Encinitas vs San Marcos

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

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

San Marcos has the higher population (94,078 vs 61,585 in Encinitas). Encinitas has the higher median household income ($150,471 vs $105,286 in San Marcos). Encinitas has the higher median home value ($1,466,000 vs $792,400 in San Marcos).

Population, income & housing

	Encinitas	San Marcos
Population	61,585	94,078
Median age	43.0 yrs	36.8 yrs
Median household income	$150,471	$105,286
Median home value	$1,466,000	$792,400
Median gross rent	$2,730	$2,191
Housing units	26,209	32,255
Homeownership rate	66.4%	63.0%
Bachelor's degree or higher	67.1%	42.7%
Unemployment rate	4.7%	4.5%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Encinitas	San Marcos
Population	62,780 → 61,585 (-1.9%)	95,355 → 94,078 (-1.3%)
Median household income	$116,022 → $150,471 (+29.7%)	$78,797 → $105,286 (+33.6%)
Median home value	$947,700 → $1,466,000 (+54.7%)	$538,200 → $792,400 (+47.2%)
Median gross rent	$1,980 → $2,730 (+37.9%)	$1,704 → $2,191 (+28.6%)

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

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)

	Encinitas	San Marcos
Under 5	5.5%	6.2%
5 to 17	14.9%	19.4%
18 to 24	5.1%	9.7%
25 to 34	12.5%	12.4%
35 to 44	14.4%	15.4%
45 to 54	13.3%	12.7%
55 to 64	13.9%	10.9%
65 to 74	12.8%	7.7%
75 and over	7.5%	5.6%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Encinitas	San Marcos
White (non-Hispanic)	73.9%	44.4%
Black or African American	0.6%	1.3%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.2%	0.2%
Asian	4.4%	10.7%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.1%	0.0%
Some other race	0.4%	0.4%
Two or more races	4.8%	5.6%
Hispanic or Latino	15.7%	37.3%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Encinitas	San Marcos
No high school diploma	4.7%	11.9%
High school graduate	8.3%	16.9%
Some college or associate's	20.0%	28.4%
Bachelor's degree	38.9%	28.4%
Graduate or professional degree	28.1%	14.4%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Encinitas	San Marcos
Drove alone	61.7%	69.8%
Carpooled	5.5%	7.9%
Public transit	0.6%	0.5%
Walked	1.4%	1.6%
Bicycle	0.9%	0.5%
Worked from home	28.7%	18.7%
Other means	1.2%	1.0%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Encinitas	San Marcos
1-unit, detached	56.7%	51.1%
1-unit, attached	18.1%	10.2%
2 to 4 units	7.4%	3.9%
5 to 19 units	7.0%	8.3%
20 or more units	7.5%	15.8%
Mobile home & other	3.3%	10.8%

Poverty & households

	Encinitas	San Marcos
Poverty rate	7.3%	10.2%
Average household size	2.53	2.99
Mean commute (minutes)	24	27
Median year structure built	1980	1994