Aliso Viejo vs Rancho Santa Margarita

A side-by-side comparison of Aliso Viejo and Rancho Santa Margarita: population, income, housing, and more.

Aliso Viejo and Rancho Santa Margarita are places in California. This page compares them across population, income, housing, education, commuting, and how each has changed since 2019.

Aliso Viejo has the higher population (51,320 vs 47,257 in Rancho Santa Margarita). Rancho Santa Margarita has the higher median household income ($146,827 vs $137,970 in Aliso Viejo). Rancho Santa Margarita has the higher median home value ($907,900 vs $863,800 in Aliso Viejo).

Population, income & housing

	Aliso Viejo	Rancho Santa Margarita
Population	51,320	47,257
Median age	38.6 yrs	40.3 yrs
Median household income	$137,970	$146,827
Median home value	$863,800	$907,900
Median gross rent	$2,774	$2,481
Housing units	20,370	17,424
Homeownership rate	56.6%	73.4%
Bachelor's degree or higher	57.1%	48.8%
Unemployment rate	3.7%	4.0%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Aliso Viejo	Rancho Santa Margarita
Population	50,663 → 51,320 (+1.3%)	48,503 → 47,257 (-2.6%)
Median household income	$112,689 → $137,970 (+22.4%)	$121,017 → $146,827 (+21.3%)
Median home value	$632,900 → $863,800 (+36.5%)	$662,200 → $907,900 (+37.1%)
Median gross rent	$2,258 → $2,774 (+22.9%)	$2,084 → $2,481 (+19.0%)

Aliso Viejo

Population

50,66351,320

Median household income

$112,689$137,970

Median home value

$632,900$863,800

Median gross rent

$2,258$2,774

Rancho Santa Margarita

Population

48,50347,257

Median household income

$121,017$146,827

Median home value

$662,200$907,900

Median gross rent

$2,084$2,481

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Aliso Viejo	Rancho Santa Margarita
Under 5	6.5%	5.4%
5 to 17	17.7%	17.2%
18 to 24	7.1%	7.1%
25 to 34	12.6%	11.3%
35 to 44	15.8%	16.0%
45 to 54	15.8%	15.4%
55 to 64	13.9%	16.1%
65 to 74	5.6%	7.2%
75 and over	4.9%	4.3%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Aliso Viejo	Rancho Santa Margarita
White (non-Hispanic)	55.3%	59.6%
Black or African American	2.0%	1.5%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.0%	0.2%
Asian	16.7%	12.0%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.0%	0.0%
Some other race	0.3%	0.4%
Two or more races	6.3%	6.4%
Hispanic or Latino	19.3%	20.0%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Aliso Viejo	Rancho Santa Margarita
No high school diploma	3.6%	5.4%
High school graduate	11.7%	13.2%
Some college or associate's	27.6%	32.7%
Bachelor's degree	36.2%	32.0%
Graduate or professional degree	20.9%	16.8%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Aliso Viejo	Rancho Santa Margarita
Drove alone	66.2%	66.8%
Carpooled	7.3%	8.3%
Public transit	0.6%	0.2%
Walked	1.3%	1.1%
Bicycle	0.2%	0.2%
Worked from home	23.5%	22.6%
Other means	0.9%	0.9%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Aliso Viejo	Rancho Santa Margarita
1-unit, detached	36.4%	54.5%
1-unit, attached	25.4%	19.7%
2 to 4 units	4.3%	5.8%
5 to 19 units	11.8%	11.3%
20 or more units	21.2%	8.5%
Mobile home & other	0.9%	0.2%

Poverty & households

	Aliso Viejo	Rancho Santa Margarita
Poverty rate	5.2%	5.1%
Average household size	2.60	2.77
Mean commute (minutes)	26	27
Median year structure built	1995	1992