Palmdale vs Pasadena

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

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

Palmdale has the higher population (165,487 vs 136,462 in Pasadena). Pasadena has the higher median household income ($103,778 vs $81,151 in Palmdale). Pasadena has the higher median home value ($1,045,000 vs $435,300 in Palmdale).

Population, income & housing

	Palmdale	Pasadena
Population	165,487	136,462
Median age	33.2 yrs	40.1 yrs
Median household income	$81,151	$103,778
Median home value	$435,300	$1,045,000
Median gross rent	$1,736	$2,218
Housing units	48,505	62,853
Homeownership rate	66.2%	42.1%
Bachelor's degree or higher	16.6%	56.0%
Unemployment rate	7.4%	5.3%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Palmdale	Pasadena
Population	156,293 → 165,487 (+5.9%)	141,258 → 136,462 (-3.4%)
Median household income	$62,865 → $81,151 (+29.1%)	$83,068 → $103,778 (+24.9%)
Median home value	$280,000 → $435,300 (+55.5%)	$785,700 → $1,045,000 (+33.0%)
Median gross rent	$1,319 → $1,736 (+31.6%)	$1,710 → $2,218 (+29.7%)

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

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)

	Palmdale	Pasadena
Under 5	7.2%	4.8%
5 to 17	21.9%	11.5%
18 to 24	9.4%	7.0%
25 to 34	13.7%	18.3%
35 to 44	13.2%	15.5%
45 to 54	12.1%	13.6%
55 to 64	11.7%	12.3%
65 to 74	7.0%	9.0%
75 and over	3.7%	8.1%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Palmdale	Pasadena
White (non-Hispanic)	17.0%	35.2%
Black or African American	13.0%	7.4%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.5%	0.1%
Asian	4.3%	17.4%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.1%	0.1%
Some other race	0.6%	0.5%
Two or more races	1.8%	5.1%
Hispanic or Latino	62.8%	34.1%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Palmdale	Pasadena
No high school diploma	23.0%	9.9%
High school graduate	30.6%	13.1%
Some college or associate's	29.8%	21.0%
Bachelor's degree	11.4%	30.0%
Graduate or professional degree	5.2%	26.0%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Palmdale	Pasadena
Drove alone	74.0%	58.7%
Carpooled	13.3%	4.7%
Public transit	1.3%	4.1%
Walked	0.8%	4.7%
Bicycle	0.0%	1.1%
Worked from home	8.2%	23.6%
Other means	2.3%	3.0%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Palmdale	Pasadena
1-unit, detached	78.5%	42.5%
1-unit, attached	1.8%	6.1%
2 to 4 units	2.8%	7.5%
5 to 19 units	4.8%	17.4%
20 or more units	7.5%	26.5%
Mobile home & other	4.6%	0.1%

Poverty & households

	Palmdale	Pasadena
Poverty rate	14.6%	13.2%
Average household size	3.55	2.30
Mean commute (minutes)	42	27
Median year structure built	1989	1960