Orange County, California Population and Demographics

In this article, we'll explore the population statistics for Orange County, California, including popular demographics data like median age, number of households, household income, gender, employment and unemployment rates, occupations, religion, and more.

We are using the latest American Community Survey (ACS) 5-Year survey data from the US Census Bureau, which is accurate up to 2021.

Table of Contents

Population

There is a lot of data that lets us see how many people live in Orange County, California. The most basic data is the total population, which is the total number of people living in Orange County, California. The estimated population of Orange County, California is 3,182,923 people, with a median age of 38.5.

We can look at the total population in Orange County over the last 5 years to see how much it has changed.

Year Population Change 5-Year Change
2021
3,182,923
+0.4%
+0.86%
2020
3,170,345
+0.07%
-
2019
3,168,044
+0.12%
-
2018
3,164,182
+0.27%
-
2017
3,155,816
 - -

Population of Orange County, California by Race and Ethnicity

We can also look at how the population has changed over the last 5 years by each of the race/ethnicity types as defined by the US Census Bureau.

Race 2021 2017 Change
White
39%
41.4%
 -5.80%
Black/African American
1.6%
1.6%
 0.00%
Native
0.1%
0.2%
 -50.00%
Hispanic
34%
34.2%
 -0.58%
Asian
21.1%
19.5%
 +8.21%
Hawaiian/Pacific Islander
0.3%
0.3%
 0.00%
Two Or More Races
3.5%
2.7%
 +29.63%
Other
0.3%
0.2%
 +50.00%

This data can be very important for a number of reasons, including social and economic research, planning and development, and marketing to a multi-cultural population.

Note that the Native group includes both Native American and Alaskan Native people.

Population of Orange County, California by Age and Gender

The age and gender of a population is another interesting demographic statistic because it lets us track trends in the population over time. For example, we can see how the population has changed over the last 5 years by median age as a total, and also by male and female.

Year Total Male Female
2021 38.5 +0.52% 37.4 +1.36% 39.7 +0.25%
2020 38.3 +0.52% 36.9 +0.54% 39.6 +0.76%
2019 38.1 +0.79% 36.7 +0.55% 39.3 +0.77%
2018 37.8 +0.8% 36.5 +0.55% 39 +0.52%
2017 37.5 - 36.3 - 38.8 -

The median age of Orange County, California gives you an idea of the age distribution, with half of the population being older than the median age and half being younger.

This can then be used to infer and compare against birth rates, parent ages, and more metrics to understand the population. For example, an increasing median age indicates an aging population, which can be a sign of a declining population in terms of birth rates and workforce participation.

Age 2021 2017
(Years) Male Female Male Female
0 to 9 196,224 -5.29% 185,062 -3.4% 186,063 178,833
10 to 19 212,422 +0.6% 206,390 -1.8% 213,655 202,670
20 to 29 234,352 -4.91% 222,021 -2.85% 222,996 215,757
30 to 39 210,222 +5.02% 209,737 +0.59% 220,972 210,970
40 to 49 219,541 -5.32% 225,694 -4.47% 208,029 215,765
50 to 59 215,349 +2.67% 220,772 +0.55% 221,117 221,988
60 to 69 146,397 +12.29% 164,013 +7.77% 165,238 177,101
70+ 123,738 +13.02% 163,882 +10.21% 140,622 181,147

Median Household Income

The latest median household income of Orange County, California is $100,485.00.

In simple terms, the median income is the middle income of a group of people. Half of the people in the group make more than the median income, and half make less. The median income is a good indicator of the overall income of a group of people, and can be used to compare against other metrics such as the average income, per capita income, and more.

Median Income by Age

We can also look at the median income by age to see how the median income varies by age, and how it compares to the overall median income for Orange County.

  • Under 25
    $48,391.00
  • 25 to 44
    $105,350.00
  • 45 to 64
    $118,117.00
  • 65 and over
    $72,356.00

Average Household Income

Whenever we ask what is the average household income in Orange County, we are actually talking about the mean household income.

This is calculated by adding up all the incomes of all the households in Orange County, and then dividing that number by the total number of households. This is a good way to get a general idea of the average income of a group of people, but it can be skewed by a very high or very low incomes.

