Fullerton vs Mission Viejo

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

Fullerton and Mission Viejo 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 92,415 in Mission Viejo). Mission Viejo has the higher median household income ($136,071 vs $104,219 in Fullerton). Mission Viejo has the higher median home value ($946,300 vs $859,600 in Fullerton).

Population, income & housing

	Fullerton	Mission Viejo
Population	141,278	92,415
Median age	36.1 yrs	46.1 yrs
Median household income	$104,219	$136,071
Median home value	$859,600	$946,300
Median gross rent	$2,124	$2,713
Housing units	49,707	34,360
Homeownership rate	51.5%	77.5%
Bachelor's degree or higher	43.6%	51.1%
Unemployment rate	6.5%	4.5%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Fullerton	Mission Viejo
Population	139,611 → 141,278 (+1.2%)	95,516 → 92,415 (-3.2%)
Median household income	$79,978 → $104,219 (+30.3%)	$118,477 → $136,071 (+14.9%)
Median home value	$650,000 → $859,600 (+32.2%)	$693,000 → $946,300 (+36.6%)
Median gross rent	$1,669 → $2,124 (+27.3%)	$2,267 → $2,713 (+19.7%)

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

Mission Viejo

Population

95,51692,415

Median household income

$118,477$136,071

Median home value

$693,000$946,300

Median gross rent

$2,267$2,713

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Fullerton	Mission Viejo
Under 5	6.0%	5.7%
5 to 17	16.6%	14.4%
18 to 24	10.1%	6.4%
25 to 34	15.5%	9.8%
35 to 44	12.5%	12.4%
45 to 54	12.9%	13.3%
55 to 64	11.9%	15.7%
65 to 74	8.0%	13.3%
75 and over	6.5%	9.1%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Fullerton	Mission Viejo
White (non-Hispanic)	30.3%	59.4%
Black or African American	1.8%	1.0%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.1%	0.0%
Asian	24.4%	14.0%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.2%	0.0%
Some other race	0.4%	0.3%
Two or more races	3.2%	5.4%
Hispanic or Latino	39.6%	19.8%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Fullerton	Mission Viejo
No high school diploma	11.7%	6.3%
High school graduate	15.7%	16.0%
Some college or associate's	28.9%	26.7%
Bachelor's degree	27.4%	32.1%
Graduate or professional degree	16.2%	19.0%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Fullerton	Mission Viejo
Drove alone	70.6%	69.8%
Carpooled	10.3%	6.4%
Public transit	2.2%	0.5%
Walked	2.3%	1.5%
Bicycle	0.6%	0.2%
Worked from home	12.6%	20.0%
Other means	1.2%	1.5%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Fullerton	Mission Viejo
1-unit, detached	52.1%	71.7%
1-unit, attached	8.4%	12.0%
2 to 4 units	8.3%	4.2%
5 to 19 units	11.2%	5.5%
20 or more units	17.9%	6.5%
Mobile home & other	2.1%	0.0%

Poverty & households

	Fullerton	Mission Viejo
Poverty rate	12.2%	5.0%
Average household size	2.91	2.75
Mean commute (minutes)	30	27
Median year structure built	1969	1980