Del Mar vs Lake San Marcos

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

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

Lake San Marcos has the higher population (4,996 vs 3,921 in Del Mar). Del Mar has the higher median household income ($192,845 vs $100,676 in Lake San Marcos). Del Mar has the higher median home value ($2,000,001 vs $859,600 in Lake San Marcos).

Population, income & housing

	Del Mar	Lake San Marcos
Population	3,921	4,996
Median age	55.5 yrs	60.1 yrs
Median household income	$192,845	$100,676
Median home value	$2,000,001	$859,600
Median gross rent	$3,377	$2,615
Housing units	2,586	2,285
Homeownership rate	54.3%	78.4%
Bachelor's degree or higher	84.7%	35.5%
Unemployment rate	2.5%	3.4%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Del Mar	Lake San Marcos
Population	4,331 → 3,921 (-9.5%)	4,713 → 4,996 (+6.0%)
Median household income	$129,063 → $192,845 (+49.4%)	$71,923 → $100,676 (+40.0%)
Median home value	$2,000,001 → $2,000,001 (+0.0%)	$602,700 → $859,600 (+42.6%)
Median gross rent	$2,320 → $3,377 (+45.6%)	$1,988 → $2,615 (+31.5%)

Del Mar

Population

4,3313,921

Median household income

$129,063$192,845

Median home value

$2,000,001$2,000,001

Median gross rent

$2,320$3,377

Lake San Marcos

Population

4,7134,996

Median household income

$71,923$100,676

Median home value

$602,700$859,600

Median gross rent

$1,988$2,615

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Del Mar	Lake San Marcos
Under 5	2.9%	1.7%
5 to 17	7.5%	9.5%
18 to 24	3.2%	4.4%
25 to 34	10.7%	10.0%
35 to 44	8.1%	7.1%
45 to 54	14.5%	11.9%
55 to 64	20.4%	14.8%
65 to 74	18.0%	20.0%
75 and over	14.7%	20.6%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Del Mar	Lake San Marcos
White (non-Hispanic)	83.8%	67.4%
Black or African American	2.1%	1.0%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.0%	0.0%
Asian	2.0%	5.7%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.0%	0.0%
Some other race	0.0%	0.3%
Two or more races	7.3%	3.9%
Hispanic or Latino	4.8%	21.6%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Del Mar	Lake San Marcos
No high school diploma	0.4%	12.6%
High school graduate	6.1%	14.8%
Some college or associate's	8.9%	37.1%
Bachelor's degree	37.5%	22.8%
Graduate or professional degree	47.2%	12.8%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Del Mar	Lake San Marcos
Drove alone	54.2%	73.5%
Carpooled	2.8%	4.5%
Public transit	0.6%	0.0%
Walked	0.0%	0.6%
Bicycle	0.6%	0.0%
Worked from home	40.9%	21.0%
Other means	1.0%	0.4%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Del Mar	Lake San Marcos
1-unit, detached	56.7%	62.7%
1-unit, attached	9.4%	20.1%
2 to 4 units	3.7%	3.9%
5 to 19 units	12.5%	6.1%
20 or more units	17.6%	7.3%
Mobile home & other	0.0%	0.0%

Poverty & households

	Del Mar	Lake San Marcos
Poverty rate	2.5%	6.3%
Average household size	2.07	2.28
Mean commute (minutes)	22	22
Median year structure built	1970	1979