Downey vs Pasadena

A side-by-side comparison of Downey and Pasadena: population, income, housing, and more.

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

Pasadena has the higher population (136,462 vs 111,793 in Downey). Pasadena has the higher median household income ($103,778 vs $87,400 in Downey). Pasadena has the higher median home value ($1,045,000 vs $728,500 in Downey).

Population, income & housing

	Downey	Pasadena
Population	111,793	136,462
Median age	37.0 yrs	40.1 yrs
Median household income	$87,400	$103,778
Median home value	$728,500	$1,045,000
Median gross rent	$1,892	$2,218
Housing units	35,870	62,853
Homeownership rate	50.7%	42.1%
Bachelor's degree or higher	25.6%	56.0%
Unemployment rate	5.8%	5.3%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Downey	Pasadena
Population	112,322 → 111,793 (-0.5%)	141,258 → 136,462 (-3.4%)
Median household income	$75,878 → $87,400 (+15.2%)	$83,068 → $103,778 (+24.9%)
Median home value	$569,300 → $728,500 (+28.0%)	$785,700 → $1,045,000 (+33.0%)
Median gross rent	$1,462 → $1,892 (+29.4%)	$1,710 → $2,218 (+29.7%)

Downey

Population

112,322111,793

Median household income

$75,878$87,400

Median home value

$569,300$728,500

Median gross rent

$1,462$1,892

Pasadena

Population

141,258136,462

Median household income

$83,068$103,778

Median home value

$785,700$1,045,000

Median gross rent

$1,710$2,218

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Downey	Pasadena
Under 5	5.0%	4.8%
5 to 17	16.7%	11.5%
18 to 24	9.1%	7.0%
25 to 34	16.1%	18.3%
35 to 44	12.8%	15.5%
45 to 54	13.7%	13.6%
55 to 64	12.3%	12.3%
65 to 74	8.5%	9.0%
75 and over	5.6%	8.1%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Downey	Pasadena
White (non-Hispanic)	12.1%	35.2%
Black or African American	3.3%	7.4%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.1%	0.1%
Asian	7.1%	17.4%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.3%	0.1%
Some other race	0.4%	0.5%
Two or more races	1.5%	5.1%
Hispanic or Latino	75.3%	34.1%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Downey	Pasadena
No high school diploma	18.7%	9.9%
High school graduate	25.2%	13.1%
Some college or associate's	30.6%	21.0%
Bachelor's degree	17.8%	30.0%
Graduate or professional degree	7.8%	26.0%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Downey	Pasadena
Drove alone	73.5%	58.7%
Carpooled	11.9%	4.7%
Public transit	2.9%	4.1%
Walked	1.7%	4.7%
Bicycle	0.2%	1.1%
Worked from home	8.3%	23.6%
Other means	1.5%	3.0%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Downey	Pasadena
1-unit, detached	56.9%	42.5%
1-unit, attached	6.3%	6.1%
2 to 4 units	5.1%	7.5%
5 to 19 units	16.2%	17.4%
20 or more units	14.7%	26.5%
Mobile home & other	0.8%	0.1%

Poverty & households

	Downey	Pasadena
Poverty rate	9.1%	13.2%
Average household size	3.19	2.30
Mean commute (minutes)	31	27
Median year structure built	1959	1960