Palmdale vs Torrance

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

Palmdale and Torrance 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 143,499 in Torrance). Torrance has the higher median household income ($113,105 vs $81,151 in Palmdale). Torrance has the higher median home value ($1,036,600 vs $435,300 in Palmdale).

Population, income & housing

	Palmdale	Torrance
Population	165,487	143,499
Median age	33.2 yrs	43.1 yrs
Median household income	$81,151	$113,105
Median home value	$435,300	$1,036,600
Median gross rent	$1,736	$2,214
Housing units	48,505	59,411
Homeownership rate	66.2%	54.6%
Bachelor's degree or higher	16.6%	53.0%
Unemployment rate	7.4%	5.5%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Palmdale	Torrance
Population	156,293 → 165,487 (+5.9%)	145,492 → 143,499 (-1.4%)
Median household income	$62,865 → $81,151 (+29.1%)	$93,492 → $113,105 (+21.0%)
Median home value	$280,000 → $435,300 (+55.5%)	$762,700 → $1,036,600 (+35.9%)
Median gross rent	$1,319 → $1,736 (+31.6%)	$1,736 → $2,214 (+27.5%)

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

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)

	Palmdale	Torrance
Under 5	7.2%	4.8%
5 to 17	21.9%	15.9%
18 to 24	9.4%	6.1%
25 to 34	13.7%	11.9%
35 to 44	13.2%	13.8%
45 to 54	12.1%	14.6%
55 to 64	11.7%	14.6%
65 to 74	7.0%	10.2%
75 and over	3.7%	8.1%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Palmdale	Torrance
White (non-Hispanic)	17.0%	32.2%
Black or African American	13.0%	3.4%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.5%	0.2%
Asian	4.3%	38.2%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.1%	0.1%
Some other race	0.6%	0.4%
Two or more races	1.8%	6.1%
Hispanic or Latino	62.8%	19.3%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Palmdale	Torrance
No high school diploma	23.0%	5.1%
High school graduate	30.6%	17.1%
Some college or associate's	29.8%	24.9%
Bachelor's degree	11.4%	34.2%
Graduate or professional degree	5.2%	18.8%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Palmdale	Torrance
Drove alone	74.0%	71.1%
Carpooled	13.3%	6.2%
Public transit	1.3%	1.1%
Walked	0.8%	1.0%
Bicycle	0.0%	0.4%
Worked from home	8.2%	18.5%
Other means	2.3%	1.6%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Palmdale	Torrance
1-unit, detached	78.5%	53.1%
1-unit, attached	1.8%	6.7%
2 to 4 units	2.8%	6.5%
5 to 19 units	4.8%	8.8%
20 or more units	7.5%	23.1%
Mobile home & other	4.6%	1.9%

Poverty & households

	Palmdale	Torrance
Poverty rate	14.6%	6.9%
Average household size	3.55	2.56
Mean commute (minutes)	42	27
Median year structure built	1989	1963