Merced County vs Santa Cruz County

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

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

Merced County has the higher population (285,597 vs 266,021 in Santa Cruz County). Santa Cruz County has the higher median household income ($109,266 vs $65,044 in Merced County). Santa Cruz County has the higher median home value ($1,015,200 vs $368,400 in Merced County).

Population, income & housing

	Merced County	Santa Cruz County
Population	285,597	266,021
Median age	31.8 yrs	39.6 yrs
Median household income	$65,044	$109,266
Median home value	$368,400	$1,015,200
Median gross rent	$1,284	$2,172
Housing units	89,610	106,635
Homeownership rate	53.3%	60.0%
Bachelor's degree or higher	14.8%	43.6%
Unemployment rate	10.8%	5.6%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Merced County	Santa Cruz County
Population	271,382 → 285,597 (+5.2%)	273,962 → 266,021 (-2.9%)
Median household income	$53,672 → $65,044 (+21.2%)	$82,234 → $109,266 (+32.9%)
Median home value	$252,700 → $368,400 (+45.8%)	$756,600 → $1,015,200 (+34.2%)
Median gross rent	$1,021 → $1,284 (+25.8%)	$1,717 → $2,172 (+26.5%)

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

Santa Cruz County

Population

273,962266,021

Median household income

$82,234$109,266

Median home value

$756,600$1,015,200

Median gross rent

$1,717$2,172

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Merced County	Santa Cruz County
Under 5	7.2%	4.5%
5 to 17	21.9%	14.2%
18 to 24	10.8%	13.7%
25 to 34	14.6%	12.0%
35 to 44	12.8%	12.0%
45 to 54	11.0%	12.2%
55 to 64	10.1%	13.0%
65 to 74	7.0%	11.6%
75 and over	4.6%	6.8%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Merced County	Santa Cruz County
White (non-Hispanic)	24.3%	54.6%
Black or African American	2.7%	0.7%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.2%	0.1%
Asian	7.0%	4.5%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.2%	0.1%
Some other race	0.3%	0.7%
Two or more races	2.5%	4.2%
Hispanic or Latino	62.7%	35.0%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Merced County	Santa Cruz County
No high school diploma	28.1%	11.5%
High school graduate	28.7%	15.2%
Some college or associate's	28.4%	29.7%
Bachelor's degree	10.4%	25.3%
Graduate or professional degree	4.4%	18.3%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Merced County	Santa Cruz County
Drove alone	76.8%	63.4%
Carpooled	10.1%	8.5%
Public transit	0.4%	1.9%
Walked	2.4%	4.3%
Bicycle	0.3%	2.1%
Worked from home	6.4%	17.6%
Other means	3.6%	2.3%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Merced County	Santa Cruz County
1-unit, detached	74.1%	63.8%
1-unit, attached	1.6%	8.4%
2 to 4 units	7.9%	8.2%
5 to 19 units	6.6%	6.4%
20 or more units	3.0%	6.4%
Mobile home & other	6.8%	6.8%

Poverty & households

	Merced County	Santa Cruz County
Poverty rate	18.4%	11.2%
Average household size	3.32	2.60
Mean commute (minutes)	31	27
Median year structure built	1984	1973