Merced County vs Placer County

A side-by-side comparison of Merced County and Placer County: population, income, housing, and more.

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

Placer County has the higher population (412,435 vs 285,597 in Merced County). Placer County has the higher median household income ($114,678 vs $65,044 in Merced County). Placer County has the higher median home value ($658,800 vs $368,400 in Merced County).

Population, income & housing

	Merced County	Placer County
Population	285,597	412,435
Median age	31.8 yrs	42.4 yrs
Median household income	$65,044	$114,678
Median home value	$368,400	$658,800
Median gross rent	$1,284	$1,991
Housing units	89,610	176,233
Homeownership rate	53.3%	74.3%
Bachelor's degree or higher	14.8%	42.9%
Unemployment rate	10.8%	4.5%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Merced County	Placer County
Population	271,382 → 285,597 (+5.2%)	385,512 → 412,435 (+7.0%)
Median household income	$53,672 → $65,044 (+21.2%)	$89,691 → $114,678 (+27.9%)
Median home value	$252,700 → $368,400 (+45.8%)	$471,500 → $658,800 (+39.7%)
Median gross rent	$1,021 → $1,284 (+25.8%)	$1,542 → $1,991 (+29.1%)

Merced County

Population

271,382285,597

Median household income

$53,672$65,044

Median home value

$252,700$368,400

Median gross rent

$1,021$1,284

Placer County

Population

385,512412,435

Median household income

$89,691$114,678

Median home value

$471,500$658,800

Median gross rent

$1,542$1,991

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Merced County	Placer County
Under 5	7.2%	5.0%
5 to 17	21.9%	16.9%
18 to 24	10.8%	7.2%
25 to 34	14.6%	10.8%
35 to 44	12.8%	13.7%
45 to 54	11.0%	13.0%
55 to 64	10.1%	13.2%
65 to 74	7.0%	11.4%
75 and over	4.6%	8.7%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Merced County	Placer County
White (non-Hispanic)	24.3%	67.3%
Black or African American	2.7%	1.6%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.2%	0.2%
Asian	7.0%	8.9%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.2%	0.2%
Some other race	0.3%	0.6%
Two or more races	2.5%	6.0%
Hispanic or Latino	62.7%	15.4%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Merced County	Placer County
No high school diploma	28.1%	5.1%
High school graduate	28.7%	17.2%
Some college or associate's	28.4%	34.9%
Bachelor's degree	10.4%	27.7%
Graduate or professional degree	4.4%	15.2%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Merced County	Placer County
Drove alone	76.8%	69.9%
Carpooled	10.1%	6.4%
Public transit	0.4%	0.6%
Walked	2.4%	1.3%
Bicycle	0.3%	0.3%
Worked from home	6.4%	20.2%
Other means	3.6%	1.3%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Merced County	Placer County
1-unit, detached	74.1%	78.4%
1-unit, attached	1.6%	3.2%
2 to 4 units	7.9%	4.6%
5 to 19 units	6.6%	6.0%
20 or more units	3.0%	5.2%
Mobile home & other	6.8%	2.8%

Poverty & households

	Merced County	Placer County
Poverty rate	18.4%	6.7%
Average household size	3.32	2.62
Mean commute (minutes)	31	28
Median year structure built	1984	1994