Arcata vs Fortuna

A side-by-side comparison of Arcata and Fortuna: population, income, housing, and more.

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

Arcata has the higher population (18,578 vs 12,413 in Fortuna). Fortuna has the higher median household income ($61,603 vs $48,731 in Arcata). Arcata has the higher median home value ($466,600 vs $353,200 in Fortuna).

Population, income & housing

	Arcata	Fortuna
Population	18,578	12,413
Median age	28.0 yrs	36.7 yrs
Median household income	$48,731	$61,603
Median home value	$466,600	$353,200
Median gross rent	$1,287	$1,126
Housing units	8,376	5,245
Homeownership rate	33.9%	59.0%
Bachelor's degree or higher	45.1%	22.8%
Unemployment rate	13.2%	6.1%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Arcata	Fortuna
Population	18,178 → 18,578 (+2.2%)	12,210 → 12,413 (+1.7%)
Median household income	$35,506 → $48,731 (+37.2%)	$46,193 → $61,603 (+33.4%)
Median home value	$341,000 → $466,600 (+36.8%)	$283,400 → $353,200 (+24.6%)
Median gross rent	$1,023 → $1,287 (+25.8%)	$912 → $1,126 (+23.5%)

Arcata

Population

18,17818,578

Median household income

$35,506$48,731

Median home value

$341,000$466,600

Median gross rent

$1,023$1,287

Fortuna

Population

12,21012,413

Median household income

$46,193$61,603

Median home value

$283,400$353,200

Median gross rent

$912$1,126

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Arcata	Fortuna
Under 5	2.3%	5.4%
5 to 17	10.3%	16.7%
18 to 24	30.0%	12.1%
25 to 34	17.5%	12.7%
35 to 44	12.4%	11.6%
45 to 54	7.1%	10.8%
55 to 64	7.4%	14.4%
65 to 74	8.7%	8.7%
75 and over	4.4%	7.8%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Arcata	Fortuna
White (non-Hispanic)	70.9%	66.1%
Black or African American	2.1%	0.8%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.6%	1.8%
Asian	2.2%	2.9%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.5%	0.0%
Some other race	1.5%	0.3%
Two or more races	6.8%	6.5%
Hispanic or Latino	15.4%	21.6%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Arcata	Fortuna
No high school diploma	5.0%	14.0%
High school graduate	14.2%	28.7%
Some college or associate's	35.7%	34.5%
Bachelor's degree	28.3%	15.4%
Graduate or professional degree	16.7%	7.3%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Arcata	Fortuna
Drove alone	59.2%	76.4%
Carpooled	9.7%	9.5%
Public transit	1.4%	1.6%
Walked	12.8%	4.0%
Bicycle	1.8%	1.8%
Worked from home	13.4%	6.1%
Other means	1.7%	0.6%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Arcata	Fortuna
1-unit, detached	44.8%	69.0%
1-unit, attached	6.3%	6.9%
2 to 4 units	17.4%	12.7%
5 to 19 units	18.9%	6.1%
20 or more units	6.7%	1.5%
Mobile home & other	6.0%	3.8%

Poverty & households

	Arcata	Fortuna
Poverty rate	29.6%	16.8%
Average household size	2.21	2.51
Mean commute (minutes)	18	23
Median year structure built	1976	1975