Solano County vs Sonoma County

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

Solano 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 450,824 in Solano County). Sonoma County has the higher median household income ($102,840 vs $99,994 in Solano County). Sonoma County has the higher median home value ($779,000 vs $589,600 in Solano County).

Population, income & housing

	Solano County	Sonoma County
Population	450,824	485,642
Median age	39.1 yrs	42.7 yrs
Median household income	$99,994	$102,840
Median home value	$589,600	$779,000
Median gross rent	$2,088	$2,093
Housing units	163,455	206,319
Homeownership rate	63.2%	62.2%
Bachelor's degree or higher	28.4%	37.8%
Unemployment rate	5.9%	5.2%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Solano County	Sonoma County
Population	441,829 → 450,824 (+2.0%)	499,772 → 485,642 (-2.8%)
Median household income	$81,472 → $99,994 (+22.7%)	$81,018 → $102,840 (+26.9%)
Median home value	$406,900 → $589,600 (+44.9%)	$609,600 → $779,000 (+27.8%)
Median gross rent	$1,592 → $2,088 (+31.2%)	$1,621 → $2,093 (+29.1%)

Solano County

Population

441,829450,824

Median household income

$81,472$99,994

Median home value

$406,900$589,600

Median gross rent

$1,592$2,088

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)

	Solano County	Sonoma County
Under 5	5.8%	4.7%
5 to 17	16.3%	14.6%
18 to 24	8.3%	7.8%
25 to 34	14.1%	12.4%
35 to 44	13.6%	13.2%
45 to 54	12.0%	12.4%
55 to 64	13.1%	13.9%
65 to 74	10.4%	12.8%
75 and over	6.5%	8.2%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Solano County	Sonoma County
White (non-Hispanic)	34.3%	59.1%
Black or African American	12.6%	1.5%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.3%	0.3%
Asian	15.6%	4.3%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.8%	0.3%
Some other race	0.9%	0.5%
Two or more races	6.6%	4.6%
Hispanic or Latino	29.0%	29.4%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Solano County	Sonoma County
No high school diploma	11.1%	11.1%
High school graduate	24.3%	18.6%
Some college or associate's	36.2%	32.4%
Bachelor's degree	19.4%	23.5%
Graduate or professional degree	9.0%	14.3%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Solano County	Sonoma County
Drove alone	74.2%	71.0%
Carpooled	10.4%	9.2%
Public transit	1.9%	1.0%
Walked	1.3%	2.4%
Bicycle	0.3%	0.7%
Worked from home	10.9%	14.4%
Other means	1.2%	1.4%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Solano County	Sonoma County
1-unit, detached	71.1%	67.0%
1-unit, attached	4.5%	7.7%
2 to 4 units	7.4%	6.7%
5 to 19 units	7.5%	6.8%
20 or more units	6.6%	7.1%
Mobile home & other	2.8%	4.7%

Poverty & households

	Solano County	Sonoma County
Poverty rate	9.7%	8.6%
Average household size	2.83	2.50
Mean commute (minutes)	32	25
Median year structure built	1982	1979