Costa Mesa vs Westminster

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

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

Costa Mesa has the higher population (110,538 vs 90,147 in Westminster). Costa Mesa has the higher median household income ($110,073 vs $82,686 in Westminster). Costa Mesa has the higher median home value ($1,054,700 vs $820,000 in Westminster).

Population, income & housing

	Costa Mesa	Westminster
Population	110,538	90,147
Median age	36.5 yrs	41.7 yrs
Median household income	$110,073	$82,686
Median home value	$1,054,700	$820,000
Median gross rent	$2,395	$2,100
Housing units	43,684	29,104
Homeownership rate	39.4%	52.2%
Bachelor's degree or higher	43.6%	26.5%
Unemployment rate	4.9%	7.4%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Costa Mesa	Westminster
Population	113,159 → 110,538 (-2.3%)	91,137 → 90,147 (-1.1%)
Median household income	$84,138 → $110,073 (+30.8%)	$62,625 → $82,686 (+32.0%)
Median home value	$749,400 → $1,054,700 (+40.7%)	$603,700 → $820,000 (+35.8%)
Median gross rent	$1,857 → $2,395 (+29.0%)	$1,585 → $2,100 (+32.5%)

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

Westminster

Population

91,13790,147

Median household income

$62,625$82,686

Median home value

$603,700$820,000

Median gross rent

$1,585$2,100

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Costa Mesa	Westminster
Under 5	5.4%	5.6%
5 to 17	13.4%	15.2%
18 to 24	8.9%	8.4%
25 to 34	19.4%	13.1%
35 to 44	14.9%	10.8%
45 to 54	12.8%	14.3%
55 to 64	12.2%	14.9%
65 to 74	8.1%	9.3%
75 and over	4.9%	8.4%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Costa Mesa	Westminster
White (non-Hispanic)	47.6%	20.1%
Black or African American	1.5%	0.7%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.1%	0.1%
Asian	8.6%	50.9%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.9%	0.4%
Some other race	0.5%	0.5%
Two or more races	4.3%	2.9%
Hispanic or Latino	36.4%	24.3%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Costa Mesa	Westminster
No high school diploma	12.2%	22.2%
High school graduate	16.6%	25.0%
Some college or associate's	27.6%	26.4%
Bachelor's degree	30.9%	18.5%
Graduate or professional degree	12.7%	7.9%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Costa Mesa	Westminster
Drove alone	65.2%	70.4%
Carpooled	7.9%	15.2%
Public transit	1.6%	1.1%
Walked	2.3%	1.0%
Bicycle	1.0%	0.8%
Worked from home	20.0%	9.6%
Other means	2.0%	1.9%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Costa Mesa	Westminster
1-unit, detached	39.7%	54.6%
1-unit, attached	10.0%	8.0%
2 to 4 units	14.8%	7.9%
5 to 19 units	16.5%	7.6%
20 or more units	16.4%	12.3%
Mobile home & other	2.6%	9.7%

Poverty & households

	Costa Mesa	Westminster
Poverty rate	8.9%	15.8%
Average household size	2.60	3.22
Mean commute (minutes)	22	28
Median year structure built	1971	1970