Mill Valley vs San Rafael

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

Mill Valley 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 14,064 in Mill Valley). Mill Valley has the higher median household income ($208,466 vs $109,317 in San Rafael). Mill Valley has the higher median home value ($2,000,001 vs $1,246,200 in San Rafael).

Population, income & housing

	Mill Valley	San Rafael
Population	14,064	60,604
Median age	47.2 yrs	43.5 yrs
Median household income	$208,466	$109,317
Median home value	$2,000,001	$1,246,200
Median gross rent	$3,313	$2,346
Housing units	6,353	24,212
Homeownership rate	66.1%	51.8%
Bachelor's degree or higher	77.1%	49.4%
Unemployment rate	8.4%	5.8%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Mill Valley	San Rafael
Population	14,330 → 14,064 (-1.9%)	58,775 → 60,604 (+3.1%)
Median household income	$163,614 → $208,466 (+27.4%)	$91,742 → $109,317 (+19.2%)
Median home value	$1,598,700 → $2,000,001 (+25.1%)	$923,100 → $1,246,200 (+35.0%)
Median gross rent	$2,270 → $3,313 (+45.9%)	$1,937 → $2,346 (+21.1%)

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

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)

	Mill Valley	San Rafael
Under 5	2.9%	4.6%
5 to 17	17.4%	14.9%
18 to 24	6.4%	8.8%
25 to 34	8.0%	10.3%
35 to 44	11.1%	13.4%
45 to 54	18.0%	13.4%
55 to 64	14.3%	13.9%
65 to 74	11.9%	10.8%
75 and over	10.0%	9.9%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Mill Valley	San Rafael
White (non-Hispanic)	82.1%	52.5%
Black or African American	0.6%	2.3%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.0%	0.1%
Asian	7.2%	6.0%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.0%	0.3%
Some other race	1.5%	0.6%
Two or more races	4.6%	3.5%
Hispanic or Latino	4.0%	34.7%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Mill Valley	San Rafael
No high school diploma	1.1%	15.7%
High school graduate	6.0%	13.8%
Some college or associate's	15.8%	21.0%
Bachelor's degree	39.7%	27.9%
Graduate or professional degree	37.4%	21.6%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Mill Valley	San Rafael
Drove alone	49.4%	50.4%
Carpooled	4.7%	13.0%
Public transit	2.6%	6.8%
Walked	5.3%	4.5%
Bicycle	0.4%	0.9%
Worked from home	37.2%	22.9%
Other means	0.3%	1.5%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Mill Valley	San Rafael
1-unit, detached	71.4%	46.9%
1-unit, attached	7.3%	8.6%
2 to 4 units	7.9%	11.7%
5 to 19 units	8.6%	14.7%
20 or more units	4.8%	16.3%
Mobile home & other	0.0%	1.8%

Poverty & households

	Mill Valley	San Rafael
Poverty rate	5.0%	10.9%
Average household size	2.54	2.51
Mean commute (minutes)	25	27
Median year structure built	1958	1968