El Cerrito vs Lafayette

A side-by-side comparison of El Cerrito and Lafayette: population, income, housing, and more.

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

El Cerrito has the higher population (25,781 vs 25,277 in Lafayette). Lafayette has the higher median household income ($222,393 vs $127,475 in El Cerrito). Lafayette has the higher median home value ($2,000,001 vs $1,107,500 in El Cerrito).

Population, income & housing

	El Cerrito	Lafayette
Population	25,781	25,277
Median age	42.4 yrs	45.0 yrs
Median household income	$127,475	$222,393
Median home value	$1,107,500	$2,000,001
Median gross rent	$2,444	$2,855
Housing units	11,177	9,715
Homeownership rate	57.3%	77.3%
Bachelor's degree or higher	66.2%	77.0%
Unemployment rate	4.9%	4.9%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	El Cerrito	Lafayette
Population	25,398 → 25,781 (+1.5%)	26,305 → 25,277 (-3.9%)
Median household income	$108,298 → $127,475 (+17.7%)	$178,889 → $222,393 (+24.3%)
Median home value	$804,700 → $1,107,500 (+37.6%)	$1,428,900 → $2,000,001 (+40.0%)
Median gross rent	$1,956 → $2,444 (+24.9%)	$2,222 → $2,855 (+28.5%)

El Cerrito

Population

25,39825,781

Median household income

$108,298$127,475

Median home value

$804,700$1,107,500

Median gross rent

$1,956$2,444

Lafayette

Population

26,30525,277

Median household income

$178,889$222,393

Median home value

$1,428,900$2,000,001

Median gross rent

$2,222$2,855

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	El Cerrito	Lafayette
Under 5	4.6%	4.7%
5 to 17	12.3%	21.3%
18 to 24	6.2%	5.5%
25 to 34	13.0%	6.9%
35 to 44	17.0%	11.7%
45 to 54	14.2%	16.9%
55 to 64	12.8%	13.0%
65 to 74	11.5%	10.1%
75 and over	8.4%	9.9%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	El Cerrito	Lafayette
White (non-Hispanic)	45.1%	74.2%
Black or African American	4.3%	0.9%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.1%	0.0%
Asian	29.2%	9.1%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.2%	0.0%
Some other race	0.7%	0.1%
Two or more races	6.2%	7.5%
Hispanic or Latino	14.3%	8.2%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	El Cerrito	Lafayette
No high school diploma	4.0%	0.9%
High school graduate	11.3%	5.2%
Some college or associate's	18.4%	17.0%
Bachelor's degree	33.7%	39.0%
Graduate or professional degree	32.6%	38.0%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	El Cerrito	Lafayette
Drove alone	41.0%	42.8%
Carpooled	7.1%	2.6%
Public transit	17.3%	10.4%
Walked	2.9%	2.0%
Bicycle	1.7%	0.7%
Worked from home	27.6%	40.6%
Other means	2.4%	0.8%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	El Cerrito	Lafayette
1-unit, detached	66.8%	75.7%
1-unit, attached	3.7%	5.1%
2 to 4 units	13.1%	5.7%
5 to 19 units	8.8%	5.4%
20 or more units	7.5%	7.6%
Mobile home & other	0.0%	0.6%

Poverty & households

	El Cerrito	Lafayette
Poverty rate	7.5%	3.9%
Average household size	2.40	2.73
Mean commute (minutes)	33	29
Median year structure built	1956	1960