Lancaster vs Pasadena

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

Lancaster and Pasadena 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 136,462 in Pasadena). Pasadena has the higher median household income ($103,778 vs $76,083 in Lancaster). Pasadena has the higher median home value ($1,045,000 vs $409,100 in Lancaster).

Population, income & housing

	Lancaster	Pasadena
Population	170,013	136,462
Median age	34.2 yrs	40.1 yrs
Median household income	$76,083	$103,778
Median home value	$409,100	$1,045,000
Median gross rent	$1,696	$2,218
Housing units	55,045	62,853
Homeownership rate	58.4%	42.1%
Bachelor's degree or higher	20.1%	56.0%
Unemployment rate	7.1%	5.3%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Lancaster	Pasadena
Population	159,028 → 170,013 (+6.9%)	141,258 → 136,462 (-3.4%)
Median household income	$55,237 → $76,083 (+37.7%)	$83,068 → $103,778 (+24.9%)
Median home value	$261,400 → $409,100 (+56.5%)	$785,700 → $1,045,000 (+33.0%)
Median gross rent	$1,215 → $1,696 (+39.6%)	$1,710 → $2,218 (+29.7%)

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

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)

	Lancaster	Pasadena
Under 5	5.9%	4.8%
5 to 17	21.3%	11.5%
18 to 24	9.5%	7.0%
25 to 34	14.3%	18.3%
35 to 44	13.6%	15.5%
45 to 54	11.5%	13.6%
55 to 64	12.0%	12.3%
65 to 74	7.8%	9.0%
75 and over	4.2%	8.1%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Lancaster	Pasadena
White (non-Hispanic)	24.4%	35.2%
Black or African American	21.0%	7.4%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.1%	0.1%
Asian	3.9%	17.4%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.2%	0.1%
Some other race	0.6%	0.5%
Two or more races	3.9%	5.1%
Hispanic or Latino	45.9%	34.1%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Lancaster	Pasadena
No high school diploma	18.0%	9.9%
High school graduate	29.6%	13.1%
Some college or associate's	32.3%	21.0%
Bachelor's degree	12.7%	30.0%
Graduate or professional degree	7.4%	26.0%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Lancaster	Pasadena
Drove alone	74.8%	58.7%
Carpooled	11.3%	4.7%
Public transit	1.3%	4.1%
Walked	1.2%	4.7%
Bicycle	0.4%	1.1%
Worked from home	9.4%	23.6%
Other means	1.4%	3.0%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Lancaster	Pasadena
1-unit, detached	70.3%	42.5%
1-unit, attached	1.7%	6.1%
2 to 4 units	4.7%	7.5%
5 to 19 units	8.2%	17.4%
20 or more units	8.0%	26.5%
Mobile home & other	7.0%	0.1%

Poverty & households

	Lancaster	Pasadena
Poverty rate	15.5%	13.2%
Average household size	3.15	2.30
Mean commute (minutes)	31	27
Median year structure built	1986	1960