Orange County vs Santa Clara County

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

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

Orange County has the higher population (3,164,063 vs 1,903,297 in Santa Clara County). Santa Clara County has the higher median household income ($159,674 vs $113,702 in Orange County). Santa Clara County has the higher median home value ($1,382,800 vs $915,500 in Orange County).

Population, income & housing

	Orange County	Santa Clara County
Population	3,164,063	1,903,297
Median age	39.1 yrs	37.9 yrs
Median household income	$113,702	$159,674
Median home value	$915,500	$1,382,800
Median gross rent	$2,352	$2,814
Housing units	1,138,473	694,209
Homeownership rate	56.4%	55.3%
Bachelor's degree or higher	43.4%	55.9%
Unemployment rate	5.3%	4.5%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Orange County	Santa Clara County
Population	3,168,044 → 3,164,063 (-0.1%)	1,927,470 → 1,903,297 (-1.3%)
Median household income	$90,234 → $113,702 (+26.0%)	$124,055 → $159,674 (+28.7%)
Median home value	$679,300 → $915,500 (+34.8%)	$984,000 → $1,382,800 (+40.5%)
Median gross rent	$1,854 → $2,352 (+26.9%)	$2,268 → $2,814 (+24.1%)

Orange County

Population

3,168,0443,164,063

Median household income

$90,234$113,702

Median home value

$679,300$915,500

Median gross rent

$1,854$2,352

Santa Clara County

Population

1,927,4701,903,297

Median household income

$124,055$159,674

Median home value

$984,000$1,382,800

Median gross rent

$2,268$2,814

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Orange County	Santa Clara County
Under 5	5.4%	5.3%
5 to 17	15.9%	15.6%
18 to 24	9.0%	8.7%
25 to 34	14.2%	15.9%
35 to 44	13.1%	14.5%
45 to 54	13.5%	13.4%
55 to 64	13.1%	12.1%
65 to 74	9.1%	8.1%
75 and over	6.7%	6.3%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Orange County	Santa Clara County
White (non-Hispanic)	37.7%	28.2%
Black or African American	1.5%	2.3%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.1%	0.1%
Asian	21.7%	39.3%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.3%	0.4%
Some other race	0.4%	0.5%
Two or more races	4.1%	4.1%
Hispanic or Latino	34.1%	25.1%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Orange County	Santa Clara County
No high school diploma	13.1%	10.7%
High school graduate	17.2%	13.5%
Some college or associate's	26.3%	20.0%
Bachelor's degree	27.3%	28.2%
Graduate or professional degree	16.1%	27.7%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Orange County	Santa Clara County
Drove alone	69.4%	61.7%
Carpooled	9.0%	8.9%
Public transit	1.2%	2.7%
Walked	1.8%	2.1%
Bicycle	0.5%	1.3%
Worked from home	16.6%	21.9%
Other means	1.5%	1.3%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Orange County	Santa Clara County
1-unit, detached	49.5%	50.8%
1-unit, attached	12.8%	11.0%
2 to 4 units	8.7%	6.7%
5 to 19 units	10.8%	9.8%
20 or more units	15.4%	18.8%
Mobile home & other	2.7%	2.8%

Poverty & households

	Orange County	Santa Clara County
Poverty rate	9.5%	6.9%
Average household size	2.90	2.85
Mean commute (minutes)	27	27
Median year structure built	1977	1975