Brawley vs El Centro

A side-by-side comparison of Brawley and El Centro: population, income, housing, and more.

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

El Centro has the higher population (44,186 vs 26,934 in Brawley). Brawley has the higher median household income ($60,370 vs $56,093 in El Centro). El Centro has the higher median home value ($291,100 vs $270,100 in Brawley).

Population, income & housing

	Brawley	El Centro
Population	26,934	44,186
Median age	30.8 yrs	31.6 yrs
Median household income	$60,370	$56,093
Median home value	$270,100	$291,100
Median gross rent	$954	$992
Housing units	8,597	14,535
Homeownership rate	53.4%	50.0%
Bachelor's degree or higher	13.8%	15.8%
Unemployment rate	15.4%	9.9%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Brawley	El Centro
Population	26,076 → 26,934 (+3.3%)	44,003 → 44,186 (+0.4%)
Median household income	$42,326 → $60,370 (+42.6%)	$47,864 → $56,093 (+17.2%)
Median home value	$188,900 → $270,100 (+43.0%)	$192,600 → $291,100 (+51.1%)
Median gross rent	$828 → $954 (+15.2%)	$803 → $992 (+23.5%)

Brawley

Population

26,07626,934

Median household income

$42,326$60,370

Median home value

$188,900$270,100

Median gross rent

$828$954

El Centro

Population

44,00344,186

Median household income

$47,864$56,093

Median home value

$192,600$291,100

Median gross rent

$803$992

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Brawley	El Centro
Under 5	9.0%	6.3%
5 to 17	21.2%	23.6%
18 to 24	10.8%	10.2%
25 to 34	14.8%	14.2%
35 to 44	10.9%	11.2%
45 to 54	11.5%	11.2%
55 to 64	9.3%	10.0%
65 to 74	6.2%	7.4%
75 and over	6.3%	5.8%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Brawley	El Centro
White (non-Hispanic)	12.0%	7.6%
Black or African American	0.5%	3.9%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.4%	0.0%
Asian	1.3%	1.0%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.0%	0.0%
Some other race	0.0%	0.0%
Two or more races	0.8%	0.6%
Hispanic or Latino	85.0%	86.9%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Brawley	El Centro
No high school diploma	25.6%	26.5%
High school graduate	25.9%	26.0%
Some college or associate's	34.7%	31.7%
Bachelor's degree	10.7%	10.0%
Graduate or professional degree	3.1%	5.8%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Brawley	El Centro
Drove alone	76.3%	78.0%
Carpooled	7.7%	14.0%
Public transit	0.8%	0.0%
Walked	1.5%	1.6%
Bicycle	0.5%	0.0%
Worked from home	9.3%	4.6%
Other means	3.9%	1.9%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Brawley	El Centro
1-unit, detached	61.6%	54.4%
1-unit, attached	2.6%	2.6%
2 to 4 units	8.7%	14.3%
5 to 19 units	18.9%	11.6%
20 or more units	2.8%	8.9%
Mobile home & other	5.4%	8.3%

Poverty & households

	Brawley	El Centro
Poverty rate	20.9%	20.1%
Average household size	3.47	3.41
Mean commute (minutes)	20	23
Median year structure built	1982	1982