Lancaster vs Santa Clarita

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

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

Santa Clarita has the higher population (229,021 vs 170,013 in Lancaster). Santa Clarita has the higher median household income ($119,926 vs $76,083 in Lancaster). Santa Clarita has the higher median home value ($721,000 vs $409,100 in Lancaster).

Population, income & housing

	Lancaster	Santa Clarita
Population	170,013	229,021
Median age	34.2 yrs	38.1 yrs
Median household income	$76,083	$119,926
Median home value	$409,100	$721,000
Median gross rent	$1,696	$2,486
Housing units	55,045	77,808
Homeownership rate	58.4%	72.0%
Bachelor's degree or higher	20.1%	39.3%
Unemployment rate	7.1%	5.3%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Lancaster	Santa Clarita
Population	159,028 → 170,013 (+6.9%)	213,411 → 229,021 (+7.3%)
Median household income	$55,237 → $76,083 (+37.7%)	$99,666 → $119,926 (+20.3%)
Median home value	$261,400 → $409,100 (+56.5%)	$537,000 → $721,000 (+34.3%)
Median gross rent	$1,215 → $1,696 (+39.6%)	$1,895 → $2,486 (+31.2%)

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

Santa Clarita

Population

213,411229,021

Median household income

$99,666$119,926

Median home value

$537,000$721,000

Median gross rent

$1,895$2,486

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Lancaster	Santa Clarita
Under 5	5.9%	6.3%
5 to 17	21.3%	18.6%
18 to 24	9.5%	8.1%
25 to 34	14.3%	12.5%
35 to 44	13.6%	14.2%
45 to 54	11.5%	14.2%
55 to 64	12.0%	13.0%
65 to 74	7.8%	8.0%
75 and over	4.2%	5.1%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Lancaster	Santa Clarita
White (non-Hispanic)	24.4%	43.3%
Black or African American	21.0%	4.2%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.1%	0.1%
Asian	3.9%	11.1%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.2%	0.4%
Some other race	0.6%	0.6%
Two or more races	3.9%	4.3%
Hispanic or Latino	45.9%	36.0%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Lancaster	Santa Clarita
No high school diploma	18.0%	8.7%
High school graduate	29.6%	18.6%
Some college or associate's	32.3%	33.3%
Bachelor's degree	12.7%	26.5%
Graduate or professional degree	7.4%	12.8%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Lancaster	Santa Clarita
Drove alone	74.8%	70.9%
Carpooled	11.3%	8.3%
Public transit	1.3%	1.9%
Walked	1.2%	0.7%
Bicycle	0.4%	0.1%
Worked from home	9.4%	16.2%
Other means	1.4%	2.0%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Lancaster	Santa Clarita
1-unit, detached	70.3%	60.8%
1-unit, attached	1.7%	10.5%
2 to 4 units	4.7%	5.0%
5 to 19 units	8.2%	11.1%
20 or more units	8.0%	8.8%
Mobile home & other	7.0%	3.9%

Poverty & households

	Lancaster	Santa Clarita
Poverty rate	15.5%	7.7%
Average household size	3.15	3.02
Mean commute (minutes)	31	35
Median year structure built	1986	1987