Riverside County vs Santa Clara County

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

Riverside 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.

Riverside County has the higher population (2,449,909 vs 1,903,297 in Santa Clara County). Santa Clara County has the higher median household income ($159,674 vs $89,672 in Riverside County). Santa Clara County has the higher median home value ($1,382,800 vs $510,300 in Riverside County).

Population, income & housing

	Riverside County	Santa Clara County
Population	2,449,909	1,903,297
Median age	36.7 yrs	37.9 yrs
Median household income	$89,672	$159,674
Median home value	$510,300	$1,382,800
Median gross rent	$1,814	$2,814
Housing units	860,042	694,209
Homeownership rate	68.9%	55.3%
Bachelor's degree or higher	25.1%	55.9%
Unemployment rate	6.6%	4.5%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Riverside County	Santa Clara County
Population	2,411,439 → 2,449,909 (+1.6%)	1,927,470 → 1,903,297 (-1.3%)
Median household income	$67,005 → $89,672 (+33.8%)	$124,055 → $159,674 (+28.7%)
Median home value	$350,100 → $510,300 (+45.8%)	$984,000 → $1,382,800 (+40.5%)
Median gross rent	$1,375 → $1,814 (+31.9%)	$2,268 → $2,814 (+24.1%)

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

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)

	Riverside County	Santa Clara County
Under 5	5.9%	5.3%
5 to 17	18.5%	15.6%
18 to 24	9.3%	8.7%
25 to 34	13.8%	15.9%
35 to 44	13.4%	14.5%
45 to 54	12.2%	13.4%
55 to 64	11.7%	12.1%
65 to 74	8.8%	8.1%
75 and over	6.4%	6.3%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Riverside County	Santa Clara County
White (non-Hispanic)	32.0%	28.2%
Black or African American	6.1%	2.3%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.3%	0.1%
Asian	6.8%	39.3%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.3%	0.4%
Some other race	0.5%	0.5%
Two or more races	3.4%	4.1%
Hispanic or Latino	50.6%	25.1%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Riverside County	Santa Clara County
No high school diploma	16.7%	10.7%
High school graduate	26.3%	13.5%
Some college or associate's	31.9%	20.0%
Bachelor's degree	16.0%	28.2%
Graduate or professional degree	9.1%	27.7%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Riverside County	Santa Clara County
Drove alone	74.6%	61.7%
Carpooled	11.1%	8.9%
Public transit	0.7%	2.7%
Walked	1.2%	2.1%
Bicycle	0.2%	1.3%
Worked from home	10.9%	21.9%
Other means	1.3%	1.3%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Riverside County	Santa Clara County
1-unit, detached	68.8%	50.8%
1-unit, attached	5.8%	11.0%
2 to 4 units	4.6%	6.7%
5 to 19 units	6.7%	9.8%
20 or more units	5.1%	18.8%
Mobile home & other	8.9%	2.8%

Poverty & households

	Riverside County	Santa Clara County
Poverty rate	11.1%	6.9%
Average household size	3.17	2.85
Mean commute (minutes)	34	27
Median year structure built	1990	1975