Thermal vs Whitewater

A side-by-side comparison of Thermal and Whitewater: population, income, housing, and more.

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

Thermal has the higher population (1,420 vs 1,254 in Whitewater). Whitewater has the higher median home value ($273,600 vs $183,200 in Thermal). Since 2019, Whitewater's population has grown faster (+40.9% vs +6.5%).

Population, income & housing

	Thermal	Whitewater
Population	1,420	1,254
Median age	37.0 yrs	41.1 yrs
Median household income	—	$76,974
Median home value	$183,200	$273,600
Median gross rent	$922	$1,201
Housing units	791	402
Homeownership rate	61.6%	83.7%
Bachelor's degree or higher	4.9%	15.8%
Unemployment rate	5.5%	16.5%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Thermal	Whitewater
Population	1,333 → 1,420 (+6.5%)	890 → 1,254 (+40.9%)
Median household income	$30,433 → $14,500 (-52.4%)	$39,653 → $76,974 (+94.1%)
Median home value	$150,200 → $183,200 (+22.0%)	$192,400 → $273,600 (+42.2%)
Median gross rent	$499 → $922 (+84.8%)	$1,229 → $1,201 (-2.3%)

Thermal

Population

1,3331,420

Median household income

$30,433$14,500

Median home value

$150,200$183,200

Median gross rent

$499$922

Whitewater

Population

8901,254

Median household income

$39,653$76,974

Median home value

$192,400$273,600

Median gross rent

$1,229$1,201

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Thermal	Whitewater
Under 5	6.6%	3.3%
5 to 17	10.7%	15.7%
18 to 24	11.3%	13.5%
25 to 34	20.6%	9.0%
35 to 44	7.5%	15.7%
45 to 54	13.9%	14.4%
55 to 64	6.7%	16.4%
65 to 74	5.6%	9.3%
75 and over	17.0%	2.7%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Thermal	Whitewater
White (non-Hispanic)	3.1%	31.0%
Black or African American	2.8%	5.3%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.0%	2.6%
Asian	0.4%	2.5%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.0%	0.0%
Some other race	0.0%	0.0%
Two or more races	0.4%	1.8%
Hispanic or Latino	93.3%	56.8%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Thermal	Whitewater
No high school diploma	68.3%	16.4%
High school graduate	20.5%	27.4%
Some college or associate's	6.2%	40.4%
Bachelor's degree	4.9%	8.7%
Graduate or professional degree	0.0%	7.1%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Thermal	Whitewater
Drove alone	51.6%	72.1%
Carpooled	37.2%	11.1%
Public transit	0.0%	0.0%
Walked	7.8%	0.7%
Bicycle	0.0%	0.0%
Worked from home	0.9%	16.2%
Other means	2.5%	0.0%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Thermal	Whitewater
1-unit, detached	40.2%	73.4%
1-unit, attached	7.0%	2.0%
2 to 4 units	5.1%	0.0%
5 to 19 units	5.4%	0.0%
20 or more units	3.3%	0.0%
Mobile home & other	39.1%	24.6%

Poverty & households

	Thermal	Whitewater
Poverty rate	30.1%	22.5%
Average household size	2.20	3.23
Mean commute (minutes)	19	32
Median year structure built	1977	2001