Barstow vs Phelan

A side-by-side comparison of Barstow and Phelan: population, income, housing, and more.

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

Barstow has the higher population (25,198 vs 18,059 in Phelan). Phelan has the higher median household income ($83,759 vs $51,811 in Barstow). Phelan has the higher median home value ($357,200 vs $222,600 in Barstow).

Population, income & housing

	Barstow	Phelan
Population	25,198	18,059
Median age	32.9 yrs	33.9 yrs
Median household income	$51,811	$83,759
Median home value	$222,600	$357,200
Median gross rent	$1,065	$1,623
Housing units	10,094	5,510
Homeownership rate	45.7%	80.6%
Bachelor's degree or higher	11.1%	13.9%
Unemployment rate	10.3%	12.3%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Barstow	Phelan
Population	23,899 → 25,198 (+5.4%)	15,987 → 18,059 (+13.0%)
Median household income	$40,633 → $51,811 (+27.5%)	$59,375 → $83,759 (+41.1%)
Median home value	$117,100 → $222,600 (+90.1%)	$237,800 → $357,200 (+50.2%)
Median gross rent	$768 → $1,065 (+38.7%)	$1,109 → $1,623 (+46.3%)

Barstow

Population

23,89925,198

Median household income

$40,633$51,811

Median home value

$117,100$222,600

Median gross rent

$768$1,065

Phelan

Population

15,98718,059

Median household income

$59,375$83,759

Median home value

$237,800$357,200

Median gross rent

$1,109$1,623

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Barstow	Phelan
Under 5	7.0%	9.3%
5 to 17	21.5%	18.3%
18 to 24	9.7%	7.0%
25 to 34	14.7%	17.0%
35 to 44	13.0%	11.3%
45 to 54	9.4%	11.6%
55 to 64	11.9%	14.9%
65 to 74	8.2%	6.7%
75 and over	4.5%	3.9%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Barstow	Phelan
White (non-Hispanic)	23.8%	48.1%
Black or African American	18.3%	0.6%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.9%	0.1%
Asian	2.0%	2.0%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.2%	0.0%
Some other race	0.3%	0.3%
Two or more races	6.8%	3.9%
Hispanic or Latino	47.5%	44.9%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Barstow	Phelan
No high school diploma	16.2%	10.3%
High school graduate	31.6%	40.1%
Some college or associate's	41.1%	35.7%
Bachelor's degree	7.3%	9.1%
Graduate or professional degree	3.8%	4.8%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Barstow	Phelan
Drove alone	77.3%	75.0%
Carpooled	10.8%	8.4%
Public transit	0.8%	0.0%
Walked	6.1%	1.4%
Bicycle	0.4%	0.0%
Worked from home	3.4%	12.5%
Other means	1.2%	2.7%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Barstow	Phelan
1-unit, detached	62.1%	75.7%
1-unit, attached	2.2%	0.9%
2 to 4 units	15.5%	0.0%
5 to 19 units	8.4%	0.0%
20 or more units	3.1%	0.5%
Mobile home & other	8.7%	22.9%

Poverty & households

	Barstow	Phelan
Poverty rate	23.2%	14.5%
Average household size	2.71	3.45
Mean commute (minutes)	28	48
Median year structure built	1970	1991