Fullerton vs Irvine

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

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

Irvine has the higher population (308,160 vs 141,278 in Fullerton). Irvine has the higher median household income ($129,647 vs $104,219 in Fullerton). Irvine has the higher median home value ($1,115,400 vs $859,600 in Fullerton).

Population, income & housing

	Fullerton	Irvine
Population	141,278	308,160
Median age	36.1 yrs	33.9 yrs
Median household income	$104,219	$129,647
Median home value	$859,600	$1,115,400
Median gross rent	$2,124	$2,893
Housing units	49,707	120,368
Homeownership rate	51.5%	43.8%
Bachelor's degree or higher	43.6%	70.6%
Unemployment rate	6.5%	5.5%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Fullerton	Irvine
Population	139,611 → 141,278 (+1.2%)	273,157 → 308,160 (+12.8%)
Median household income	$79,978 → $104,219 (+30.3%)	$105,126 → $129,647 (+23.3%)
Median home value	$650,000 → $859,600 (+32.2%)	$838,000 → $1,115,400 (+33.1%)
Median gross rent	$1,669 → $2,124 (+27.3%)	$2,361 → $2,893 (+22.5%)

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

Irvine

Population

273,157308,160

Median household income

$105,126$129,647

Median home value

$838,000$1,115,400

Median gross rent

$2,361$2,893

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Fullerton	Irvine
Under 5	6.0%	6.5%
5 to 17	16.6%	15.2%
18 to 24	10.1%	12.9%
25 to 34	15.5%	17.2%
35 to 44	12.5%	14.5%
45 to 54	12.9%	13.5%
55 to 64	11.9%	9.7%
65 to 74	8.0%	6.2%
75 and over	6.5%	4.3%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Fullerton	Irvine
White (non-Hispanic)	30.3%	35.4%
Black or African American	1.8%	1.9%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.1%	0.1%
Asian	24.4%	43.9%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.2%	0.4%
Some other race	0.4%	0.6%
Two or more races	3.2%	6.4%
Hispanic or Latino	39.6%	11.3%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Fullerton	Irvine
No high school diploma	11.7%	3.4%
High school graduate	15.7%	7.0%
Some college or associate's	28.9%	19.1%
Bachelor's degree	27.4%	39.4%
Graduate or professional degree	16.2%	31.2%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Fullerton	Irvine
Drove alone	70.6%	60.8%
Carpooled	10.3%	6.0%
Public transit	2.2%	0.9%
Walked	2.3%	3.7%
Bicycle	0.6%	1.3%
Worked from home	12.6%	25.9%
Other means	1.2%	1.3%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Fullerton	Irvine
1-unit, detached	52.1%	36.8%
1-unit, attached	8.4%	19.1%
2 to 4 units	8.3%	5.0%
5 to 19 units	11.2%	11.5%
20 or more units	17.9%	26.6%
Mobile home & other	2.1%	1.1%

Poverty & households

	Fullerton	Irvine
Poverty rate	12.2%	11.7%
Average household size	2.91	2.65
Mean commute (minutes)	30	24
Median year structure built	1969	2001