Big Bear City vs Spring Valley Lake

A side-by-side comparison of Big Bear City and Spring Valley Lake: population, income, housing, and more.

Big Bear City and Spring Valley Lake are places in California. This page compares them across population, income, housing, education, commuting, and how each has changed since 2019.

Big Bear City has the higher population (12,493 vs 10,098 in Spring Valley Lake). Spring Valley Lake has the higher median household income ($93,040 vs $72,457 in Big Bear City). Spring Valley Lake has the higher median home value ($439,500 vs $427,700 in Big Bear City).

Population, income & housing

	Big Bear City	Spring Valley Lake
Population	12,493	10,098
Median age	44.3 yrs	35.2 yrs
Median household income	$72,457	$93,040
Median home value	$427,700	$439,500
Median gross rent	$1,454	$2,264
Housing units	12,489	3,493
Homeownership rate	71.9%	74.7%
Bachelor's degree or higher	28.4%	30.6%
Unemployment rate	8.0%	6.3%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Big Bear City	Spring Valley Lake
Population	13,463 → 12,493 (-7.2%)	8,403 → 10,098 (+20.2%)
Median household income	$51,875 → $72,457 (+39.7%)	$84,727 → $93,040 (+9.8%)
Median home value	$257,200 → $427,700 (+66.3%)	$281,100 → $439,500 (+56.4%)
Median gross rent	$1,113 → $1,454 (+30.6%)	$1,713 → $2,264 (+32.2%)

Big Bear City

Population

13,46312,493

Median household income

$51,875$72,457

Median home value

$257,200$427,700

Median gross rent

$1,113$1,454

Spring Valley Lake

Population

8,40310,098

Median household income

$84,727$93,040

Median home value

$281,100$439,500

Median gross rent

$1,713$2,264

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Big Bear City	Spring Valley Lake
Under 5	7.1%	7.3%
5 to 17	14.2%	20.8%
18 to 24	8.4%	12.0%
25 to 34	8.9%	9.7%
35 to 44	12.4%	14.5%
45 to 54	10.5%	8.1%
55 to 64	17.1%	10.0%
65 to 74	13.9%	11.4%
75 and over	7.5%	6.3%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Big Bear City	Spring Valley Lake
White (non-Hispanic)	69.9%	59.0%
Black or African American	0.9%	4.0%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.6%	1.0%
Asian	0.9%	2.5%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.5%	0.0%
Some other race	0.0%	0.3%
Two or more races	3.6%	0.9%
Hispanic or Latino	23.6%	32.2%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Big Bear City	Spring Valley Lake
No high school diploma	8.2%	5.2%
High school graduate	26.6%	24.7%
Some college or associate's	36.8%	39.6%
Bachelor's degree	20.4%	17.2%
Graduate or professional degree	8.0%	13.4%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Big Bear City	Spring Valley Lake
Drove alone	72.3%	79.4%
Carpooled	7.3%	8.1%
Public transit	0.0%	0.0%
Walked	3.9%	1.0%
Bicycle	0.0%	0.0%
Worked from home	15.4%	11.4%
Other means	1.1%	0.0%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Big Bear City	Spring Valley Lake
1-unit, detached	94.4%	95.4%
1-unit, attached	0.6%	2.8%
2 to 4 units	1.1%	1.2%
5 to 19 units	0.2%	0.6%
20 or more units	0.2%	0.0%
Mobile home & other	3.4%	0.0%

Poverty & households

	Big Bear City	Spring Valley Lake
Poverty rate	15.3%	6.4%
Average household size	2.35	3.11
Mean commute (minutes)	26	35
Median year structure built	1978	1987