Cottonwood vs Lake Isabella

A side-by-side comparison of Cottonwood and Lake Isabella: population, income, housing, and more.

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

Lake Isabella has the higher population (3,654 vs 3,102 in Cottonwood). Cottonwood has the higher median household income ($40,339 vs $26,763 in Lake Isabella). Cottonwood has the higher median home value ($256,400 vs $112,200 in Lake Isabella).

Population, income & housing

	Cottonwood	Lake Isabella
Population	3,102	3,654
Median age	21.7 yrs	36.9 yrs
Median household income	$40,339	$26,763
Median home value	$256,400	$112,200
Median gross rent	$947	$1,138
Housing units	893	2,117
Homeownership rate	10.8%	61.8%
Bachelor's degree or higher	6.2%	7.7%
Unemployment rate	15.7%	11.7%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Cottonwood	Lake Isabella
Population	3,121 → 3,102 (-0.6%)	3,495 → 3,654 (+4.5%)
Median household income	$23,639 → $40,339 (+70.6%)	$35,500 → $26,763 (-24.6%)
Median home value	$98,800 → $256,400 (+159.5%)	$84,300 → $112,200 (+33.1%)
Median gross rent	$733 → $947 (+29.2%)	$863 → $1,138 (+31.9%)

Cottonwood

Population

3,1213,102

Median household income

$23,639$40,339

Median home value

$98,800$256,400

Median gross rent

$733$947

Lake Isabella

Population

3,4953,654

Median household income

$35,500$26,763

Median home value

$84,300$112,200

Median gross rent

$863$1,138

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Cottonwood	Lake Isabella
Under 5	17.4%	6.9%
5 to 17	29.2%	27.3%
18 to 24	11.7%	0.7%
25 to 34	15.6%	10.6%
35 to 44	6.9%	8.0%
45 to 54	6.0%	9.8%
55 to 64	7.2%	16.6%
65 to 74	3.9%	10.1%
75 and over	2.1%	10.0%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Cottonwood	Lake Isabella
White (non-Hispanic)	3.1%	68.4%
Black or African American	12.7%	0.4%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.0%	1.6%
Asian	0.0%	1.6%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.0%	0.0%
Some other race	0.0%	0.0%
Two or more races	4.5%	7.2%
Hispanic or Latino	79.7%	20.7%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Cottonwood	Lake Isabella
No high school diploma	52.8%	8.1%
High school graduate	31.5%	50.3%
Some college or associate's	9.5%	33.9%
Bachelor's degree	1.9%	4.7%
Graduate or professional degree	4.3%	3.0%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Cottonwood	Lake Isabella
Drove alone	87.1%	86.0%
Carpooled	0.0%	7.5%
Public transit	1.8%	0.0%
Walked	0.0%	1.8%
Bicycle	0.0%	0.0%
Worked from home	9.5%	3.5%
Other means	1.6%	1.2%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Cottonwood	Lake Isabella
1-unit, detached	48.6%	38.1%
1-unit, attached	4.1%	0.9%
2 to 4 units	8.2%	4.6%
5 to 19 units	20.0%	0.8%
20 or more units	19.0%	0.0%
Mobile home & other	0.0%	55.7%

Poverty & households

	Cottonwood	Lake Isabella
Poverty rate	47.3%	38.6%
Average household size	3.71	2.32
Mean commute (minutes)	22	25
Median year structure built	1988	1970