Fresno County vs San Joaquin County

A side-by-side comparison of Fresno County and San Joaquin County: population, income, housing, and more.

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

Fresno County has the higher population (1,012,152 vs 787,416 in San Joaquin County). San Joaquin County has the higher median household income ($88,531 vs $71,434 in Fresno County). San Joaquin County has the higher median home value ($494,500 vs $362,600 in Fresno County).

Population, income & housing

	Fresno County	San Joaquin County
Population	1,012,152	787,416
Median age	33.2 yrs	35.2 yrs
Median household income	$71,434	$88,531
Median home value	$362,600	$494,500
Median gross rent	$1,300	$1,633
Housing units	342,003	256,826
Homeownership rate	55.4%	61.5%
Bachelor's degree or higher	23.9%	21.6%
Unemployment rate	8.5%	7.4%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Fresno County	San Joaquin County
Population	984,521 → 1,012,152 (+2.8%)	742,603 → 787,416 (+6.0%)
Median household income	$53,969 → $71,434 (+32.4%)	$64,432 → $88,531 (+37.4%)
Median home value	$255,000 → $362,600 (+42.2%)	$342,100 → $494,500 (+44.5%)
Median gross rent	$998 → $1,300 (+30.3%)	$1,208 → $1,633 (+35.2%)

Fresno County

Population

984,5211,012,152

Median household income

$53,969$71,434

Median home value

$255,000$362,600

Median gross rent

$998$1,300

San Joaquin County

Population

742,603787,416

Median household income

$64,432$88,531

Median home value

$342,100$494,500

Median gross rent

$1,208$1,633

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Fresno County	San Joaquin County
Under 5	7.1%	6.6%
5 to 17	20.9%	19.9%
18 to 24	9.6%	9.4%
25 to 34	15.0%	13.8%
35 to 44	13.3%	13.8%
45 to 54	11.0%	12.0%
55 to 64	10.4%	11.2%
65 to 74	7.6%	8.0%
75 and over	5.1%	5.3%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Fresno County	San Joaquin County
White (non-Hispanic)	27.0%	27.9%
Black or African American	4.2%	6.7%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.4%	0.3%
Asian	10.8%	17.5%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.1%	0.6%
Some other race	0.4%	0.4%
Two or more races	3.0%	4.4%
Hispanic or Latino	54.1%	42.2%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Fresno County	San Joaquin County
No high school diploma	21.4%	19.6%
High school graduate	23.0%	27.8%
Some college or associate's	31.7%	31.1%
Bachelor's degree	15.7%	14.6%
Graduate or professional degree	8.2%	7.0%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Fresno County	San Joaquin County
Drove alone	74.7%	74.8%
Carpooled	11.6%	12.4%
Public transit	0.9%	1.1%
Walked	1.5%	1.1%
Bicycle	0.4%	0.3%
Worked from home	9.5%	9.3%
Other means	1.5%	1.0%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Fresno County	San Joaquin County
1-unit, detached	67.7%	74.7%
1-unit, attached	2.7%	5.0%
2 to 4 units	9.0%	5.1%
5 to 19 units	9.3%	5.7%
20 or more units	7.1%	6.3%
Mobile home & other	4.2%	3.2%

Poverty & households

	Fresno County	San Joaquin County
Poverty rate	18.7%	12.6%
Average household size	3.08	3.19
Mean commute (minutes)	23	35
Median year structure built	1981	1983