San Diego County vs Santa Clara County

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

San Diego 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.

San Diego County has the higher population (3,282,782 vs 1,903,297 in Santa Clara County). Santa Clara County has the higher median household income ($159,674 vs $102,285 in San Diego County). Santa Clara County has the higher median home value ($1,382,800 vs $791,600 in San Diego County).

Population, income & housing

	San Diego County	Santa Clara County
Population	3,282,782	1,903,297
Median age	37.1 yrs	37.9 yrs
Median household income	$102,285	$159,674
Median home value	$791,600	$1,382,800
Median gross rent	$2,154	$2,814
Housing units	1,240,607	694,209
Homeownership rate	54.5%	55.3%
Bachelor's degree or higher	42.1%	55.9%
Unemployment rate	6.2%	4.5%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	San Diego County	Santa Clara County
Population	3,316,073 → 3,282,782 (-1.0%)	1,927,470 → 1,903,297 (-1.3%)
Median household income	$78,980 → $102,285 (+29.5%)	$124,055 → $159,674 (+28.7%)
Median home value	$563,700 → $791,600 (+40.4%)	$984,000 → $1,382,800 (+40.5%)
Median gross rent	$1,658 → $2,154 (+29.9%)	$2,268 → $2,814 (+24.1%)

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

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)

	San Diego County	Santa Clara County
Under 5	5.7%	5.3%
5 to 17	15.4%	15.6%
18 to 24	9.7%	8.7%
25 to 34	16.0%	15.9%
35 to 44	14.1%	14.5%
45 to 54	12.1%	13.4%
55 to 64	11.8%	12.1%
65 to 74	8.9%	8.1%
75 and over	6.2%	6.3%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	San Diego County	Santa Clara County
White (non-Hispanic)	43.2%	28.2%
Black or African American	4.4%	2.3%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.3%	0.1%
Asian	11.9%	39.3%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.4%	0.4%
Some other race	0.5%	0.5%
Two or more races	5.0%	4.1%
Hispanic or Latino	34.3%	25.1%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	San Diego County	Santa Clara County
No high school diploma	11.0%	10.7%
High school graduate	17.9%	13.5%
Some college or associate's	29.0%	20.0%
Bachelor's degree	25.6%	28.2%
Graduate or professional degree	16.5%	27.7%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	San Diego County	Santa Clara County
Drove alone	67.6%	61.7%
Carpooled	8.2%	8.9%
Public transit	2.2%	2.7%
Walked	3.1%	2.1%
Bicycle	0.5%	1.3%
Worked from home	16.9%	21.9%
Other means	1.6%	1.3%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	San Diego County	Santa Clara County
1-unit, detached	50.3%	50.8%
1-unit, attached	10.1%	11.0%
2 to 4 units	6.6%	6.7%
5 to 19 units	13.4%	9.8%
20 or more units	16.1%	18.8%
Mobile home & other	3.5%	2.8%

Poverty & households

	San Diego County	Santa Clara County
Poverty rate	10.4%	6.9%
Average household size	2.74	2.85
Mean commute (minutes)	26	27
Median year structure built	1980	1975