Lakewood vs Whittier

A side-by-side comparison of Lakewood and Whittier: population, income, housing, and more.

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

Whittier has the higher population (85,925 vs 80,510 in Lakewood). Lakewood has the higher median household income ($116,794 vs $92,374 in Whittier). Lakewood has the higher median home value ($774,100 vs $751,700 in Whittier).

Population, income & housing

	Lakewood	Whittier
Population	80,510	85,925
Median age	39.0 yrs	38.3 yrs
Median household income	$116,794	$92,374
Median home value	$774,100	$751,700
Median gross rent	$2,324	$1,829
Housing units	26,709	29,185
Homeownership rate	72.0%	58.5%
Bachelor's degree or higher	32.6%	29.2%
Unemployment rate	5.5%	5.4%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Lakewood	Whittier
Population	80,292 → 80,510 (+0.3%)	86,090 → 85,925 (-0.2%)
Median household income	$93,432 → $116,794 (+25.0%)	$77,270 → $92,374 (+19.5%)
Median home value	$568,600 → $774,100 (+36.1%)	$574,400 → $751,700 (+30.9%)
Median gross rent	$1,839 → $2,324 (+26.4%)	$1,354 → $1,829 (+35.1%)

Lakewood

Population

80,29280,510

Median household income

$93,432$116,794

Median home value

$568,600$774,100

Median gross rent

$1,839$2,324

Whittier

Population

86,09085,925

Median household income

$77,270$92,374

Median home value

$574,400$751,700

Median gross rent

$1,354$1,829

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Lakewood	Whittier
Under 5	5.9%	5.2%
5 to 17	15.2%	17.7%
18 to 24	8.6%	9.6%
25 to 34	14.0%	12.6%
35 to 44	15.0%	14.8%
45 to 54	12.8%	13.0%
55 to 64	14.0%	12.4%
65 to 74	8.5%	8.1%
75 and over	6.1%	6.5%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Lakewood	Whittier
White (non-Hispanic)	32.0%	23.1%
Black or African American	7.8%	1.0%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.2%	0.3%
Asian	17.5%	4.8%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.8%	0.0%
Some other race	0.5%	2.2%
Two or more races	5.2%	1.9%
Hispanic or Latino	36.2%	66.7%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Lakewood	Whittier
No high school diploma	9.6%	11.0%
High school graduate	22.9%	28.1%
Some college or associate's	34.8%	31.7%
Bachelor's degree	22.2%	18.5%
Graduate or professional degree	10.4%	10.7%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Lakewood	Whittier
Drove alone	75.4%	74.9%
Carpooled	8.7%	9.3%
Public transit	1.1%	1.7%
Walked	1.1%	1.5%
Bicycle	0.4%	0.7%
Worked from home	12.4%	10.9%
Other means	0.9%	0.9%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Lakewood	Whittier
1-unit, detached	79.5%	65.3%
1-unit, attached	4.5%	5.4%
2 to 4 units	2.2%	7.2%
5 to 19 units	6.1%	13.1%
20 or more units	7.0%	8.1%
Mobile home & other	0.7%	0.9%

Poverty & households

	Lakewood	Whittier
Poverty rate	5.9%	8.8%
Average household size	3.08	3.04
Mean commute (minutes)	29	33
Median year structure built	1957	1956