Shafter vs Wasco

A side-by-side comparison of Shafter and Wasco: population, income, housing, and more.

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

Wasco has the higher population (26,222 vs 20,618 in Shafter). Shafter has the higher median household income ($67,989 vs $55,521 in Wasco). Shafter has the higher median home value ($306,800 vs $251,900 in Wasco).

Population, income & housing

	Shafter	Wasco
Population	20,618	26,222
Median age	28.0 yrs	30.4 yrs
Median household income	$67,989	$55,521
Median home value	$306,800	$251,900
Median gross rent	$1,140	$991
Housing units	5,684	6,455
Homeownership rate	65.6%	59.1%
Bachelor's degree or higher	10.7%	7.4%
Unemployment rate	6.5%	7.1%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Shafter	Wasco
Population	19,447 → 20,618 (+6.0%)	27,193 → 26,222 (-3.6%)
Median household income	$45,854 → $67,989 (+48.3%)	$39,250 → $55,521 (+41.5%)
Median home value	$175,300 → $306,800 (+75.0%)	$168,500 → $251,900 (+49.5%)
Median gross rent	$868 → $1,140 (+31.3%)	$756 → $991 (+31.1%)

Shafter

Population

19,44720,618

Median household income

$45,854$67,989

Median home value

$175,300$306,800

Median gross rent

$868$1,140

Wasco

Population

27,19326,222

Median household income

$39,250$55,521

Median home value

$168,500$251,900

Median gross rent

$756$991

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Shafter	Wasco
Under 5	7.3%	7.7%
5 to 17	27.2%	20.6%
18 to 24	9.5%	10.3%
25 to 34	18.6%	21.6%
35 to 44	13.3%	15.1%
45 to 54	10.6%	10.7%
55 to 64	6.5%	7.6%
65 to 74	4.3%	4.1%
75 and over	2.9%	2.3%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Shafter	Wasco
White (non-Hispanic)	16.3%	7.1%
Black or African American	1.3%	4.0%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.0%	0.4%
Asian	1.3%	0.6%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.0%	0.0%
Some other race	0.0%	0.1%
Two or more races	0.7%	0.5%
Hispanic or Latino	80.2%	87.3%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Shafter	Wasco
No high school diploma	27.7%	37.7%
High school graduate	30.6%	31.3%
Some college or associate's	31.0%	23.5%
Bachelor's degree	7.1%	5.7%
Graduate or professional degree	3.5%	1.8%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Shafter	Wasco
Drove alone	84.3%	78.1%
Carpooled	11.5%	17.7%
Public transit	0.0%	0.0%
Walked	0.3%	2.0%
Bicycle	0.0%	0.0%
Worked from home	3.3%	1.9%
Other means	0.6%	0.3%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Shafter	Wasco
1-unit, detached	83.0%	75.8%
1-unit, attached	1.2%	2.6%
2 to 4 units	7.2%	5.8%
5 to 19 units	0.7%	2.7%
20 or more units	1.4%	8.7%
Mobile home & other	6.6%	4.4%

Poverty & households

	Shafter	Wasco
Poverty rate	21.3%	19.2%
Average household size	3.67	3.71
Mean commute (minutes)	22	22
Median year structure built	1995	1978