Alameda vs Berkeley

A side-by-side comparison of Alameda and Berkeley: population, income, housing, and more.

Alameda and Berkeley are places in California. This page compares them across population, income, housing, education, commuting, and how each has changed since 2019.

Berkeley has the higher population (120,223 vs 76,876 in Alameda). Alameda has the higher median household income ($132,015 vs $108,558 in Berkeley). Berkeley has the higher median home value ($1,351,100 vs $1,203,900 in Alameda).

Population, income & housing

	Alameda	Berkeley
Population	76,876	120,223
Median age	40.7 yrs	32.9 yrs
Median household income	$132,015	$108,558
Median home value	$1,203,900	$1,351,100
Median gross rent	$2,394	$2,127
Housing units	32,129	52,112
Homeownership rate	49.0%	43.3%
Bachelor's degree or higher	60.3%	75.1%
Unemployment rate	5.0%	6.0%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Alameda	Berkeley
Population	78,522 → 76,876 (-2.1%)	121,485 → 120,223 (-1.0%)
Median household income	$104,756 → $132,015 (+26.0%)	$85,530 → $108,558 (+26.9%)
Median home value	$859,900 → $1,203,900 (+40.0%)	$1,004,900 → $1,351,100 (+34.5%)
Median gross rent	$1,836 → $2,394 (+30.4%)	$1,722 → $2,127 (+23.5%)

Alameda

Population

78,52276,876

Median household income

$104,756$132,015

Median home value

$859,900$1,203,900

Median gross rent

$1,836$2,394

Berkeley

Population

121,485120,223

Median household income

$85,530$108,558

Median home value

$1,004,900$1,351,100

Median gross rent

$1,722$2,127

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Alameda	Berkeley
Under 5	6.5%	3.0%
5 to 17	15.9%	9.1%
18 to 24	5.0%	24.3%
25 to 34	13.1%	16.4%
35 to 44	16.3%	10.9%
45 to 54	13.8%	10.0%
55 to 64	12.2%	9.6%
65 to 74	10.6%	10.1%
75 and over	6.6%	6.4%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Alameda	Berkeley
White (non-Hispanic)	40.5%	51.7%
Black or African American	5.9%	7.1%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.2%	0.1%
Asian	30.0%	20.6%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.4%	0.1%
Some other race	1.1%	0.9%
Two or more races	7.6%	7.3%
Hispanic or Latino	14.2%	12.1%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Alameda	Berkeley
No high school diploma	6.6%	3.9%
High school graduate	10.8%	6.6%
Some college or associate's	22.3%	14.4%
Bachelor's degree	34.9%	33.4%
Graduate or professional degree	25.4%	41.6%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Alameda	Berkeley
Drove alone	46.7%	27.4%
Carpooled	6.4%	3.8%
Public transit	12.2%	15.8%
Walked	2.6%	13.5%
Bicycle	2.5%	4.8%
Worked from home	28.1%	32.5%
Other means	1.6%	2.3%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Alameda	Berkeley
1-unit, detached	42.6%	40.4%
1-unit, attached	11.9%	3.6%
2 to 4 units	14.3%	18.0%
5 to 19 units	10.6%	18.7%
20 or more units	20.4%	19.1%
Mobile home & other	0.3%	0.2%

Poverty & households

	Alameda	Berkeley
Poverty rate	6.9%	16.8%
Average household size	2.54	2.30
Mean commute (minutes)	32	30
Median year structure built	1964	1946