Needles vs Wrightwood

A side-by-side comparison of Needles and Wrightwood: population, income, housing, and more.

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

Wrightwood has the higher population (4,907 vs 4,882 in Needles). Wrightwood has the higher median household income ($78,496 vs $39,876 in Needles). Wrightwood has the higher median home value ($456,400 vs $134,400 in Needles).

Population, income & housing

	Needles	Wrightwood
Population	4,882	4,907
Median age	49.6 yrs	48.7 yrs
Median household income	$39,876	$78,496
Median home value	$134,400	$456,400
Median gross rent	$742	$1,668
Housing units	2,848	2,819
Homeownership rate	54.8%	78.4%
Bachelor's degree or higher	9.2%	41.8%
Unemployment rate	12.8%	2.7%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Needles	Wrightwood
Population	4,965 → 4,882 (-1.7%)	3,984 → 4,907 (+23.2%)
Median household income	$33,717 → $39,876 (+18.3%)	$64,841 → $78,496 (+21.1%)
Median home value	$88,500 → $134,400 (+51.9%)	$342,600 → $456,400 (+33.2%)
Median gross rent	$649 → $742 (+14.3%)	$1,030 → $1,668 (+61.9%)

Needles

Population

4,9654,882

Median household income

$33,717$39,876

Median home value

$88,500$134,400

Median gross rent

$649$742

Wrightwood

Population

3,9844,907

Median household income

$64,841$78,496

Median home value

$342,600$456,400

Median gross rent

$1,030$1,668

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Needles	Wrightwood
Under 5	2.9%	4.3%
5 to 17	15.8%	12.9%
18 to 24	6.1%	5.2%
25 to 34	5.4%	9.9%
35 to 44	14.1%	13.4%
45 to 54	9.0%	8.2%
55 to 64	23.6%	15.0%
65 to 74	14.0%	22.5%
75 and over	9.1%	8.7%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Needles	Wrightwood
White (non-Hispanic)	54.5%	74.4%
Black or African American	3.3%	0.0%
American Indian & Alaska Native	6.7%	0.0%
Asian	0.8%	4.1%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.1%	1.4%
Some other race	0.0%	1.0%
Two or more races	4.3%	4.2%
Hispanic or Latino	30.3%	15.1%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Needles	Wrightwood
No high school diploma	21.7%	4.9%
High school graduate	31.7%	22.1%
Some college or associate's	37.5%	31.2%
Bachelor's degree	7.1%	21.8%
Graduate or professional degree	2.0%	20.0%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Needles	Wrightwood
Drove alone	83.3%	74.6%
Carpooled	9.3%	2.2%
Public transit	0.0%	0.0%
Walked	2.1%	2.2%
Bicycle	0.0%	0.0%
Worked from home	5.0%	19.4%
Other means	0.3%	1.6%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Needles	Wrightwood
1-unit, detached	62.1%	95.7%
1-unit, attached	5.1%	0.9%
2 to 4 units	5.5%	0.9%
5 to 19 units	2.2%	1.5%
20 or more units	9.8%	0.0%
Mobile home & other	15.4%	1.1%

Poverty & households

	Needles	Wrightwood
Poverty rate	29.1%	8.9%
Average household size	2.29	2.11
Mean commute (minutes)	19	39
Median year structure built	1977	1974