Imperial County vs Madera County

A side-by-side comparison of Imperial County and Madera County: population, income, housing, and more.

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

Imperial County has the higher population (179,319 vs 158,790 in Madera County). Madera County has the higher median household income ($75,496 vs $56,393 in Imperial County). Madera County has the higher median home value ($367,700 vs $279,500 in Imperial County).

Population, income & housing

	Imperial County	Madera County
Population	179,319	158,790
Median age	33.0 yrs	34.6 yrs
Median household income	$56,393	$75,496
Median home value	$279,500	$367,700
Median gross rent	$1,012	$1,307
Housing units	57,511	50,368
Homeownership rate	56.8%	65.5%
Bachelor's degree or higher	16.1%	17.1%
Unemployment rate	12.6%	10.6%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Imperial County	Madera County
Population	180,701 → 179,319 (-0.8%)	155,433 → 158,790 (+2.2%)
Median household income	$47,622 → $56,393 (+18.4%)	$57,585 → $75,496 (+31.1%)
Median home value	$195,800 → $279,500 (+42.7%)	$251,200 → $367,700 (+46.4%)
Median gross rent	$830 → $1,012 (+21.9%)	$1,014 → $1,307 (+28.9%)

Imperial County

Population

180,701179,319

Median household income

$47,622$56,393

Median home value

$195,800$279,500

Median gross rent

$830$1,012

Madera County

Population

155,433158,790

Median household income

$57,585$75,496

Median home value

$251,200$367,700

Median gross rent

$1,014$1,307

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Imperial County	Madera County
Under 5	7.2%	6.8%
5 to 17	21.3%	20.6%
18 to 24	9.8%	9.5%
25 to 34	14.6%	13.7%
35 to 44	12.6%	13.1%
45 to 54	10.9%	11.2%
55 to 64	10.2%	10.8%
65 to 74	7.8%	8.8%
75 and over	5.6%	5.5%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Imperial County	Madera County
White (non-Hispanic)	9.4%	30.9%
Black or African American	2.2%	2.4%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.7%	0.5%
Asian	1.3%	2.4%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.0%	0.1%
Some other race	0.1%	0.3%
Two or more races	0.8%	3.1%
Hispanic or Latino	85.6%	60.4%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Imperial County	Madera County
No high school diploma	28.2%	27.0%
High school graduate	25.9%	23.9%
Some college or associate's	29.9%	32.0%
Bachelor's degree	11.5%	11.6%
Graduate or professional degree	4.6%	5.5%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Imperial County	Madera County
Drove alone	78.6%	72.6%
Carpooled	9.6%	11.9%
Public transit	0.5%	0.3%
Walked	2.8%	2.0%
Bicycle	0.3%	0.1%
Worked from home	6.5%	8.4%
Other means	1.9%	4.6%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Imperial County	Madera County
1-unit, detached	62.3%	80.1%
1-unit, attached	2.5%	1.8%
2 to 4 units	10.1%	4.8%
5 to 19 units	11.2%	3.7%
20 or more units	4.3%	2.8%
Mobile home & other	9.5%	6.7%

Poverty & households

	Imperial County	Madera County
Poverty rate	19.6%	19.9%
Average household size	3.51	3.42
Mean commute (minutes)	22	28
Median year structure built	1988	1988