Compton vs South Gate

A side-by-side comparison of Compton and South Gate: population, income, housing, and more.

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

Compton has the higher population (93,525 vs 91,836 in South Gate). Compton has the higher median household income ($74,270 vs $71,315 in South Gate). South Gate has the higher median home value ($608,500 vs $546,700 in Compton).

Population, income & housing

	Compton	South Gate
Population	93,525	91,836
Median age	33.9 yrs	35.2 yrs
Median household income	$74,270	$71,315
Median home value	$546,700	$608,500
Median gross rent	$1,601	$1,471
Housing units	25,154	25,430
Homeownership rate	57.4%	44.4%
Bachelor's degree or higher	10.9%	11.5%
Unemployment rate	7.1%	6.9%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Compton	South Gate
Population	96,803 → 93,525 (-3.4%)	94,642 → 91,836 (-3.0%)
Median household income	$52,883 → $74,270 (+40.4%)	$52,321 → $71,315 (+36.3%)
Median home value	$355,200 → $546,700 (+53.9%)	$408,200 → $608,500 (+49.1%)
Median gross rent	$1,219 → $1,601 (+31.3%)	$1,160 → $1,471 (+26.8%)

Compton

Population

96,80393,525

Median household income

$52,883$74,270

Median home value

$355,200$546,700

Median gross rent

$1,219$1,601

South Gate

Population

94,64291,836

Median household income

$52,321$71,315

Median home value

$408,200$608,500

Median gross rent

$1,160$1,471

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Compton	South Gate
Under 5	7.4%	5.1%
5 to 17	20.1%	18.1%
18 to 24	9.7%	10.4%
25 to 34	14.4%	16.0%
35 to 44	14.0%	12.7%
45 to 54	12.3%	13.9%
55 to 64	11.5%	11.7%
65 to 74	6.7%	8.0%
75 and over	3.9%	4.0%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Compton	South Gate
White (non-Hispanic)	0.7%	2.5%
Black or African American	24.9%	0.9%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.0%	0.1%
Asian	1.1%	0.7%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.1%	0.1%
Some other race	0.9%	0.3%
Two or more races	1.0%	0.4%
Hispanic or Latino	71.2%	95.0%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Compton	South Gate
No high school diploma	35.6%	40.9%
High school graduate	28.1%	25.5%
Some college or associate's	25.4%	22.1%
Bachelor's degree	7.7%	9.4%
Graduate or professional degree	3.3%	2.1%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Compton	South Gate
Drove alone	77.9%	69.2%
Carpooled	11.6%	16.4%
Public transit	3.6%	4.1%
Walked	0.6%	1.7%
Bicycle	0.2%	0.1%
Worked from home	4.3%	6.4%
Other means	1.7%	2.1%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Compton	South Gate
1-unit, detached	66.9%	54.5%
1-unit, attached	6.4%	9.7%
2 to 4 units	11.6%	17.0%
5 to 19 units	8.3%	12.2%
20 or more units	3.8%	5.0%
Mobile home & other	2.9%	1.6%

Poverty & households

	Compton	South Gate
Poverty rate	17.1%	13.2%
Average household size	3.84	3.70
Mean commute (minutes)	30	32
Median year structure built	1957	1952