Monterey County vs Solano County

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

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

Solano County has the higher population (450,824 vs 435,834 in Monterey County). Solano County has the higher median household income ($99,994 vs $94,486 in Monterey County). Monterey County has the higher median home value ($723,100 vs $589,600 in Solano County).

Population, income & housing

	Monterey County	Solano County
Population	435,834	450,824
Median age	35.3 yrs	39.1 yrs
Median household income	$94,486	$99,994
Median home value	$723,100	$589,600
Median gross rent	$1,995	$2,088
Housing units	144,659	163,455
Homeownership rate	52.3%	63.2%
Bachelor's degree or higher	27.9%	28.4%
Unemployment rate	5.1%	5.9%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Monterey County	Solano County
Population	433,410 → 435,834 (+0.6%)	441,829 → 450,824 (+2.0%)
Median household income	$71,015 → $94,486 (+33.1%)	$81,472 → $99,994 (+22.7%)
Median home value	$516,600 → $723,100 (+40.0%)	$406,900 → $589,600 (+44.9%)
Median gross rent	$1,495 → $1,995 (+33.4%)	$1,592 → $2,088 (+31.2%)

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

Solano County

Population

441,829450,824

Median household income

$81,472$99,994

Median home value

$406,900$589,600

Median gross rent

$1,592$2,088

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Monterey County	Solano County
Under 5	6.6%	5.8%
5 to 17	19.3%	16.3%
18 to 24	9.9%	8.3%
25 to 34	13.6%	14.1%
35 to 44	13.2%	13.6%
45 to 54	11.7%	12.0%
55 to 64	11.0%	13.1%
65 to 74	8.6%	10.4%
75 and over	5.9%	6.5%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Monterey County	Solano County
White (non-Hispanic)	27.6%	34.3%
Black or African American	2.0%	12.6%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.1%	0.3%
Asian	5.5%	15.6%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.4%	0.8%
Some other race	0.4%	0.9%
Two or more races	2.9%	6.6%
Hispanic or Latino	61.0%	29.0%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Monterey County	Solano County
No high school diploma	26.7%	11.1%
High school graduate	20.6%	24.3%
Some college or associate's	24.8%	36.2%
Bachelor's degree	16.5%	19.4%
Graduate or professional degree	11.4%	9.0%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Monterey County	Solano County
Drove alone	70.0%	74.2%
Carpooled	10.1%	10.4%
Public transit	1.3%	1.9%
Walked	2.9%	1.3%
Bicycle	0.5%	0.3%
Worked from home	9.1%	10.9%
Other means	6.1%	1.2%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Monterey County	Solano County
1-unit, detached	63.2%	71.1%
1-unit, attached	6.5%	4.5%
2 to 4 units	8.6%	7.4%
5 to 19 units	11.2%	7.5%
20 or more units	6.2%	6.6%
Mobile home & other	4.2%	2.8%

Poverty & households

	Monterey County	Solano County
Poverty rate	12.6%	9.7%
Average household size	3.16	2.83
Mean commute (minutes)	25	32
Median year structure built	1975	1982