Carlsbad vs Chula Vista

A side-by-side comparison of Carlsbad and Chula Vista: population, income, housing, and more.

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

Chula Vista has the higher population (275,030 vs 114,500 in Carlsbad). Carlsbad has the higher median household income ($139,326 vs $105,173 in Chula Vista). Carlsbad has the higher median home value ($1,156,900 vs $697,400 in Chula Vista).

Population, income & housing

	Carlsbad	Chula Vista
Population	114,500	275,030
Median age	42.8 yrs	37.0 yrs
Median household income	$139,326	$105,173
Median home value	$1,156,900	$697,400
Median gross rent	$2,678	$2,122
Housing units	47,460	90,535
Homeownership rate	63.3%	60.2%
Bachelor's degree or higher	61.4%	32.3%
Unemployment rate	6.3%	8.8%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Carlsbad	Chula Vista
Population	114,253 → 114,500 (+0.2%)	268,920 → 275,030 (+2.3%)
Median household income	$110,478 → $139,326 (+26.1%)	$81,272 → $105,173 (+29.4%)
Median home value	$814,700 → $1,156,900 (+42.0%)	$492,700 → $697,400 (+41.5%)
Median gross rent	$2,025 → $2,678 (+32.2%)	$1,622 → $2,122 (+30.8%)

Carlsbad

Population

114,253114,500

Median household income

$110,478$139,326

Median home value

$814,700$1,156,900

Median gross rent

$2,025$2,678

Chula Vista

Population

268,920275,030

Median household income

$81,272$105,173

Median home value

$492,700$697,400

Median gross rent

$1,622$2,122

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Carlsbad	Chula Vista
Under 5	4.4%	5.6%
5 to 17	18.6%	18.8%
18 to 24	6.0%	8.5%
25 to 34	10.6%	14.3%
35 to 44	13.8%	14.6%
45 to 54	14.2%	13.6%
55 to 64	14.0%	11.5%
65 to 74	10.2%	7.8%
75 and over	8.2%	5.1%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Carlsbad	Chula Vista
White (non-Hispanic)	66.0%	15.9%
Black or African American	1.0%	5.0%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.1%	0.1%
Asian	9.4%	14.4%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.1%	0.2%
Some other race	0.6%	0.4%
Two or more races	6.1%	3.5%
Hispanic or Latino	16.8%	60.4%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Carlsbad	Chula Vista
No high school diploma	3.9%	14.3%
High school graduate	9.1%	20.7%
Some college or associate's	25.5%	32.6%
Bachelor's degree	36.8%	21.9%
Graduate or professional degree	24.6%	10.4%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Carlsbad	Chula Vista
Drove alone	62.3%	73.3%
Carpooled	5.1%	9.9%
Public transit	0.8%	2.4%
Walked	1.2%	1.4%
Bicycle	0.5%	0.1%
Worked from home	29.0%	11.7%
Other means	1.1%	1.2%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Carlsbad	Chula Vista
1-unit, detached	53.3%	52.1%
1-unit, attached	15.9%	14.1%
2 to 4 units	6.0%	5.5%
5 to 19 units	12.7%	10.1%
20 or more units	9.9%	13.9%
Mobile home & other	2.2%	4.3%

Poverty & households

	Carlsbad	Chula Vista
Poverty rate	6.9%	8.4%
Average household size	2.59	3.20
Mean commute (minutes)	28	29
Median year structure built	1988	1986