Novato vs San Rafael

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

Novato 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 52,689 in Novato). Novato has the higher median household income ($112,193 vs $109,317 in San Rafael). San Rafael has the higher median home value ($1,246,200 vs $1,007,100 in Novato).

Population, income & housing

	Novato	San Rafael
Population	52,689	60,604
Median age	47.8 yrs	43.5 yrs
Median household income	$112,193	$109,317
Median home value	$1,007,100	$1,246,200
Median gross rent	$2,422	$2,346
Housing units	21,257	24,212
Homeownership rate	65.5%	51.8%
Bachelor's degree or higher	47.5%	49.4%
Unemployment rate	6.7%	5.8%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Novato	San Rafael
Population	55,642 → 52,689 (-5.3%)	58,775 → 60,604 (+3.1%)
Median household income	$101,342 → $112,193 (+10.7%)	$91,742 → $109,317 (+19.2%)
Median home value	$782,500 → $1,007,100 (+28.7%)	$923,100 → $1,246,200 (+35.0%)
Median gross rent	$2,045 → $2,422 (+18.4%)	$1,937 → $2,346 (+21.1%)

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

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)

	Novato	San Rafael
Under 5	4.6%	4.6%
5 to 17	16.0%	14.9%
18 to 24	5.9%	8.8%
25 to 34	8.4%	10.3%
35 to 44	12.0%	13.4%
45 to 54	14.1%	13.4%
55 to 64	15.0%	13.9%
65 to 74	14.0%	10.8%
75 and over	9.9%	9.9%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Novato	San Rafael
White (non-Hispanic)	56.4%	52.5%
Black or African American	3.0%	2.3%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.1%	0.1%
Asian	6.5%	6.0%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.0%	0.3%
Some other race	0.9%	0.6%
Two or more races	6.1%	3.5%
Hispanic or Latino	27.0%	34.7%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Novato	San Rafael
No high school diploma	9.2%	15.7%
High school graduate	15.1%	13.8%
Some college or associate's	28.2%	21.0%
Bachelor's degree	29.3%	27.9%
Graduate or professional degree	18.1%	21.6%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Novato	San Rafael
Drove alone	67.0%	50.4%
Carpooled	7.0%	13.0%
Public transit	4.2%	6.8%
Walked	2.0%	4.5%
Bicycle	0.7%	0.9%
Worked from home	17.7%	22.9%
Other means	1.4%	1.5%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Novato	San Rafael
1-unit, detached	58.1%	46.9%
1-unit, attached	12.1%	8.6%
2 to 4 units	6.2%	11.7%
5 to 19 units	10.3%	14.7%
20 or more units	10.4%	16.3%
Mobile home & other	3.0%	1.8%

Poverty & households

	Novato	San Rafael
Poverty rate	9.0%	10.9%
Average household size	2.54	2.51
Mean commute (minutes)	28	27
Median year structure built	1974	1968