159,674
Median home value	$830,800	$1,382,800
Median gross rent	$2,322	$2,814
Housing units	426,585	694,209
Homeownership rate	67.7%	55.3%
Bachelor's degree or higher	44.9%	55.9%
Unemployment rate	5.9%	4.5%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Contra Costa County	Santa Clara County
Population	1,142,251 → 1,161,458 (+1.7%)	1,927,470 → 1,903,297 (-1.3%)
Median household income	$99,716 → $125,727 (+26.1%)	$124,055 → $159,674 (+28.7%)
Median home value	$625,800 → $830,800 (+32.8%)	$984,000 → $1,382,800 (+40.5%)
Median gross rent	$1,819 → $2,322 (+27.7%)	$2,268 → $2,814 (+24.1%)

Contra Costa County

Population

1,142,2511,161,458

Median household income

$99,716$125,727

Median home value

$625,800$830,800

Median gross rent

$1,819$2,322

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)

	Contra Costa County	Santa Clara County
Under 5	5.4%	5.3%
5 to 17	16.8%	15.6%
18 to 24	8.0%	8.7%
25 to 34	12.3%	15.9%
35 to 44	14.0%	14.5%
45 to 54	13.7%	13.4%
55 to 64	13.2%	12.1%
65 to 74	9.8%	8.1%
75 and over	6.9%	6.3%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Contra Costa County	Santa Clara County
White (non-Hispanic)	39.3%	28.2%
Black or African American	8.2%	2.3%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.2%	0.1%
Asian	18.3%	39.3%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.4%	0.4%
Some other race	0.7%	0.5%
Two or more races	5.8%	4.1%
Hispanic or Latino	27.3%	25.1%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Contra Costa County	Santa Clara County
No high school diploma	10.4%	10.7%
High school graduate	17.7%	13.5%
Some college or associate's	27.0%	20.0%
Bachelor's degree	27.4%	28.2%
Graduate or professional degree	17.5%	27.7%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Contra Costa County	Santa Clara County
Drove alone	60.8%	61.7%
Carpooled	9.7%	8.9%
Public transit	6.5%	2.7%
Walked	1.8%	2.1%
Bicycle	0.4%	1.3%
Worked from home	19.2%	21.9%
Other means	1.6%	1.3%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Contra Costa County	Santa Clara County
1-unit, detached	67.5%	50.8%
1-unit, attached	8.7%	11.0%
2 to 4 units	5.8%	6.7%
5 to 19 units	6.6%	9.8%
20 or more units	10.0%	18.8%
Mobile home & other	1.6%	2.8%

Poverty & households

	Contra Costa County	Santa Clara County
Poverty rate	8.3%	6.9%
Average household size	2.79	2.85
Mean commute (minutes)	36	27
Median year structure built	1978	1975