Santa Monica vs Whittier

A side-by-side comparison of Santa Monica and Whittier: population, income, housing, and more.

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

Santa Monica has the higher population (91,535 vs 85,925 in Whittier). Santa Monica has the higher median household income ($109,739 vs $92,374 in Whittier). Santa Monica has the higher median home value ($1,810,200 vs $751,700 in Whittier).

Population, income & housing

	Santa Monica	Whittier
Population	91,535	85,925
Median age	42.9 yrs	38.3 yrs
Median household income	$109,739	$92,374
Median home value	$1,810,200	$751,700
Median gross rent	$2,338	$1,829
Housing units	52,381	29,185
Homeownership rate	28.8%	58.5%
Bachelor's degree or higher	68.9%	29.2%
Unemployment rate	6.1%	5.4%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Santa Monica	Whittier
Population	91,577 → 91,535 (-0.0%)	86,090 → 85,925 (-0.2%)
Median household income	$96,570 → $109,739 (+13.6%)	$77,270 → $92,374 (+19.5%)
Median home value	$1,382,700 → $1,810,200 (+30.9%)	$574,400 → $751,700 (+30.9%)
Median gross rent	$1,802 → $2,338 (+29.7%)	$1,354 → $1,829 (+35.1%)

Santa Monica

Population

91,57791,535

Median household income

$96,570$109,739

Median home value

$1,382,700$1,810,200

Median gross rent

$1,802$2,338

Whittier

Population

86,09085,925

Median household income

$77,270$92,374

Median home value

$574,400$751,700

Median gross rent

$1,354$1,829

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Santa Monica	Whittier
Under 5	4.3%	5.2%
5 to 17	9.8%	17.7%
18 to 24	5.4%	9.6%
25 to 34	18.3%	12.6%
35 to 44	15.0%	14.8%
45 to 54	13.4%	13.0%
55 to 64	14.4%	12.4%
65 to 74	10.1%	8.1%
75 and over	9.1%	6.5%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Santa Monica	Whittier
White (non-Hispanic)	61.8%	23.1%
Black or African American	4.8%	1.0%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.2%	0.3%
Asian	9.3%	4.8%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.1%	0.0%
Some other race	0.9%	2.2%
Two or more races	6.4%	1.9%
Hispanic or Latino	16.4%	66.7%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Santa Monica	Whittier
No high school diploma	5.2%	11.0%
High school graduate	8.5%	28.1%
Some college or associate's	17.3%	31.7%
Bachelor's degree	39.5%	18.5%
Graduate or professional degree	29.4%	10.7%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Santa Monica	Whittier
Drove alone	50.6%	74.9%
Carpooled	3.0%	9.3%
Public transit	2.8%	1.7%
Walked	5.4%	1.5%
Bicycle	2.7%	0.7%
Worked from home	33.1%	10.9%
Other means	2.5%	0.9%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Santa Monica	Whittier
1-unit, detached	19.3%	65.3%
1-unit, attached	3.2%	5.4%
2 to 4 units	10.4%	7.2%
5 to 19 units	38.9%	13.1%
20 or more units	28.0%	8.1%
Mobile home & other	0.2%	0.9%

Poverty & households

	Santa Monica	Whittier
Poverty rate	11.6%	8.8%
Average household size	1.92	3.04
Mean commute (minutes)	26	33
Median year structure built	1967	1956