Carlsbad vs Escondido

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

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

Escondido has the higher population (149,913 vs 114,500 in Carlsbad). Carlsbad has the higher median household income ($139,326 vs $84,477 in Escondido). Carlsbad has the higher median home value ($1,156,900 vs $663,500 in Escondido).

Population, income & housing

	Carlsbad	Escondido
Population	114,500	149,913
Median age	42.8 yrs	37.1 yrs
Median household income	$139,326	$84,477
Median home value	$1,156,900	$663,500
Median gross rent	$2,678	$1,922
Housing units	47,460	52,662
Homeownership rate	63.3%	52.2%
Bachelor's degree or higher	61.4%	27.8%
Unemployment rate	6.3%	4.5%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Carlsbad	Escondido
Population	114,253 → 114,500 (+0.2%)	151,300 → 149,913 (-0.9%)
Median household income	$110,478 → $139,326 (+26.1%)	$64,038 → $84,477 (+31.9%)
Median home value	$814,700 → $1,156,900 (+42.0%)	$450,200 → $663,500 (+47.4%)
Median gross rent	$2,025 → $2,678 (+32.2%)	$1,448 → $1,922 (+32.7%)

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

Escondido

Population

151,300149,913

Median household income

$64,038$84,477

Median home value

$450,200$663,500

Median gross rent

$1,448$1,922

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Carlsbad	Escondido
Under 5	4.4%	6.5%
5 to 17	18.6%	16.3%
18 to 24	6.0%	8.5%
25 to 34	10.6%	15.1%
35 to 44	13.8%	14.4%
45 to 54	14.2%	12.3%
55 to 64	14.0%	12.7%
65 to 74	10.2%	8.2%
75 and over	8.2%	6.0%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Carlsbad	Escondido
White (non-Hispanic)	66.0%	34.5%
Black or African American	1.0%	2.1%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.1%	0.1%
Asian	9.4%	6.9%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.1%	0.4%
Some other race	0.6%	0.6%
Two or more races	6.1%	3.6%
Hispanic or Latino	16.8%	51.7%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Carlsbad	Escondido
No high school diploma	3.9%	19.6%
High school graduate	9.1%	23.2%
Some college or associate's	25.5%	29.4%
Bachelor's degree	36.8%	18.3%
Graduate or professional degree	24.6%	9.5%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Carlsbad	Escondido
Drove alone	62.3%	72.0%
Carpooled	5.1%	9.8%
Public transit	0.8%	1.5%
Walked	1.2%	1.6%
Bicycle	0.5%	0.4%
Worked from home	29.0%	12.8%
Other means	1.1%	1.9%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Carlsbad	Escondido
1-unit, detached	53.3%	50.9%
1-unit, attached	15.9%	7.4%
2 to 4 units	6.0%	6.5%
5 to 19 units	12.7%	9.0%
20 or more units	9.9%	19.1%
Mobile home & other	2.2%	7.1%

Poverty & households

	Carlsbad	Escondido
Poverty rate	6.9%	13.4%
Average household size	2.59	2.90
Mean commute (minutes)	28	28
Median year structure built	1988	1981