Mesa vs Phoenix

A side-by-side comparison of Mesa and Phoenix: population, income, housing, and more.

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

Phoenix has the higher population (1,624,832 vs 507,478 in Mesa). Mesa has the higher median household income ($78,779 vs $77,041 in Phoenix). Phoenix has the higher median home value ($381,900 vs $364,300 in Mesa).

Population, income & housing

	Mesa	Phoenix
Population	507,478	1,624,832
Median age	37.2 yrs	34.8 yrs
Median household income	$78,779	$77,041
Median home value	$364,300	$381,900
Median gross rent	$1,478	$1,458
Housing units	221,129	642,867
Homeownership rate	64.4%	57.1%
Bachelor's degree or higher	31.5%	32.3%
Unemployment rate	4.6%	5.1%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Mesa	Phoenix
Population	499,720 → 507,478 (+1.6%)	1,633,017 → 1,624,832 (-0.5%)
Median household income	$58,181 → $78,779 (+35.4%)	$57,459 → $77,041 (+34.1%)
Median home value	$226,500 → $364,300 (+60.8%)	$235,400 → $381,900 (+62.2%)
Median gross rent	$1,044 → $1,478 (+41.6%)	$1,053 → $1,458 (+38.5%)

Mesa

Population

499,720507,478

Median household income

$58,181$78,779

Median home value

$226,500$364,300

Median gross rent

$1,044$1,478

Phoenix

Population

1,633,0171,624,832

Median household income

$57,459$77,041

Median home value

$235,400$381,900

Median gross rent

$1,053$1,458

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Mesa	Phoenix
Under 5	6.2%	6.1%
5 to 17	16.8%	18.0%
18 to 24	8.8%	9.9%
25 to 34	15.3%	16.3%
35 to 44	12.5%	14.1%
45 to 54	11.6%	12.5%
55 to 64	11.5%	11.2%
65 to 74	9.7%	7.4%
75 and over	7.5%	4.4%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Mesa	Phoenix
White (non-Hispanic)	60.7%	41.3%
Black or African American	4.1%	7.4%
American Indian & Alaska Native	1.5%	1.4%
Asian	2.3%	3.8%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.2%	0.2%
Some other race	0.3%	0.4%
Two or more races	4.2%	3.6%
Hispanic or Latino	26.6%	41.8%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Mesa	Phoenix
No high school diploma	9.0%	15.6%
High school graduate	23.9%	23.1%
Some college or associate's	35.6%	29.0%
Bachelor's degree	20.9%	19.9%
Graduate or professional degree	10.5%	12.5%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Mesa	Phoenix
Drove alone	67.7%	66.1%
Carpooled	11.0%	10.9%
Public transit	0.9%	2.0%
Walked	1.4%	1.6%
Bicycle	0.4%	0.4%
Worked from home	16.9%	16.9%
Other means	1.7%	2.0%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Mesa	Phoenix
1-unit, detached	55.1%	59.9%
1-unit, attached	6.0%	4.7%
2 to 4 units	6.1%	6.2%
5 to 19 units	11.2%	10.9%
20 or more units	8.3%	15.3%
Mobile home & other	13.3%	3.0%

Poverty & households

	Mesa	Phoenix
Poverty rate	10.5%	14.3%
Average household size	2.56	2.66
Mean commute (minutes)	25	26
Median year structure built	1988	1984