Big Bear Lake vs Running Springs

A side-by-side comparison of Big Bear Lake and Running Springs: population, income, housing, and more.

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

Running Springs has the higher population (5,043 vs 5,038 in Big Bear Lake). Running Springs has the higher median household income ($85,681 vs $74,728 in Big Bear Lake). Big Bear Lake has the higher median home value ($517,900 vs $373,300 in Running Springs).

Population, income & housing

	Big Bear Lake	Running Springs
Population	5,038	5,043
Median age	45.5 yrs	37.3 yrs
Median household income	$74,728	$85,681
Median home value	$517,900	$373,300
Median gross rent	$1,278	$1,725
Housing units	9,602	3,770
Homeownership rate	67.2%	73.4%
Bachelor's degree or higher	34.9%	35.6%
Unemployment rate	6.5%	5.4%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Big Bear Lake	Running Springs
Population	5,241 → 5,038 (-3.9%)	4,071 → 5,043 (+23.9%)
Median household income	$51,060 → $74,728 (+46.4%)	$60,200 → $85,681 (+42.3%)
Median home value	$391,000 → $517,900 (+32.5%)	$256,000 → $373,300 (+45.8%)
Median gross rent	$957 → $1,278 (+33.5%)	$1,215 → $1,725 (+42.0%)

Big Bear Lake

Population

5,2415,038

Median household income

$51,060$74,728

Median home value

$391,000$517,900

Median gross rent

$957$1,278

Running Springs

Population

4,0715,043

Median household income

$60,200$85,681

Median home value

$256,000$373,300

Median gross rent

$1,215$1,725

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Big Bear Lake	Running Springs
Under 5	4.7%	7.4%
5 to 17	14.5%	17.5%
18 to 24	3.9%	6.4%
25 to 34	10.8%	13.8%
35 to 44	15.8%	16.0%
45 to 54	11.1%	7.6%
55 to 64	18.5%	13.1%
65 to 74	14.0%	13.5%
75 and over	6.8%	4.8%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Big Bear Lake	Running Springs
White (non-Hispanic)	67.7%	70.6%
Black or African American	0.4%	0.2%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.2%	1.0%
Asian	2.5%	2.8%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.0%	0.0%
Some other race	0.5%	0.0%
Two or more races	3.4%	5.6%
Hispanic or Latino	25.2%	19.9%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Big Bear Lake	Running Springs
No high school diploma	8.7%	5.6%
High school graduate	21.7%	19.1%
Some college or associate's	34.6%	39.7%
Bachelor's degree	21.7%	23.1%
Graduate or professional degree	13.3%	12.5%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Big Bear Lake	Running Springs
Drove alone	61.3%	72.0%
Carpooled	12.1%	9.2%
Public transit	0.0%	1.2%
Walked	2.0%	1.7%
Bicycle	0.0%	0.0%
Worked from home	23.8%	14.7%
Other means	0.9%	1.3%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Big Bear Lake	Running Springs
1-unit, detached	84.8%	96.4%
1-unit, attached	4.2%	3.6%
2 to 4 units	3.5%	0.0%
5 to 19 units	2.1%	0.0%
20 or more units	2.8%	0.0%
Mobile home & other	2.6%	0.0%

Poverty & households

	Big Bear Lake	Running Springs
Poverty rate	9.4%	14.1%
Average household size	2.24	2.46
Mean commute (minutes)	28	40
Median year structure built	1976	1970