Hercules vs Lafayette

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

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

Hercules has the higher population (26,245 vs 25,277 in Lafayette). Lafayette has the higher median household income ($222,393 vs $130,583 in Hercules). Lafayette has the higher median home value ($2,000,001 vs $741,200 in Hercules).

Population, income & housing

	Hercules	Lafayette
Population	26,245	25,277
Median age	43.5 yrs	45.0 yrs
Median household income	$130,583	$222,393
Median home value	$741,200	$2,000,001
Median gross rent	$3,003	$2,855
Housing units	9,615	9,715
Homeownership rate	81.1%	77.3%
Bachelor's degree or higher	46.3%	77.0%
Unemployment rate	4.7%	4.9%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Hercules	Lafayette
Population	25,616 → 26,245 (+2.5%)	26,305 → 25,277 (-3.9%)
Median household income	$117,018 → $130,583 (+11.6%)	$178,889 → $222,393 (+24.3%)
Median home value	$561,600 → $741,200 (+32.0%)	$1,428,900 → $2,000,001 (+40.0%)
Median gross rent	$2,201 → $3,003 (+36.4%)	$2,222 → $2,855 (+28.5%)

Hercules

Population

25,61626,245

Median household income

$117,018$130,583

Median home value

$561,600$741,200

Median gross rent

$2,201$3,003

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)

	Hercules	Lafayette
Under 5	3.9%	4.7%
5 to 17	14.0%	21.3%
18 to 24	7.5%	5.5%
25 to 34	11.7%	6.9%
35 to 44	15.3%	11.7%
45 to 54	13.5%	16.9%
55 to 64	15.5%	13.0%
65 to 74	12.0%	10.1%
75 and over	6.7%	9.9%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Hercules	Lafayette
White (non-Hispanic)	15.4%	74.2%
Black or African American	18.4%	0.9%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.0%	0.0%
Asian	43.6%	9.1%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.8%	0.0%
Some other race	0.4%	0.1%
Two or more races	6.6%	7.5%
Hispanic or Latino	14.8%	8.2%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Hercules	Lafayette
No high school diploma	7.7%	0.9%
High school graduate	13.7%	5.2%
Some college or associate's	32.3%	17.0%
Bachelor's degree	32.0%	39.0%
Graduate or professional degree	14.3%	38.0%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Hercules	Lafayette
Drove alone	62.9%	42.8%
Carpooled	7.3%	2.6%
Public transit	9.1%	10.4%
Walked	0.3%	2.0%
Bicycle	0.1%	0.7%
Worked from home	18.1%	40.6%
Other means	2.2%	0.8%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Hercules	Lafayette
1-unit, detached	59.3%	75.7%
1-unit, attached	19.3%	5.1%
2 to 4 units	6.6%	5.7%
5 to 19 units	8.0%	5.4%
20 or more units	6.5%	7.6%
Mobile home & other	0.3%	0.6%

Poverty & households

	Hercules	Lafayette
Poverty rate	5.4%	3.9%
Average household size	2.81	2.73
Mean commute (minutes)	39	29
Median year structure built	1988	1960