The average household income of Orange County, California is currently $134,820.00.

In terms of accurately summarizing income at a geographic level, the median income is a better metric than the average income because it isn't affected by a small number of very high or very low incomes.

If you had an area where the average income was greater than the median, it can mean that there is significant income inequality, with income being concentrated in a small number of wealthy households.

18.91% of households in Orange County are classed as high income households (making $200,000+ per year).

Household Income Tiers

The US Census Bureau divides households into income tiers based on the median income for the area. This is a good way to compare the income of Orange County against other areas.

  • Less than $24,999
    11.38%
  • $25,000 to $49,999
    13.07%
  • $50,000 to $74,999
    13.19%
  • $75,000 to $99,999
    12.13%
  • $100,000 to $149,999
    19.31%
  • $150,000 to $199,999
    12.01%
  • $200,000 or more
    18.91%

Per Capita Income

The per capita income in Orange County is $46,099.00.

Per capita income is the average income of a person in a given area. It is calculated by dividing the total income of Orange County by the total population of Orange County.

This is different from the average or mean income because it includes and accounts for all people in Orange County, California, including people like children, the elderly, unemployed people, retired people, and more.

Education Levels

We can also look at the education levels in Orange County to see how many people have a high school degree, a bachelor's degree, or a graduate degree.

Educational attainment is a good indicator of the overall education level of a population, and can be used to compare against other metrics such as the average income, per capita income, and more to see how education levels affect income, unemployment rates, and more.

  • Master's degree or higher
    17.40%
  • Bachelor's degree
    43.68%
  • Some college or associate's degree
    9.40%
  • High school diploma or equivalent
    25.06%
  • Less than high school diploma
    4.45%

Employment

Employment rates are all based around the total population in Orange County that are over the age of 16.

The total population of Orange County over the age of 16 is 2,567,770.

Of those people, a total of 65.80% are working or actively looking for work. This is called the labor force participation rate.

The participation rate is a useful market measure because it shows the relative amount of labor resources available to the economy.

The employment to total population rate in Orange County is 62.20%.

Employment by Age

We can look at the employment rates by age to see how it compares to the overall employment rate.

Age Population Participation Unemployment Rate
16 to 19 years 166,068 31.40% 16.30%
20 to 24 years 204,512 70.90% 9.00%
25 to 29 years 234,241 84.80% 5.60%
30 to 34 years 220,230 84.90% 4.90%
35 to 44 years 416,149 83.60% 4.20%
45 to 54 years 443,202 83.10% 4.50%
55 to 59 years 219,260 76.40% 4.30%
60 to 64 years 191,693 64.20% 4.90%
65 to 74 years 273,470 31.30% 5.50%
75 years and over 198,945 7.90% 5.00%

Employment by Race

Another very interesting employment statistic we can look at is the employment and unemployment rates by race in Orange County. The table below shows the rates for each of the ethnicity groups types defined by the US Census Bureau.

Age Population Participation Unemployment Rate
White 1,417,002 65.10% 5.00%
Black or African American 45,572 69.80% 7.80%
American Indian and Alaska Native 14,969 70.30% 5.40%
Asian 560,406 62.70% 5.30%
Native Hawaiian and Other Pacific Islander 7,605 70.00% 6.50%
Other 314,340 70.70% 5.90%
Two or more races 207,876 70.40% 7.20%
Hispanic or Latino 806,170 70.60% 5.60%
Not Hispanic or Latino 1,075,724 63.50% 5.10%

Occupations

In this section we can look at the most common occupations in Orange County as well as the gender breakdown and earnings of them.

The total population of civilian employees that are 16 years old or older in Orange County is 1,596,831, with median earnings of $48,136.00.

Women in Orange County, California earning approximately 74.00% of the men's earnings.

Population Earnings
Total 1,596,831 $48,136.00
Male 868,468 $55,161.00
Female 728,363 $40,813.00

Occupations by Category

In the table below, we can break down the population and earnings even further by occupation. The list of occupation categories below will show you how many people are employed in each category and the median earnings of each profession.

