Berkeley vs Hayward

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

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

Hayward has the higher population (159,201 vs 120,223 in Berkeley). Hayward has the higher median household income ($113,775 vs $108,558 in Berkeley). Berkeley has the higher median home value ($1,351,100 vs $820,700 in Hayward).

Population, income & housing

	Berkeley	Hayward
Population	120,223	159,201
Median age	32.9 yrs	38.2 yrs
Median household income	$108,558	$113,775
Median home value	$1,351,100	$820,700
Median gross rent	$2,127	$2,360
Housing units	52,112	52,182
Homeownership rate	43.3%	56.9%
Bachelor's degree or higher	75.1%	32.6%
Unemployment rate	6.0%	5.9%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Berkeley	Hayward
Population	121,485 → 120,223 (-1.0%)	159,293 → 159,201 (-0.1%)
Median household income	$85,530 → $108,558 (+26.9%)	$86,744 → $113,775 (+31.2%)
Median home value	$1,004,900 → $1,351,100 (+34.5%)	$581,200 → $820,700 (+41.2%)
Median gross rent	$1,722 → $2,127 (+23.5%)	$1,825 → $2,360 (+29.3%)

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

Hayward

Population

159,293159,201

Median household income

$86,744$113,775

Median home value

$581,200$820,700

Median gross rent

$1,825$2,360

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Berkeley	Hayward
Under 5	3.0%	5.4%
5 to 17	9.1%	14.8%
18 to 24	24.3%	8.2%
25 to 34	16.4%	17.1%
35 to 44	10.9%	14.5%
45 to 54	10.0%	13.0%
55 to 64	9.6%	13.7%
65 to 74	10.1%	8.0%
75 and over	6.4%	5.3%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Berkeley	Hayward
White (non-Hispanic)	51.7%	13.1%
Black or African American	7.1%	8.7%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.1%	0.2%
Asian	20.6%	29.1%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.1%	2.5%
Some other race	0.9%	0.6%
Two or more races	7.3%	4.9%
Hispanic or Latino	12.1%	40.9%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Berkeley	Hayward
No high school diploma	3.9%	17.5%
High school graduate	6.6%	23.9%
Some college or associate's	14.4%	25.9%
Bachelor's degree	33.4%	23.2%
Graduate or professional degree	41.6%	9.4%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Berkeley	Hayward
Drove alone	27.4%	66.8%
Carpooled	3.8%	12.6%
Public transit	15.8%	5.1%
Walked	13.5%	1.1%
Bicycle	4.8%	0.3%
Worked from home	32.5%	12.3%
Other means	2.3%	1.7%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Berkeley	Hayward
1-unit, detached	40.4%	51.7%
1-unit, attached	3.6%	10.8%
2 to 4 units	18.0%	5.7%
5 to 19 units	18.7%	9.0%
20 or more units	19.1%	18.0%
Mobile home & other	0.2%	4.7%

Poverty & households

	Berkeley	Hayward
Poverty rate	16.8%	9.5%
Average household size	2.30	3.15
Mean commute (minutes)	30	34
Median year structure built	1946	1972