Lancaster vs Palmdale

A side-by-side comparison of Lancaster and Palmdale: population, income, housing, and more.

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

Lancaster has the higher population (170,013 vs 165,487 in Palmdale). Palmdale has the higher median household income ($81,151 vs $76,083 in Lancaster). Palmdale has the higher median home value ($435,300 vs $409,100 in Lancaster).

Population, income & housing

	Lancaster	Palmdale
Population	170,013	165,487
Median age	34.2 yrs	33.2 yrs
Median household income	$76,083	$81,151
Median home value	$409,100	$435,300
Median gross rent	$1,696	$1,736
Housing units	55,045	48,505
Homeownership rate	58.4%	66.2%
Bachelor's degree or higher	20.1%	16.6%
Unemployment rate	7.1%	7.4%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Lancaster	Palmdale
Population	159,028 → 170,013 (+6.9%)	156,293 → 165,487 (+5.9%)
Median household income	$55,237 → $76,083 (+37.7%)	$62,865 → $81,151 (+29.1%)
Median home value	$261,400 → $409,100 (+56.5%)	$280,000 → $435,300 (+55.5%)
Median gross rent	$1,215 → $1,696 (+39.6%)	$1,319 → $1,736 (+31.6%)

Lancaster

Population

159,028170,013

Median household income

$55,237$76,083

Median home value

$261,400$409,100

Median gross rent

$1,215$1,696

Palmdale

Population

156,293165,487

Median household income

$62,865$81,151

Median home value

$280,000$435,300

Median gross rent

$1,319$1,736

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Lancaster	Palmdale
Under 5	5.9%	7.2%
5 to 17	21.3%	21.9%
18 to 24	9.5%	9.4%
25 to 34	14.3%	13.7%
35 to 44	13.6%	13.2%
45 to 54	11.5%	12.1%
55 to 64	12.0%	11.7%
65 to 74	7.8%	7.0%
75 and over	4.2%	3.7%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Lancaster	Palmdale
White (non-Hispanic)	24.4%	17.0%
Black or African American	21.0%	13.0%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.1%	0.5%
Asian	3.9%	4.3%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.2%	0.1%
Some other race	0.6%	0.6%
Two or more races	3.9%	1.8%
Hispanic or Latino	45.9%	62.8%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Lancaster	Palmdale
No high school diploma	18.0%	23.0%
High school graduate	29.6%	30.6%
Some college or associate's	32.3%	29.8%
Bachelor's degree	12.7%	11.4%
Graduate or professional degree	7.4%	5.2%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Lancaster	Palmdale
Drove alone	74.8%	74.0%
Carpooled	11.3%	13.3%
Public transit	1.3%	1.3%
Walked	1.2%	0.8%
Bicycle	0.4%	0.0%
Worked from home	9.4%	8.2%
Other means	1.4%	2.3%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Lancaster	Palmdale
1-unit, detached	70.3%	78.5%
1-unit, attached	1.7%	1.8%
2 to 4 units	4.7%	2.8%
5 to 19 units	8.2%	4.8%
20 or more units	8.0%	7.5%
Mobile home & other	7.0%	4.6%

Poverty & households

	Lancaster	Palmdale
Poverty rate	15.5%	14.6%
Average household size	3.15	3.55
Mean commute (minutes)	31	42
Median year structure built	1986	1989