Encinitas vs La Mesa

A side-by-side comparison of Encinitas and La Mesa: population, income, housing, and more.

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

Encinitas has the higher population (61,585 vs 60,835 in La Mesa). Encinitas has the higher median household income ($150,471 vs $84,337 in La Mesa). Encinitas has the higher median home value ($1,466,000 vs $738,800 in La Mesa).

Population, income & housing

	Encinitas	La Mesa
Population	61,585	60,835
Median age	43.0 yrs	37.1 yrs
Median household income	$150,471	$84,337
Median home value	$1,466,000	$738,800
Median gross rent	$2,730	$1,958
Housing units	26,209	26,420
Homeownership rate	66.4%	46.0%
Bachelor's degree or higher	67.1%	38.4%
Unemployment rate	4.7%	6.3%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Encinitas	La Mesa
Population	62,780 → 61,585 (-1.9%)	59,556 → 60,835 (+2.1%)
Median household income	$116,022 → $150,471 (+29.7%)	$66,051 → $84,337 (+27.7%)
Median home value	$947,700 → $1,466,000 (+54.7%)	$530,400 → $738,800 (+39.3%)
Median gross rent	$1,980 → $2,730 (+37.9%)	$1,547 → $1,958 (+26.6%)

Encinitas

Population

62,78061,585

Median household income

$116,022$150,471

Median home value

$947,700$1,466,000

Median gross rent

$1,980$2,730

La Mesa

Population

59,55660,835

Median household income

$66,051$84,337

Median home value

$530,400$738,800

Median gross rent

$1,547$1,958

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Encinitas	La Mesa
Under 5	5.5%	6.5%
5 to 17	14.9%	14.5%
18 to 24	5.1%	7.1%
25 to 34	12.5%	18.2%
35 to 44	14.4%	16.1%
45 to 54	13.3%	11.4%
55 to 64	13.9%	10.6%
65 to 74	12.8%	9.3%
75 and over	7.5%	6.3%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Encinitas	La Mesa
White (non-Hispanic)	73.9%	51.9%
Black or African American	0.6%	8.1%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.2%	0.0%
Asian	4.4%	6.0%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.1%	0.2%
Some other race	0.4%	0.2%
Two or more races	4.8%	5.6%
Hispanic or Latino	15.7%	27.9%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Encinitas	La Mesa
No high school diploma	4.7%	5.8%
High school graduate	8.3%	17.1%
Some college or associate's	20.0%	38.7%
Bachelor's degree	38.9%	24.3%
Graduate or professional degree	28.1%	14.1%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Encinitas	La Mesa
Drove alone	61.7%	71.4%
Carpooled	5.5%	7.3%
Public transit	0.6%	2.4%
Walked	1.4%	2.1%
Bicycle	0.9%	0.0%
Worked from home	28.7%	14.9%
Other means	1.2%	1.8%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Encinitas	La Mesa
1-unit, detached	56.7%	44.5%
1-unit, attached	18.1%	7.2%
2 to 4 units	7.4%	9.0%
5 to 19 units	7.0%	13.3%
20 or more units	7.5%	24.7%
Mobile home & other	3.3%	1.3%

Poverty & households

	Encinitas	La Mesa
Poverty rate	7.3%	11.7%
Average household size	2.53	2.38
Mean commute (minutes)	24	25
Median year structure built	1980	1970