Malibu vs Sierra Madre

A side-by-side comparison of Malibu and Sierra Madre: population, income, housing, and more.

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

Sierra Madre has the higher population (11,020 vs 10,516 in Malibu). Malibu has the higher median household income ($192,159 vs $141,094 in Sierra Madre). Malibu has the higher median home value ($2,000,001 vs $1,172,200 in Sierra Madre).

Population, income & housing

	Malibu	Sierra Madre
Population	10,516	11,020
Median age	50.7 yrs	46.9 yrs
Median household income	$192,159	$141,094
Median home value	$2,000,001	$1,172,200
Median gross rent	$3,501	$2,086
Housing units	6,430	5,113
Homeownership rate	73.8%	57.0%
Bachelor's degree or higher	71.6%	65.4%
Unemployment rate	7.4%	2.7%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Malibu	Sierra Madre
Population	12,620 → 10,516 (-16.7%)	10,932 → 11,020 (+0.8%)
Median household income	$150,747 → $192,159 (+27.5%)	$100,988 → $141,094 (+39.7%)
Median home value	$2,000,001 → $2,000,001 (+0.0%)	$969,700 → $1,172,200 (+20.9%)
Median gross rent	$2,403 → $3,501 (+45.7%)	$1,615 → $2,086 (+29.2%)

Malibu

Population

12,62010,516

Median household income

$150,747$192,159

Median home value

$2,000,001$2,000,001

Median gross rent

$2,403$3,501

Sierra Madre

Population

10,93211,020

Median household income

$100,988$141,094

Median home value

$969,700$1,172,200

Median gross rent

$1,615$2,086

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Malibu	Sierra Madre
Under 5	2.5%	5.1%
5 to 17	16.3%	13.0%
18 to 24	7.6%	3.4%
25 to 34	8.2%	13.3%
35 to 44	9.4%	12.4%
45 to 54	10.5%	11.3%
55 to 64	17.0%	19.6%
65 to 74	18.2%	12.0%
75 and over	10.3%	10.0%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Malibu	Sierra Madre
White (non-Hispanic)	79.5%	55.7%
Black or African American	1.0%	5.2%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.0%	0.6%
Asian	3.0%	17.0%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.0%	0.0%
Some other race	1.8%	0.4%
Two or more races	5.4%	4.2%
Hispanic or Latino	9.3%	16.8%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Malibu	Sierra Madre
No high school diploma	1.5%	2.0%
High school graduate	7.8%	8.0%
Some college or associate's	19.2%	24.6%
Bachelor's degree	38.5%	30.5%
Graduate or professional degree	33.1%	34.9%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Malibu	Sierra Madre
Drove alone	52.8%	67.1%
Carpooled	4.0%	2.9%
Public transit	0.6%	4.8%
Walked	1.7%	0.1%
Bicycle	0.3%	0.4%
Worked from home	39.2%	23.2%
Other means	1.3%	1.4%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Malibu	Sierra Madre
1-unit, detached	61.9%	62.7%
1-unit, attached	6.1%	11.8%
2 to 4 units	4.9%	6.7%
5 to 19 units	5.8%	13.5%
20 or more units	8.3%	5.3%
Mobile home & other	13.0%	0.0%

Poverty & households

	Malibu	Sierra Madre
Poverty rate	12.5%	4.8%
Average household size	2.39	2.33
Mean commute (minutes)	33	30
Median year structure built	1975	1959