Monterey County vs Placer County

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

Monterey 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.

Monterey County has the higher population (435,834 vs 412,435 in Placer County). Placer County has the higher median household income ($114,678 vs $94,486 in Monterey County). Monterey County has the higher median home value ($723,100 vs $658,800 in Placer County).

Population, income & housing

	Monterey County	Placer County
Population	435,834	412,435
Median age	35.3 yrs	42.4 yrs
Median household income	$94,486	$114,678
Median home value	$723,100	$658,800
Median gross rent	$1,995	$1,991
Housing units	144,659	176,233
Homeownership rate	52.3%	74.3%
Bachelor's degree or higher	27.9%	42.9%
Unemployment rate	5.1%	4.5%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Monterey County	Placer County
Population	433,410 → 435,834 (+0.6%)	385,512 → 412,435 (+7.0%)
Median household income	$71,015 → $94,486 (+33.1%)	$89,691 → $114,678 (+27.9%)
Median home value	$516,600 → $723,100 (+40.0%)	$471,500 → $658,800 (+39.7%)
Median gross rent	$1,495 → $1,995 (+33.4%)	$1,542 → $1,991 (+29.1%)

Monterey County

Population

433,410435,834

Median household income

$71,015$94,486

Median home value

$516,600$723,100

Median gross rent

$1,495$1,995

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)

	Monterey County	Placer County
Under 5	6.6%	5.0%
5 to 17	19.3%	16.9%
18 to 24	9.9%	7.2%
25 to 34	13.6%	10.8%
35 to 44	13.2%	13.7%
45 to 54	11.7%	13.0%
55 to 64	11.0%	13.2%
65 to 74	8.6%	11.4%
75 and over	5.9%	8.7%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Monterey County	Placer County
White (non-Hispanic)	27.6%	67.3%
Black or African American	2.0%	1.6%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.1%	0.2%
Asian	5.5%	8.9%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.4%	0.2%
Some other race	0.4%	0.6%
Two or more races	2.9%	6.0%
Hispanic or Latino	61.0%	15.4%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Monterey County	Placer County
No high school diploma	26.7%	5.1%
High school graduate	20.6%	17.2%
Some college or associate's	24.8%	34.9%
Bachelor's degree	16.5%	27.7%
Graduate or professional degree	11.4%	15.2%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Monterey County	Placer County
Drove alone	70.0%	69.9%
Carpooled	10.1%	6.4%
Public transit	1.3%	0.6%
Walked	2.9%	1.3%
Bicycle	0.5%	0.3%
Worked from home	9.1%	20.2%
Other means	6.1%	1.3%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Monterey County	Placer County
1-unit, detached	63.2%	78.4%
1-unit, attached	6.5%	3.2%
2 to 4 units	8.6%	4.6%
5 to 19 units	11.2%	6.0%
20 or more units	6.2%	5.2%
Mobile home & other	4.2%	2.8%

Poverty & households

	Monterey County	Placer County
Poverty rate	12.6%	6.7%
Average household size	3.16	2.62
Mean commute (minutes)	25	28
Median year structure built	1975	1994