Carlsbad vs El Cajon

A side-by-side comparison of Carlsbad and El Cajon: population, income, housing, and more.

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

Carlsbad has the higher population (114,500 vs 104,909 in El Cajon). Carlsbad has the higher median household income ($139,326 vs $66,478 in El Cajon). Carlsbad has the higher median home value ($1,156,900 vs $632,800 in El Cajon).

Population, income & housing

	Carlsbad	El Cajon
Population	114,500	104,909
Median age	42.8 yrs	35.5 yrs
Median household income	$139,326	$66,478
Median home value	$1,156,900	$632,800
Median gross rent	$2,678	$1,790
Housing units	47,460	35,264
Homeownership rate	63.3%	41.1%
Bachelor's degree or higher	61.4%	22.2%
Unemployment rate	6.3%	9.2%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Carlsbad	El Cajon
Population	114,253 → 114,500 (+0.2%)	103,186 → 104,909 (+1.7%)
Median household income	$110,478 → $139,326 (+26.1%)	$55,309 → $66,478 (+20.2%)
Median home value	$814,700 → $1,156,900 (+42.0%)	$445,600 → $632,800 (+42.0%)
Median gross rent	$2,025 → $2,678 (+32.2%)	$1,339 → $1,790 (+33.7%)

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

El Cajon

Population

103,186104,909

Median household income

$55,309$66,478

Median home value

$445,600$632,800

Median gross rent

$1,339$1,790

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Carlsbad	El Cajon
Under 5	4.4%	7.4%
5 to 17	18.6%	18.5%
18 to 24	6.0%	8.6%
25 to 34	10.6%	14.6%
35 to 44	13.8%	14.1%
45 to 54	14.2%	11.1%
55 to 64	14.0%	11.9%
65 to 74	10.2%	8.5%
75 and over	8.2%	5.2%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Carlsbad	El Cajon
White (non-Hispanic)	66.0%	53.3%
Black or African American	1.0%	6.0%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.1%	0.2%
Asian	9.4%	4.5%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.1%	0.7%
Some other race	0.6%	0.5%
Two or more races	6.1%	5.7%
Hispanic or Latino	16.8%	29.1%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Carlsbad	El Cajon
No high school diploma	3.9%	15.6%
High school graduate	9.1%	28.9%
Some college or associate's	25.5%	33.3%
Bachelor's degree	36.8%	15.3%
Graduate or professional degree	24.6%	6.9%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Carlsbad	El Cajon
Drove alone	62.3%	72.8%
Carpooled	5.1%	9.3%
Public transit	0.8%	2.6%
Walked	1.2%	2.5%
Bicycle	0.5%	0.6%
Worked from home	29.0%	10.2%
Other means	1.1%	2.1%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Carlsbad	El Cajon
1-unit, detached	53.3%	38.7%
1-unit, attached	15.9%	6.3%
2 to 4 units	6.0%	8.0%
5 to 19 units	12.7%	17.7%
20 or more units	9.9%	24.5%
Mobile home & other	2.2%	5.0%

Poverty & households

	Carlsbad	El Cajon
Poverty rate	6.9%	20.0%
Average household size	2.59	2.99
Mean commute (minutes)	28	25
Median year structure built	1988	1974