Los Angeles County vs Orange County

A side-by-side comparison of Los Angeles County and Orange County: population, income, housing, and more.

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

Los Angeles County has the higher population (9,848,406 vs 3,164,063 in Orange County). Orange County has the higher median household income ($113,702 vs $87,760 in Los Angeles County). Orange County has the higher median home value ($915,500 vs $783,300 in Los Angeles County).

Population, income & housing

	Los Angeles County	Orange County
Population	9,848,406	3,164,063
Median age	37.9 yrs	39.1 yrs
Median household income	$87,760	$113,702
Median home value	$783,300	$915,500
Median gross rent	$1,893	$2,352
Housing units	3,624,084	1,138,473
Homeownership rate	46.1%	56.4%
Bachelor's degree or higher	35.5%	43.4%
Unemployment rate	7.0%	5.3%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Los Angeles County	Orange County
Population	10,081,570 → 9,848,406 (-2.3%)	3,168,044 → 3,164,063 (-0.1%)
Median household income	$68,044 → $87,760 (+29.0%)	$90,234 → $113,702 (+26.0%)
Median home value	$583,200 → $783,300 (+34.3%)	$679,300 → $915,500 (+34.8%)
Median gross rent	$1,460 → $1,893 (+29.7%)	$1,854 → $2,352 (+26.9%)

Los Angeles County

Population

10,081,5709,848,406

Median household income

$68,044$87,760

Median home value

$583,200$783,300

Median gross rent

$1,460$1,893

Orange County

Population

3,168,0443,164,063

Median household income

$90,234$113,702

Median home value

$679,300$915,500

Median gross rent

$1,854$2,352

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Los Angeles County	Orange County
Under 5	5.3%	5.4%
5 to 17	15.6%	15.9%
18 to 24	8.9%	9.0%
25 to 34	15.9%	14.2%
35 to 44	14.0%	13.1%
45 to 54	13.2%	13.5%
55 to 64	12.4%	13.1%
65 to 74	8.6%	9.1%
75 and over	6.1%	6.7%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Los Angeles County	Orange County
White (non-Hispanic)	25.2%	37.7%
Black or African American	7.5%	1.5%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.2%	0.1%
Asian	14.8%	21.7%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.2%	0.3%
Some other race	0.6%	0.4%
Two or more races	3.3%	4.1%
Hispanic or Latino	48.3%	34.1%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Los Angeles County	Orange County
No high school diploma	19.3%	13.1%
High school graduate	20.3%	17.2%
Some college or associate's	24.9%	26.3%
Bachelor's degree	22.8%	27.3%
Graduate or professional degree	12.7%	16.1%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Los Angeles County	Orange County
Drove alone	66.4%	69.4%
Carpooled	9.3%	9.0%
Public transit	4.2%	1.2%
Walked	2.4%	1.8%
Bicycle	0.6%	0.5%
Worked from home	15.2%	16.6%
Other means	1.9%	1.5%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Los Angeles County	Orange County
1-unit, detached	47.6%	49.5%
1-unit, attached	6.5%	12.8%
2 to 4 units	8.5%	8.7%
5 to 19 units	15.5%	10.8%
20 or more units	20.3%	15.4%
Mobile home & other	1.7%	2.7%

Poverty & households

	Los Angeles County	Orange County
Poverty rate	13.6%	9.5%
Average household size	2.85	2.90
Mean commute (minutes)	31	27
Median year structure built	1965	1977