Lake County vs San Benito County

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

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

Lake County has the higher population (68,139 vs 66,056 in San Benito County). San Benito County has the higher median household income ($108,289 vs $58,738 in Lake County). San Benito County has the higher median home value ($751,500 vs $316,800 in Lake County).

Population, income & housing

	Lake County	San Benito County
Population	68,139	66,056
Median age	44.2 yrs	35.9 yrs
Median household income	$58,738	$108,289
Median home value	$316,800	$751,500
Median gross rent	$1,292	$1,922
Housing units	34,271	20,937
Homeownership rate	70.9%	67.4%
Bachelor's degree or higher	17.7%	22.4%
Unemployment rate	11.5%	6.0%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Lake County	San Benito County
Population	64,195 → 68,139 (+6.1%)	60,376 → 66,056 (+9.4%)
Median household income	$47,040 → $58,738 (+24.9%)	$86,958 → $108,289 (+24.5%)
Median home value	$219,400 → $316,800 (+44.4%)	$551,500 → $751,500 (+36.3%)
Median gross rent	$978 → $1,292 (+32.1%)	$1,535 → $1,922 (+25.2%)

Lake County

Population

64,19568,139

Median household income

$47,040$58,738

Median home value

$219,400$316,800

Median gross rent

$978$1,292

San Benito County

Population

60,37666,056

Median household income

$86,958$108,289

Median home value

$551,500$751,500

Median gross rent

$1,535$1,922

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Lake County	San Benito County
Under 5	5.5%	6.4%
5 to 17	16.3%	19.1%
18 to 24	6.4%	8.8%
25 to 34	11.1%	14.0%
35 to 44	11.5%	14.1%
45 to 54	10.9%	12.3%
55 to 64	14.7%	11.9%
65 to 74	14.4%	8.2%
75 and over	9.3%	5.2%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Lake County	San Benito County
White (non-Hispanic)	65.3%	30.3%
Black or African American	1.9%	0.9%
American Indian & Alaska Native	2.0%	0.3%
Asian	1.0%	3.2%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.3%	0.2%
Some other race	0.2%	0.1%
Two or more races	5.5%	3.4%
Hispanic or Latino	23.8%	61.7%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Lake County	San Benito County
No high school diploma	12.9%	16.8%
High school graduate	28.8%	26.3%
Some college or associate's	40.5%	34.5%
Bachelor's degree	11.7%	16.1%
Graduate or professional degree	6.0%	6.3%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Lake County	San Benito County
Drove alone	67.9%	74.5%
Carpooled	11.2%	11.9%
Public transit	0.8%	0.9%
Walked	2.8%	0.7%
Bicycle	0.4%	0.4%
Worked from home	15.8%	10.3%
Other means	1.1%	1.3%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Lake County	San Benito County
1-unit, detached	70.0%	80.9%
1-unit, attached	2.5%	5.1%
2 to 4 units	2.5%	5.5%
5 to 19 units	2.6%	3.5%
20 or more units	2.3%	1.2%
Mobile home & other	20.2%	3.7%

Poverty & households

	Lake County	San Benito County
Poverty rate	16.7%	7.8%
Average household size	2.55	3.25
Mean commute (minutes)	30	36
Median year structure built	1980	1988