Occupation Employed Earnings
Management 205,635 $98,056.00
Business and Financial 116,631 $76,512.00
Computer and Mathematical 61,898 $100,050.00
Architecture and Engineering 49,071 $102,624.00
Life, Physical, and Social Science 15,677 $75,515.00
Community and Social Service 25,406 $50,573.00
Legal 23,077 $103,983.00
Educational and Library 88,037 $49,218.00
Arts, Design, Entertainment, Sports, and Media 43,246 $50,613.00
Healthcare Practitioners 89,252 $82,685.00
Healthcare Support 44,650 $25,556.00
Firefighters and Protective Service 17,006 $36,615.00
Law Enforcement 9,097 $107,355.00
Food Preparation and Serving 85,407 $20,110.00
Building and Grounds Cleaning 55,136 $24,870.00
Personal Care and Service 49,009 $18,133.00
Sales 178,930 $42,055.00
Office and Administrative Support 175,543 $39,603.00
Farming, Fishing, and Forestry 6,187 $26,361.00
Construction and Extraction 61,348 $40,102.00
Installation, Maintenance, and Repair 32,502 $47,424.00
Production 81,716 $35,215.00
Transportation and Material Moving 39,657 $37,683.00

Occupations by Gender

The table below shows the same occupations from the list above, but we have split them by male and female to see how many male and females work in each occupation, the median earnings, and the male to female ratio of earnings.

That last metric is important because it can be used to look at the gender pay gap between men and women.

Occupation Male Female
Population Earnings Population Earnings
Management 129,112 $110,188.00 76,523 $77,503.00
Business and Financial 56,296 $85,994.00 60,335 $68,811.00
Computer and Mathematical 48,605 $103,261.00 13,293 $90,381.00
Architecture and Engineering 41,072 $104,438.00 7,999 $89,446.00
Life, Physical, and Social Science 7,507 $79,827.00 8,170 $73,016.00
Community and Social Service 8,370 $51,573.00 17,036 $50,114.00
Legal 11,323 $155,385.00 11,754 $79,672.00
Educational and Library 26,570 $62,093.00 61,467 $44,248.00
Arts, Design, Entertainment, Sports, and Media 23,863 $55,471.00 19,383 $43,454.00
Healthcare Practitioners 29,591 $94,193.00 59,661 $76,987.00
Healthcare Support 9,674 $26,138.00 34,976 $25,428.00
Firefighters and Protective Service 14,058 $39,426.00 2,948 $25,222.00
Law Enforcement 7,247 $110,191.00 1,850 $91,935.00
Food Preparation and Serving 45,049 $22,137.00 40,358 $16,576.00
Building and Grounds Cleaning 32,440 $28,976.00 22,696 $19,605.00
Personal Care and Service 12,436 $21,654.00 36,573 $17,050.00
Sales 98,368 $54,488.00 80,562 $30,404.00
Office and Administrative Support 52,488 $39,312.00 123,055 $39,721.00
Farming, Fishing, and Forestry 4,047 $30,329.00 2,140 $19,229.00
Construction and Extraction 59,794 $39,996.00 1,554 $44,688.00
Installation, Maintenance, and Repair 31,339 $47,318.00 1,163 $52,230.00
Production 55,259 $39,725.00 26,457 $28,615.00
Transportation and Material Moving 33,634 $39,656.00 6,023 $28,161.00

Households and Family Size

A household defined bu the US Census Bureau is a group of people who occupy a housing unit. A housing unit is a house, apartment, mobile home, group of rooms, or single room occupied as separate living quarters.

There are currently 1,057,592 households in Orange County, with an average household size of 2.97 people.

A family is defined as a group of two or more people related by birth, marriage, or adoption who live together in the same household.

There are 752,397 families in Orange County with an average family size of 3.47 people.

Households by Marital Status

The four categories of household by marital status are:

  • Married-couple family
  • Male householder with no spouse present
  • Female household with no spouse present
  • Nonfamily household

The table below shows the total number of households and families, with the average sizes of each.

