Irvine vs Santa Ana

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

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

Santa Ana has the higher population (311,639 vs 308,160 in Irvine). Irvine has the higher median household income ($129,647 vs $88,354 in Santa Ana). Irvine has the higher median home value ($1,115,400 vs $657,800 in Santa Ana).

Population, income & housing

	Irvine	Santa Ana
Population	308,160	311,639
Median age	33.9 yrs	34.3 yrs
Median household income	$129,647	$88,354
Median home value	$1,115,400	$657,800
Median gross rent	$2,893	$1,975
Housing units	120,368	82,352
Homeownership rate	43.8%	44.6%
Bachelor's degree or higher	70.6%	18.0%
Unemployment rate	5.5%	5.2%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Irvine	Santa Ana
Population	273,157 → 308,160 (+12.8%)	332,794 → 311,639 (-6.4%)
Median household income	$105,126 → $129,647 (+23.3%)	$66,145 → $88,354 (+33.6%)
Median home value	$838,000 → $1,115,400 (+33.1%)	$491,300 → $657,800 (+33.9%)
Median gross rent	$2,361 → $2,893 (+22.5%)	$1,563 → $1,975 (+26.4%)

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

Santa Ana

Population

332,794311,639

Median household income

$66,145$88,354

Median home value

$491,300$657,800

Median gross rent

$1,563$1,975

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Irvine	Santa Ana
Under 5	6.5%	5.5%
5 to 17	15.2%	17.9%
18 to 24	12.9%	11.1%
25 to 34	17.2%	16.4%
35 to 44	14.5%	14.2%
45 to 54	13.5%	12.6%
55 to 64	9.7%	11.1%
65 to 74	6.2%	6.8%
75 and over	4.3%	4.3%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Irvine	Santa Ana
White (non-Hispanic)	35.4%	8.7%
Black or African American	1.9%	0.7%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.1%	0.1%
Asian	43.9%	11.9%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.4%	0.1%
Some other race	0.6%	0.2%
Two or more races	6.4%	1.0%
Hispanic or Latino	11.3%	77.3%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Irvine	Santa Ana
No high school diploma	3.4%	33.9%
High school graduate	7.0%	26.0%
Some college or associate's	19.1%	22.1%
Bachelor's degree	39.4%	12.8%
Graduate or professional degree	31.2%	5.2%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Irvine	Santa Ana
Drove alone	60.8%	70.8%
Carpooled	6.0%	13.7%
Public transit	0.9%	3.0%
Walked	3.7%	1.4%
Bicycle	1.3%	0.5%
Worked from home	25.9%	8.7%
Other means	1.3%	2.0%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Irvine	Santa Ana
1-unit, detached	36.8%	44.8%
1-unit, attached	19.1%	7.1%
2 to 4 units	5.0%	10.4%
5 to 19 units	11.5%	14.7%
20 or more units	26.6%	17.8%
Mobile home & other	1.1%	5.2%

Poverty & households

	Irvine	Santa Ana
Poverty rate	11.7%	11.1%
Average household size	2.65	3.86
Mean commute (minutes)	24	25
Median year structure built	2001	1968