Carmel-by-the-Sea vs Pajaro

A side-by-side comparison of Carmel-by-the-Sea and Pajaro: population, income, housing, and more.

Carmel-by-the-Sea and Pajaro are places in California. This page compares them across population, income, housing, education, commuting, and how each has changed since 2019.

Carmel-by-the-Sea has the higher population (3,186 vs 2,480 in Pajaro). Carmel-by-the-Sea has the higher median household income ($115,729 vs $82,083 in Pajaro). Carmel-by-the-Sea has the higher median home value ($2,000,001 vs $638,400 in Pajaro).

Population, income & housing

	Carmel-by-the-Sea	Pajaro
Population	3,186	2,480
Median age	68.9 yrs	30.5 yrs
Median household income	$115,729	$82,083
Median home value	$2,000,001	$638,400
Median gross rent	$2,933	$1,882
Housing units	3,250	538
Homeownership rate	57.9%	38.1%
Bachelor's degree or higher	76.0%	8.0%
Unemployment rate	3.5%	15.7%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Carmel-by-the-Sea	Pajaro
Population	3,830 → 3,186 (-16.8%)	3,620 → 2,480 (-31.5%)
Median household income	$98,188 → $115,729 (+17.9%)	$53,625 → $82,083 (+53.1%)
Median home value	$1,550,600 → $2,000,001 (+29.0%)	$265,000 → $638,400 (+140.9%)
Median gross rent	$2,209 → $2,933 (+32.8%)	$1,444 → $1,882 (+30.3%)

Carmel-by-the-Sea

Population

3,8303,186

Median household income

$98,188$115,729

Median home value

$1,550,600$2,000,001

Median gross rent

$2,209$2,933

Pajaro

Population

3,6202,480

Median household income

$53,625$82,083

Median home value

$265,000$638,400

Median gross rent

$1,444$1,882

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Carmel-by-the-Sea	Pajaro
Under 5	0.0%	16.6%
5 to 17	4.4%	10.8%
18 to 24	0.3%	9.4%
25 to 34	6.2%	21.6%
35 to 44	4.6%	9.8%
45 to 54	11.3%	8.1%
55 to 64	14.7%	10.0%
65 to 74	31.3%	10.8%
75 and over	27.4%	2.9%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Carmel-by-the-Sea	Pajaro
White (non-Hispanic)	86.6%	3.6%
Black or African American	0.8%	2.5%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.0%	0.7%
Asian	2.4%	0.0%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.0%	0.0%
Some other race	0.0%	0.0%
Two or more races	6.4%	0.0%
Hispanic or Latino	3.8%	93.2%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Carmel-by-the-Sea	Pajaro
No high school diploma	4.2%	47.0%
High school graduate	5.1%	25.1%
Some college or associate's	14.6%	19.9%
Bachelor's degree	48.3%	8.0%
Graduate or professional degree	27.7%	0.0%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Carmel-by-the-Sea	Pajaro
Drove alone	45.0%	74.6%
Carpooled	31.1%	2.7%
Public transit	0.0%	0.0%
Walked	7.4%	0.0%
Bicycle	0.0%	0.0%
Worked from home	15.7%	17.6%
Other means	0.9%	5.0%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Carmel-by-the-Sea	Pajaro
1-unit, detached	89.0%	41.6%
1-unit, attached	0.0%	16.4%
2 to 4 units	4.6%	17.5%
5 to 19 units	5.5%	3.5%
20 or more units	0.0%	7.8%
Mobile home & other	1.0%	13.2%

Poverty & households

	Carmel-by-the-Sea	Pajaro
Poverty rate	4.9%	14.7%
Average household size	1.86	4.37
Mean commute (minutes)	11	32
Median year structure built	1946	1972