Lancaster vs Torrance

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

Lancaster and Torrance 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 143,499 in Torrance). Torrance has the higher median household income ($113,105 vs $76,083 in Lancaster). Torrance has the higher median home value ($1,036,600 vs $409,100 in Lancaster).

Population, income & housing

	Lancaster	Torrance
Population	170,013	143,499
Median age	34.2 yrs	43.1 yrs
Median household income	$76,083	$113,105
Median home value	$409,100	$1,036,600
Median gross rent	$1,696	$2,214
Housing units	55,045	59,411
Homeownership rate	58.4%	54.6%
Bachelor's degree or higher	20.1%	53.0%
Unemployment rate	7.1%	5.5%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Lancaster	Torrance
Population	159,028 → 170,013 (+6.9%)	145,492 → 143,499 (-1.4%)
Median household income	$55,237 → $76,083 (+37.7%)	$93,492 → $113,105 (+21.0%)
Median home value	$261,400 → $409,100 (+56.5%)	$762,700 → $1,036,600 (+35.9%)
Median gross rent	$1,215 → $1,696 (+39.6%)	$1,736 → $2,214 (+27.5%)

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

Torrance

Population

145,492143,499

Median household income

$93,492$113,105

Median home value

$762,700$1,036,600

Median gross rent

$1,736$2,214

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Lancaster	Torrance
Under 5	5.9%	4.8%
5 to 17	21.3%	15.9%
18 to 24	9.5%	6.1%
25 to 34	14.3%	11.9%
35 to 44	13.6%	13.8%
45 to 54	11.5%	14.6%
55 to 64	12.0%	14.6%
65 to 74	7.8%	10.2%
75 and over	4.2%	8.1%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Lancaster	Torrance
White (non-Hispanic)	24.4%	32.2%
Black or African American	21.0%	3.4%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.1%	0.2%
Asian	3.9%	38.2%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.2%	0.1%
Some other race	0.6%	0.4%
Two or more races	3.9%	6.1%
Hispanic or Latino	45.9%	19.3%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Lancaster	Torrance
No high school diploma	18.0%	5.1%
High school graduate	29.6%	17.1%
Some college or associate's	32.3%	24.9%
Bachelor's degree	12.7%	34.2%
Graduate or professional degree	7.4%	18.8%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Lancaster	Torrance
Drove alone	74.8%	71.1%
Carpooled	11.3%	6.2%
Public transit	1.3%	1.1%
Walked	1.2%	1.0%
Bicycle	0.4%	0.4%
Worked from home	9.4%	18.5%
Other means	1.4%	1.6%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Lancaster	Torrance
1-unit, detached	70.3%	53.1%
1-unit, attached	1.7%	6.7%
2 to 4 units	4.7%	6.5%
5 to 19 units	8.2%	8.8%
20 or more units	8.0%	23.1%
Mobile home & other	7.0%	1.9%

Poverty & households

	Lancaster	Torrance
Poverty rate	15.5%	6.9%
Average household size	3.15	2.56
Mean commute (minutes)	31	27
Median year structure built	1986	1963