Modoc County vs Sierra County

A side-by-side comparison of Modoc County and Sierra County: population, income, housing, and more.

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

Modoc County has the higher population (8,646 vs 2,731 in Sierra County). Sierra County has the higher median household income ($60,000 vs $56,648 in Modoc County). Sierra County has the higher median home value ($334,100 vs $212,000 in Modoc County).

Population, income & housing

	Modoc County	Sierra County
Population	8,646	2,731
Median age	49.0 yrs	56.0 yrs
Median household income	$56,648	$60,000
Median home value	$212,000	$334,100
Median gross rent	$818	$1,181
Housing units	4,774	2,099
Homeownership rate	77.3%	78.3%
Bachelor's degree or higher	23.0%	24.4%
Unemployment rate	6.0%	12.2%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Modoc County	Sierra County
Population	8,907 → 8,646 (-2.9%)	3,040 → 2,731 (-10.2%)
Median household income	$45,507 → $56,648 (+24.5%)	$52,148 → $60,000 (+15.1%)
Median home value	$140,600 → $212,000 (+50.8%)	$231,400 → $334,100 (+44.4%)
Median gross rent	$717 → $818 (+14.1%)	$972 → $1,181 (+21.5%)

Modoc County

Population

8,9078,646

Median household income

$45,507$56,648

Median home value

$140,600$212,000

Median gross rent

$717$818

Sierra County

Population

3,0402,731

Median household income

$52,148$60,000

Median home value

$231,400$334,100

Median gross rent

$972$1,181

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Modoc County	Sierra County
Under 5	4.7%	0.0%
5 to 17	14.5%	12.8%
18 to 24	6.3%	7.3%
25 to 34	11.5%	3.1%
35 to 44	9.4%	10.6%
45 to 54	9.2%	13.8%
55 to 64	13.4%	17.9%
65 to 74	18.6%	19.3%
75 and over	12.4%	15.2%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Modoc County	Sierra County
White (non-Hispanic)	75.2%	88.8%
Black or African American	0.8%	0.3%
American Indian & Alaska Native	2.3%	0.0%
Asian	1.2%	0.0%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.0%	0.0%
Some other race	0.8%	0.0%
Two or more races	4.4%	1.3%
Hispanic or Latino	15.3%	9.6%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Modoc County	Sierra County
No high school diploma	12.1%	8.6%
High school graduate	27.5%	33.9%
Some college or associate's	37.4%	33.1%
Bachelor's degree	16.0%	14.9%
Graduate or professional degree	7.0%	9.5%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Modoc County	Sierra County
Drove alone	72.9%	70.8%
Carpooled	8.0%	11.7%
Public transit	0.0%	0.0%
Walked	6.7%	1.5%
Bicycle	0.0%	0.0%
Worked from home	11.6%	13.0%
Other means	0.7%	2.9%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Modoc County	Sierra County
1-unit, detached	80.2%	91.7%
1-unit, attached	0.6%	0.6%
2 to 4 units	1.7%	0.8%
5 to 19 units	3.7%	0.0%
20 or more units	0.4%	2.8%
Mobile home & other	13.3%	4.1%

Poverty & households

	Modoc County	Sierra County
Poverty rate	20.3%	12.3%
Average household size	2.48	2.18
Mean commute (minutes)	21	29
Median year structure built	1976	1974