Costa Mesa vs Fullerton

A side-by-side comparison of Costa Mesa and Fullerton: population, income, housing, and more.

Costa Mesa and Fullerton are places in California. This page compares them across population, income, housing, education, commuting, and how each has changed since 2019.

Fullerton has the higher population (141,278 vs 110,538 in Costa Mesa). Costa Mesa has the higher median household income ($110,073 vs $104,219 in Fullerton). Costa Mesa has the higher median home value ($1,054,700 vs $859,600 in Fullerton).

Population, income & housing

	Costa Mesa	Fullerton
Population	110,538	141,278
Median age	36.5 yrs	36.1 yrs
Median household income	$110,073	$104,219
Median home value	$1,054,700	$859,600
Median gross rent	$2,395	$2,124
Housing units	43,684	49,707
Homeownership rate	39.4%	51.5%
Bachelor's degree or higher	43.6%	43.6%
Unemployment rate	4.9%	6.5%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Costa Mesa	Fullerton
Population	113,159 → 110,538 (-2.3%)	139,611 → 141,278 (+1.2%)
Median household income	$84,138 → $110,073 (+30.8%)	$79,978 → $104,219 (+30.3%)
Median home value	$749,400 → $1,054,700 (+40.7%)	$650,000 → $859,600 (+32.2%)
Median gross rent	$1,857 → $2,395 (+29.0%)	$1,669 → $2,124 (+27.3%)

Costa Mesa

Population

113,159110,538

Median household income

$84,138$110,073

Median home value

$749,400$1,054,700

Median gross rent

$1,857$2,395

Fullerton

Population

139,611141,278

Median household income

$79,978$104,219

Median home value

$650,000$859,600

Median gross rent

$1,669$2,124

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Costa Mesa	Fullerton
Under 5	5.4%	6.0%
5 to 17	13.4%	16.6%
18 to 24	8.9%	10.1%
25 to 34	19.4%	15.5%
35 to 44	14.9%	12.5%
45 to 54	12.8%	12.9%
55 to 64	12.2%	11.9%
65 to 74	8.1%	8.0%
75 and over	4.9%	6.5%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Costa Mesa	Fullerton
White (non-Hispanic)	47.6%	30.3%
Black or African American	1.5%	1.8%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.1%	0.1%
Asian	8.6%	24.4%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.9%	0.2%
Some other race	0.5%	0.4%
Two or more races	4.3%	3.2%
Hispanic or Latino	36.4%	39.6%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Costa Mesa	Fullerton
No high school diploma	12.2%	11.7%
High school graduate	16.6%	15.7%
Some college or associate's	27.6%	28.9%
Bachelor's degree	30.9%	27.4%
Graduate or professional degree	12.7%	16.2%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Costa Mesa	Fullerton
Drove alone	65.2%	70.6%
Carpooled	7.9%	10.3%
Public transit	1.6%	2.2%
Walked	2.3%	2.3%
Bicycle	1.0%	0.6%
Worked from home	20.0%	12.6%
Other means	2.0%	1.2%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Costa Mesa	Fullerton
1-unit, detached	39.7%	52.1%
1-unit, attached	10.0%	8.4%
2 to 4 units	14.8%	8.3%
5 to 19 units	16.5%	11.2%
20 or more units	16.4%	17.9%
Mobile home & other	2.6%	2.1%

Poverty & households

	Costa Mesa	Fullerton
Poverty rate	8.9%	12.2%
Average household size	2.60	2.91
Mean commute (minutes)	22	30
Median year structure built	1971	1969