Carlsbad vs San Diego

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

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

San Diego has the higher population (1,385,061 vs 114,500 in Carlsbad). Carlsbad has the higher median household income ($139,326 vs $104,321 in San Diego). Carlsbad has the higher median home value ($1,156,900 vs $848,500 in San Diego).

Population, income & housing

	Carlsbad	San Diego
Population	114,500	1,385,061
Median age	42.8 yrs	36.0 yrs
Median household income	$139,326	$104,321
Median home value	$1,156,900	$848,500
Median gross rent	$2,678	$2,223
Housing units	47,460	559,653
Homeownership rate	63.3%	47.6%
Bachelor's degree or higher	61.4%	49.9%
Unemployment rate	6.3%	5.9%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Carlsbad	San Diego
Population	114,253 → 114,500 (+0.2%)	1,409,573 → 1,385,061 (-1.7%)
Median household income	$110,478 → $139,326 (+26.1%)	$79,673 → $104,321 (+30.9%)
Median home value	$814,700 → $1,156,900 (+42.0%)	$602,600 → $848,500 (+40.8%)
Median gross rent	$2,025 → $2,678 (+32.2%)	$1,695 → $2,223 (+31.2%)

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

San Diego

Population

1,409,5731,385,061

Median household income

$79,673$104,321

Median home value

$602,600$848,500

Median gross rent

$1,695$2,223

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Carlsbad	San Diego
Under 5	4.4%	5.3%
5 to 17	18.6%	13.5%
18 to 24	6.0%	10.7%
25 to 34	10.6%	18.7%
35 to 44	13.8%	14.7%
45 to 54	14.2%	12.0%
55 to 64	14.0%	10.9%
65 to 74	10.2%	8.2%
75 and over	8.2%	5.9%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Carlsbad	San Diego
White (non-Hispanic)	66.0%	41.4%
Black or African American	1.0%	5.4%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.1%	0.2%
Asian	9.4%	17.2%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.1%	0.4%
Some other race	0.6%	0.6%
Two or more races	6.1%	5.2%
Hispanic or Latino	16.8%	29.6%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Carlsbad	San Diego
No high school diploma	3.9%	9.8%
High school graduate	9.1%	15.0%
Some college or associate's	25.5%	25.3%
Bachelor's degree	36.8%	28.8%
Graduate or professional degree	24.6%	21.1%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Carlsbad	San Diego
Drove alone	62.3%	64.2%
Carpooled	5.1%	7.8%
Public transit	0.8%	3.0%
Walked	1.2%	3.4%
Bicycle	0.5%	0.7%
Worked from home	29.0%	19.2%
Other means	1.1%	1.7%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Carlsbad	San Diego
1-unit, detached	53.3%	43.5%
1-unit, attached	15.9%	9.9%
2 to 4 units	6.0%	7.8%
5 to 19 units	12.7%	16.9%
20 or more units	9.9%	20.9%
Mobile home & other	2.2%	1.2%

Poverty & households

	Carlsbad	San Diego
Poverty rate	6.9%	11.1%
Average household size	2.59	2.55
Mean commute (minutes)	28	24
Median year structure built	1988	1978