Mill Valley vs Novato

A side-by-side comparison of Mill Valley and Novato: population, income, housing, and more.

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

Novato has the higher population (52,689 vs 14,064 in Mill Valley). Mill Valley has the higher median household income ($208,466 vs $112,193 in Novato). Mill Valley has the higher median home value ($2,000,001 vs $1,007,100 in Novato).

Population, income & housing

	Mill Valley	Novato
Population	14,064	52,689
Median age	47.2 yrs	47.8 yrs
Median household income	$208,466	$112,193
Median home value	$2,000,001	$1,007,100
Median gross rent	$3,313	$2,422
Housing units	6,353	21,257
Homeownership rate	66.1%	65.5%
Bachelor's degree or higher	77.1%	47.5%
Unemployment rate	8.4%	6.7%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Mill Valley	Novato
Population	14,330 → 14,064 (-1.9%)	55,642 → 52,689 (-5.3%)
Median household income	$163,614 → $208,466 (+27.4%)	$101,342 → $112,193 (+10.7%)
Median home value	$1,598,700 → $2,000,001 (+25.1%)	$782,500 → $1,007,100 (+28.7%)
Median gross rent	$2,270 → $3,313 (+45.9%)	$2,045 → $2,422 (+18.4%)

Mill Valley

Population

14,33014,064

Median household income

$163,614$208,466

Median home value

$1,598,700$2,000,001

Median gross rent

$2,270$3,313

Novato

Population

55,64252,689

Median household income

$101,342$112,193

Median home value

$782,500$1,007,100

Median gross rent

$2,045$2,422

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Mill Valley	Novato
Under 5	2.9%	4.6%
5 to 17	17.4%	16.0%
18 to 24	6.4%	5.9%
25 to 34	8.0%	8.4%
35 to 44	11.1%	12.0%
45 to 54	18.0%	14.1%
55 to 64	14.3%	15.0%
65 to 74	11.9%	14.0%
75 and over	10.0%	9.9%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Mill Valley	Novato
White (non-Hispanic)	82.1%	56.4%
Black or African American	0.6%	3.0%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.0%	0.1%
Asian	7.2%	6.5%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.0%	0.0%
Some other race	1.5%	0.9%
Two or more races	4.6%	6.1%
Hispanic or Latino	4.0%	27.0%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Mill Valley	Novato
No high school diploma	1.1%	9.2%
High school graduate	6.0%	15.1%
Some college or associate's	15.8%	28.2%
Bachelor's degree	39.7%	29.3%
Graduate or professional degree	37.4%	18.1%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Mill Valley	Novato
Drove alone	49.4%	67.0%
Carpooled	4.7%	7.0%
Public transit	2.6%	4.2%
Walked	5.3%	2.0%
Bicycle	0.4%	0.7%
Worked from home	37.2%	17.7%
Other means	0.3%	1.4%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Mill Valley	Novato
1-unit, detached	71.4%	58.1%
1-unit, attached	7.3%	12.1%
2 to 4 units	7.9%	6.2%
5 to 19 units	8.6%	10.3%
20 or more units	4.8%	10.4%
Mobile home & other	0.0%	3.0%

Poverty & households

	Mill Valley	Novato
Poverty rate	5.0%	9.0%
Average household size	2.54	2.54
Mean commute (minutes)	25	28
Median year structure built	1958	1974