Married Male Female Nonfamily
Total Households 572,704 58,056 121,637 305,195
Average Household Size 3.59 3.65 3.63 1.41
Total Families 572,704 58,056 121,637 0
Average Household Size 3.53 3.21 3.34 0

Poverty

Of the 752,397 families in Orange County, 7.00% are considered to be below the poverty threshold.

The table below shows the latest poverty thresholds in Orange County:

Household Size Poverty Threshold
1 Person $14,580.00
2 People $19,720.00
3 People $24,860.00
4 People $30,000.00
5 People $35,140.00
6 People $40,280.00
7 People $45,420.00
8 People $50,560.00

Housing

There are 1,121,753 housing units in Orange County, California.

The table below shows the split between occupied and vacant units:

Total Percentage
Occupied 1,057,592 94.28%
Vacant 64,161 5.72%

39.57% of the total 1,121,753 housing units in Orange County are rental units. This is approximately 443,870 properties.

For owner-occupied housing units, a total of 602,440 are occupied by the owner - or 53.71% of the total.

Rental Rates

The median rent for a property in Orange County is $2,057.00.

In the chart below, we can look at the number of rental properties in Orange County that fall into a particular rent range. These can then be used to compare with other areas, or to see how they have changed over time.

  • No rent paid
    11,282
  • Less than $500
    12,069
  • $500 to $999
    14,437
  • $1,000 to $1,499
    59,703
  • $1,500 to $1,999
    122,974
  • $2,000 to $2,499
    111,410
  • $2,500 to $2,999
    59,779
  • $3,000 or more
    63,498

Property Value

The median value of a property in Orange County is $738,100.00.

Just like with rental rates, we can look at the number of properties in Orange County that fall into a particular value range.

  • Less than $50,000
    9,774
  • $50,000 to $99,999
    10,208
  • $100,000 to $149,999
    5,633
  • $150,000 to $199,999
    5,236
  • $200,000 to $299,999
    13,622
  • $300,000 to $499,999
    70,560
  • $500,000 to $999,999
    351,398
  • $1,000,000 or more
    136,009

Property Age

We can also look at the age of properties in Orange County. The chart below shows the number of properties in Orange County that fall into a particular age range.

  • 1939 or earlier
    27,544
  • 1940 to 1949
    23,093
  • 1950 to 1959
    143,842
  • 1960 to 1969
    209,990
  • 1970 to 1979
    259,496
  • 1980 to 1989
    162,540
  • 1990 to 1999
    128,784
  • 2000 to 2009
    91,977
  • 2010 to 2013
    72,278
  • 2014 or later
    2,209

Vehicles per Household

The number of vehicles available per household can be a good indicator of the level of affluence in an area. The chart below shows the number of households in Orange County that have a particular number of vehicles available.

  • No vehicles available
    48,117
  • 1 vehicle available
    283,285
  • 2 vehicles available
    431,297
  • 3 or more vehicles available
    294,893

Commuting to Work

In this section, we can also look at how people in Orange County get to work. The chart below shows the number of people in Orange County that commute to work in a particular way.

27.6 minutes is the average travel time to work for people in Orange County.

These commute times can be compared to other date like income and educational levels to see how they relate to each other and if there are any trends in the data that might suggest a correlation.

  • Less than 5 minutes
    21,740
  • 5 to 9 minutes
    95,127
  • 10 to 14 minutes
    165,407
  • 15 to 19 minutes
    215,606
  • 20 to 24 minutes
    211,910
  • 25 to 29 minutes
    91,742
  • 30 to 34 minutes
    232,122
  • 35 to 39 minutes
    40,698
  • 40 to 44 minutes
    59,237
  • 45 to 59 minutes
    113,864
  • 60 to 89 minutes
    86,016
  • 90 or more minutes
    37,925

Summary

We've covered a LOT of demographic and population data for Orange County, California in this article! Hopefully you have found it very useful in your research of the area.

If you use any of the data found on this page, please consider linking back to USPopulation.org as the source and if you have any feedback or data requests, click here to contact us.

Places in Orange County, California

We have data for 47 places in Orange County, California. Click on a place below to see more information about the demographics of that place.