Riverside County vs San Diego County

A side-by-side comparison of Riverside County and San Diego County: population, income, housing, and more.

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

San Diego County has the higher population (3,282,782 vs 2,449,909 in Riverside County). San Diego County has the higher median household income ($102,285 vs $89,672 in Riverside County). San Diego County has the higher median home value ($791,600 vs $510,300 in Riverside County).

Population, income & housing

	Riverside County	San Diego County
Population	2,449,909	3,282,782
Median age	36.7 yrs	37.1 yrs
Median household income	$89,672	$102,285
Median home value	$510,300	$791,600
Median gross rent	$1,814	$2,154
Housing units	860,042	1,240,607
Homeownership rate	68.9%	54.5%
Bachelor's degree or higher	25.1%	42.1%
Unemployment rate	6.6%	6.2%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Riverside County	San Diego County
Population	2,411,439 → 2,449,909 (+1.6%)	3,316,073 → 3,282,782 (-1.0%)
Median household income	$67,005 → $89,672 (+33.8%)	$78,980 → $102,285 (+29.5%)
Median home value	$350,100 → $510,300 (+45.8%)	$563,700 → $791,600 (+40.4%)
Median gross rent	$1,375 → $1,814 (+31.9%)	$1,658 → $2,154 (+29.9%)

Riverside County

Population

2,411,4392,449,909

Median household income

$67,005$89,672

Median home value

$350,100$510,300

Median gross rent

$1,375$1,814

San Diego County

Population

3,316,0733,282,782

Median household income

$78,980$102,285

Median home value

$563,700$791,600

Median gross rent

$1,658$2,154

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Riverside County	San Diego County
Under 5	5.9%	5.7%
5 to 17	18.5%	15.4%
18 to 24	9.3%	9.7%
25 to 34	13.8%	16.0%
35 to 44	13.4%	14.1%
45 to 54	12.2%	12.1%
55 to 64	11.7%	11.8%
65 to 74	8.8%	8.9%
75 and over	6.4%	6.2%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Riverside County	San Diego County
White (non-Hispanic)	32.0%	43.2%
Black or African American	6.1%	4.4%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.3%	0.3%
Asian	6.8%	11.9%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.3%	0.4%
Some other race	0.5%	0.5%
Two or more races	3.4%	5.0%
Hispanic or Latino	50.6%	34.3%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Riverside County	San Diego County
No high school diploma	16.7%	11.0%
High school graduate	26.3%	17.9%
Some college or associate's	31.9%	29.0%
Bachelor's degree	16.0%	25.6%
Graduate or professional degree	9.1%	16.5%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Riverside County	San Diego County
Drove alone	74.6%	67.6%
Carpooled	11.1%	8.2%
Public transit	0.7%	2.2%
Walked	1.2%	3.1%
Bicycle	0.2%	0.5%
Worked from home	10.9%	16.9%
Other means	1.3%	1.6%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Riverside County	San Diego County
1-unit, detached	68.8%	50.3%
1-unit, attached	5.8%	10.1%
2 to 4 units	4.6%	6.6%
5 to 19 units	6.7%	13.4%
20 or more units	5.1%	16.1%
Mobile home & other	8.9%	3.5%

Poverty & households

	Riverside County	San Diego County
Poverty rate	11.1%	10.4%
Average household size	3.17	2.74
Mean commute (minutes)	34	26
Median year structure built	1990	1980