Payson vs San Carlos

A side-by-side comparison of Payson and San Carlos: population, income, housing, and more.

Payson and San Carlos are places in Arizona. This page compares them across population, income, housing, education, commuting, and how each has changed since 2019.

Payson has the higher population (16,494 vs 4,769 in San Carlos). Payson has the higher median household income ($65,175 vs $50,814 in San Carlos). Payson has the higher median home value ($343,200 vs $67,700 in San Carlos).

Population, income & housing

	Payson	San Carlos
Population	16,494	4,769
Median age	58.9 yrs	28.4 yrs
Median household income	$65,175	$50,814
Median home value	$343,200	$67,700
Median gross rent	$1,355	$397
Housing units	9,824	1,280
Homeownership rate	77.2%	57.1%
Bachelor's degree or higher	26.5%	4.8%
Unemployment rate	7.8%	18.6%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Payson	San Carlos
Population	15,545 → 16,494 (+6.1%)	4,451 → 4,769 (+7.1%)
Median household income	$51,280 → $65,175 (+27.1%)	$23,750 → $50,814 (+114.0%)
Median home value	$236,300 → $343,200 (+45.2%)	$33,400 → $67,700 (+102.7%)
Median gross rent	$966 → $1,355 (+40.3%)	$388 → $397 (+2.3%)

Payson

Population

15,54516,494

Median household income

$51,280$65,175

Median home value

$236,300$343,200

Median gross rent

$966$1,355

San Carlos

Population

4,4514,769

Median household income

$23,750$50,814

Median home value

$33,400$67,700

Median gross rent

$388$397

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Payson	San Carlos
Under 5	4.1%	7.0%
5 to 17	12.1%	23.8%
18 to 24	4.9%	12.7%
25 to 34	8.5%	17.9%
35 to 44	6.5%	13.3%
45 to 54	9.1%	8.0%
55 to 64	16.9%	9.2%
65 to 74	21.4%	6.2%
75 and over	16.4%	1.7%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Payson	San Carlos
White (non-Hispanic)	83.7%	1.2%
Black or African American	0.4%	0.1%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.8%	64.5%
Asian	0.7%	1.0%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.0%	0.0%
Some other race	0.3%	0.0%
Two or more races	2.6%	32.3%
Hispanic or Latino	11.5%	1.0%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Payson	San Carlos
No high school diploma	7.5%	14.8%
High school graduate	25.8%	51.2%
Some college or associate's	40.2%	29.2%
Bachelor's degree	16.8%	1.6%
Graduate or professional degree	9.7%	3.2%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Payson	San Carlos
Drove alone	71.5%	62.5%
Carpooled	17.5%	31.2%
Public transit	0.0%	0.0%
Walked	0.4%	2.0%
Bicycle	0.0%	0.0%
Worked from home	10.1%	3.5%
Other means	0.6%	0.8%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Payson	San Carlos
1-unit, detached	75.2%	84.0%
1-unit, attached	1.0%	0.0%
2 to 4 units	3.8%	1.6%
5 to 19 units	2.7%	3.0%
20 or more units	2.1%	0.0%
Mobile home & other	15.3%	11.4%

Poverty & households

	Payson	San Carlos
Poverty rate	8.3%	44.2%
Average household size	2.06	4.05
Mean commute (minutes)	18	21
Median year structure built	1992	1989