Larkspur vs San Rafael

A side-by-side comparison of Larkspur and San Rafael: population, income, housing, and more.

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

San Rafael has the higher population (60,604 vs 12,856 in Larkspur). Larkspur has the higher median household income ($134,744 vs $109,317 in San Rafael). Larkspur has the higher median home value ($1,805,100 vs $1,246,200 in San Rafael).

Population, income & housing

	Larkspur	San Rafael
Population	12,856	60,604
Median age	49.9 yrs	43.5 yrs
Median household income	$134,744	$109,317
Median home value	$1,805,100	$1,246,200
Median gross rent	$2,867	$2,346
Housing units	6,475	24,212
Homeownership rate	48.2%	51.8%
Bachelor's degree or higher	69.4%	49.4%
Unemployment rate	4.1%	5.8%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Larkspur	San Rafael
Population	12,319 → 12,856 (+4.4%)	58,775 → 60,604 (+3.1%)
Median household income	$109,426 → $134,744 (+23.1%)	$91,742 → $109,317 (+19.2%)
Median home value	$1,309,200 → $1,805,100 (+37.9%)	$923,100 → $1,246,200 (+35.0%)
Median gross rent	$2,080 → $2,867 (+37.8%)	$1,937 → $2,346 (+21.1%)

Larkspur

Population

12,31912,856

Median household income

$109,426$134,744

Median home value

$1,309,200$1,805,100

Median gross rent

$2,080$2,867

San Rafael

Population

58,77560,604

Median household income

$91,742$109,317

Median home value

$923,100$1,246,200

Median gross rent

$1,937$2,346

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Larkspur	San Rafael
Under 5	4.6%	4.6%
5 to 17	12.8%	14.9%
18 to 24	8.5%	8.8%
25 to 34	6.8%	10.3%
35 to 44	9.2%	13.4%
45 to 54	15.7%	13.4%
55 to 64	18.4%	13.9%
65 to 74	11.5%	10.8%
75 and over	12.5%	9.9%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Larkspur	San Rafael
White (non-Hispanic)	73.1%	52.5%
Black or African American	0.3%	2.3%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.0%	0.1%
Asian	6.2%	6.0%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.1%	0.3%
Some other race	1.3%	0.6%
Two or more races	8.2%	3.5%
Hispanic or Latino	10.8%	34.7%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Larkspur	San Rafael
No high school diploma	3.4%	15.7%
High school graduate	7.5%	13.8%
Some college or associate's	19.7%	21.0%
Bachelor's degree	36.0%	27.9%
Graduate or professional degree	33.4%	21.6%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Larkspur	San Rafael
Drove alone	55.3%	50.4%
Carpooled	6.8%	13.0%
Public transit	3.8%	6.8%
Walked	3.6%	4.5%
Bicycle	0.9%	0.9%
Worked from home	28.9%	22.9%
Other means	0.7%	1.5%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Larkspur	San Rafael
1-unit, detached	37.6%	46.9%
1-unit, attached	4.7%	8.6%
2 to 4 units	7.4%	11.7%
5 to 19 units	28.5%	14.7%
20 or more units	18.2%	16.3%
Mobile home & other	3.5%	1.8%

Poverty & households

	Larkspur	San Rafael
Poverty rate	7.1%	10.9%
Average household size	2.06	2.51
Mean commute (minutes)	30	27
Median year structure built	1971	1968