Monterey County vs Sonoma County

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

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

Sonoma County has the higher population (485,642 vs 435,834 in Monterey County). Sonoma County has the higher median household income ($102,840 vs $94,486 in Monterey County). Sonoma County has the higher median home value ($779,000 vs $723,100 in Monterey County).

Population, income & housing

	Monterey County	Sonoma County
Population	435,834	485,642
Median age	35.3 yrs	42.7 yrs
Median household income	$94,486	$102,840
Median home value	$723,100	$779,000
Median gross rent	$1,995	$2,093
Housing units	144,659	206,319
Homeownership rate	52.3%	62.2%
Bachelor's degree or higher	27.9%	37.8%
Unemployment rate	5.1%	5.2%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Monterey County	Sonoma County
Population	433,410 → 435,834 (+0.6%)	499,772 → 485,642 (-2.8%)
Median household income	$71,015 → $94,486 (+33.1%)	$81,018 → $102,840 (+26.9%)
Median home value	$516,600 → $723,100 (+40.0%)	$609,600 → $779,000 (+27.8%)
Median gross rent	$1,495 → $1,995 (+33.4%)	$1,621 → $2,093 (+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

Sonoma County

Population

499,772485,642

Median household income

$81,018$102,840

Median home value

$609,600$779,000

Median gross rent

$1,621$2,093

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Monterey County	Sonoma County
Under 5	6.6%	4.7%
5 to 17	19.3%	14.6%
18 to 24	9.9%	7.8%
25 to 34	13.6%	12.4%
35 to 44	13.2%	13.2%
45 to 54	11.7%	12.4%
55 to 64	11.0%	13.9%
65 to 74	8.6%	12.8%
75 and over	5.9%	8.2%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Monterey County	Sonoma County
White (non-Hispanic)	27.6%	59.1%
Black or African American	2.0%	1.5%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.1%	0.3%
Asian	5.5%	4.3%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.4%	0.3%
Some other race	0.4%	0.5%
Two or more races	2.9%	4.6%
Hispanic or Latino	61.0%	29.4%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Monterey County	Sonoma County
No high school diploma	26.7%	11.1%
High school graduate	20.6%	18.6%
Some college or associate's	24.8%	32.4%
Bachelor's degree	16.5%	23.5%
Graduate or professional degree	11.4%	14.3%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Monterey County	Sonoma County
Drove alone	70.0%	71.0%
Carpooled	10.1%	9.2%
Public transit	1.3%	1.0%
Walked	2.9%	2.4%
Bicycle	0.5%	0.7%
Worked from home	9.1%	14.4%
Other means	6.1%	1.4%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Monterey County	Sonoma County
1-unit, detached	63.2%	67.0%
1-unit, attached	6.5%	7.7%
2 to 4 units	8.6%	6.7%
5 to 19 units	11.2%	6.8%
20 or more units	6.2%	7.1%
Mobile home & other	4.2%	4.7%

Poverty & households

	Monterey County	Sonoma County
Poverty rate	12.6%	8.6%
Average household size	3.16	2.50
Mean commute (minutes)	25	25
Median year structure built	1975	1979