Carlsbad vs San Marcos

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

Carlsbad and San Marcos 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 94,078 in San Marcos). Carlsbad has the higher median household income ($139,326 vs $105,286 in San Marcos). Carlsbad has the higher median home value ($1,156,900 vs $792,400 in San Marcos).

Population, income & housing

	Carlsbad	San Marcos
Population	114,500	94,078
Median age	42.8 yrs	36.8 yrs
Median household income	$139,326	$105,286
Median home value	$1,156,900	$792,400
Median gross rent	$2,678	$2,191
Housing units	47,460	32,255
Homeownership rate	63.3%	63.0%
Bachelor's degree or higher	61.4%	42.7%
Unemployment rate	6.3%	4.5%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Carlsbad	San Marcos
Population	114,253 → 114,500 (+0.2%)	95,355 → 94,078 (-1.3%)
Median household income	$110,478 → $139,326 (+26.1%)	$78,797 → $105,286 (+33.6%)
Median home value	$814,700 → $1,156,900 (+42.0%)	$538,200 → $792,400 (+47.2%)
Median gross rent	$2,025 → $2,678 (+32.2%)	$1,704 → $2,191 (+28.6%)

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 Marcos

Population

95,35594,078

Median household income

$78,797$105,286

Median home value

$538,200$792,400

Median gross rent

$1,704$2,191

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Carlsbad	San Marcos
Under 5	4.4%	6.2%
5 to 17	18.6%	19.4%
18 to 24	6.0%	9.7%
25 to 34	10.6%	12.4%
35 to 44	13.8%	15.4%
45 to 54	14.2%	12.7%
55 to 64	14.0%	10.9%
65 to 74	10.2%	7.7%
75 and over	8.2%	5.6%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Carlsbad	San Marcos
White (non-Hispanic)	66.0%	44.4%
Black or African American	1.0%	1.3%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.1%	0.2%
Asian	9.4%	10.7%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.1%	0.0%
Some other race	0.6%	0.4%
Two or more races	6.1%	5.6%
Hispanic or Latino	16.8%	37.3%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Carlsbad	San Marcos
No high school diploma	3.9%	11.9%
High school graduate	9.1%	16.9%
Some college or associate's	25.5%	28.4%
Bachelor's degree	36.8%	28.4%
Graduate or professional degree	24.6%	14.4%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Carlsbad	San Marcos
Drove alone	62.3%	69.8%
Carpooled	5.1%	7.9%
Public transit	0.8%	0.5%
Walked	1.2%	1.6%
Bicycle	0.5%	0.5%
Worked from home	29.0%	18.7%
Other means	1.1%	1.0%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Carlsbad	San Marcos
1-unit, detached	53.3%	51.1%
1-unit, attached	15.9%	10.2%
2 to 4 units	6.0%	3.9%
5 to 19 units	12.7%	8.3%
20 or more units	9.9%	15.8%
Mobile home & other	2.2%	10.8%

Poverty & households

	Carlsbad	San Marcos
Poverty rate	6.9%	10.2%
Average household size	2.59	2.99
Mean commute (minutes)	28	27
Median year structure built	1988	1994