Otero County vs Pitkin County

A side-by-side comparison of Otero County and Pitkin County: population, income, housing, and more.

Otero County and Pitkin County are counties in Colorado. This page compares them across population, income, housing, education, commuting, and how each has changed since 2019.

Otero County has the higher population (18,460 vs 17,119 in Pitkin County). Pitkin County has the higher median household income ($100,318 vs $54,897 in Otero County). Pitkin County has the higher median home value ($1,131,200 vs $160,700 in Otero County).

Population, income & housing

	Otero County	Pitkin County
Population	18,460	17,119
Median age	40.9 yrs	47.3 yrs
Median household income	$54,897	$100,318
Median home value	$160,700	$1,131,200
Median gross rent	$796	$1,880
Housing units	8,725	13,350
Homeownership rate	68.9%	67.5%
Bachelor's degree or higher	18.8%	64.0%
Unemployment rate	4.6%	1.5%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Otero County	Pitkin County
Population	18,282 → 18,460 (+1.0%)	17,926 → 17,119 (-4.5%)
Median household income	$38,169 → $54,897 (+43.8%)	$78,935 → $100,318 (+27.1%)
Median home value	$94,900 → $160,700 (+69.3%)	$615,900 → $1,131,200 (+83.7%)
Median gross rent	$675 → $796 (+17.9%)	$1,473 → $1,880 (+27.6%)

Otero County

Population

18,28218,460

Median household income

$38,169$54,897

Median home value

$94,900$160,700

Median gross rent

$675$796

Pitkin County

Population

17,92617,119

Median household income

$78,935$100,318

Median home value

$615,900$1,131,200

Median gross rent

$1,473$1,880

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Otero County	Pitkin County
Under 5	5.8%	3.7%
5 to 17	17.6%	11.2%
18 to 24	8.3%	6.8%
25 to 34	11.2%	12.6%
35 to 44	12.4%	13.3%
45 to 54	10.5%	15.3%
55 to 64	13.1%	15.4%
65 to 74	12.3%	13.4%
75 and over	8.7%	8.2%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Otero County	Pitkin County
White (non-Hispanic)	52.2%	80.5%
Black or African American	1.0%	0.4%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.4%	0.3%
Asian	0.7%	2.3%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.0%	0.0%
Some other race	1.3%	0.2%
Two or more races	2.7%	5.1%
Hispanic or Latino	41.7%	11.1%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Otero County	Pitkin County
No high school diploma	10.8%	3.0%
High school graduate	32.0%	11.2%
Some college or associate's	38.4%	21.8%
Bachelor's degree	11.9%	37.4%
Graduate or professional degree	6.9%	26.5%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Otero County	Pitkin County
Drove alone	78.0%	48.5%
Carpooled	10.9%	5.5%
Public transit	0.0%	12.2%
Walked	4.0%	9.9%
Bicycle	0.0%	6.8%
Worked from home	5.6%	14.9%
Other means	1.6%	2.3%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Otero County	Pitkin County
1-unit, detached	77.6%	38.4%
1-unit, attached	0.6%	8.6%
2 to 4 units	4.5%	13.0%
5 to 19 units	4.9%	24.1%
20 or more units	4.0%	11.1%
Mobile home & other	8.3%	4.8%

Poverty & households

	Otero County	Pitkin County
Poverty rate	23.6%	7.2%
Average household size	2.35	1.88
Mean commute (minutes)	21	20
Median year structure built	1957	1985