San Marcos vs Vista

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

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

Vista has the higher population (98,646 vs 94,078 in San Marcos). San Marcos has the higher median household income ($105,286 vs $91,854 in Vista). San Marcos has the higher median home value ($792,400 vs $674,400 in Vista).

Population, income & housing

	San Marcos	Vista
Population	94,078	98,646
Median age	36.8 yrs	34.9 yrs
Median household income	$105,286	$91,854
Median home value	$792,400	$674,400
Median gross rent	$2,191	$2,148
Housing units	32,255	32,589
Homeownership rate	63.0%	49.2%
Bachelor's degree or higher	42.7%	27.2%
Unemployment rate	4.5%	6.4%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	San Marcos	Vista
Population	95,355 → 94,078 (-1.3%)	100,686 → 98,646 (-2.0%)
Median household income	$78,797 → $105,286 (+33.6%)	$72,125 → $91,854 (+27.4%)
Median home value	$538,200 → $792,400 (+47.2%)	$480,900 → $674,400 (+40.2%)
Median gross rent	$1,704 → $2,191 (+28.6%)	$1,669 → $2,148 (+28.7%)

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

Vista

Population

100,68698,646

Median household income

$72,125$91,854

Median home value

$480,900$674,400

Median gross rent

$1,669$2,148

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	San Marcos	Vista
Under 5	6.2%	6.2%
5 to 17	19.4%	18.4%
18 to 24	9.7%	9.9%
25 to 34	12.4%	15.6%
35 to 44	15.4%	15.1%
45 to 54	12.7%	12.7%
55 to 64	10.9%	9.6%
65 to 74	7.7%	7.6%
75 and over	5.6%	4.9%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	San Marcos	Vista
White (non-Hispanic)	44.4%	36.7%
Black or African American	1.3%	2.7%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.2%	0.4%
Asian	10.7%	4.9%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.0%	0.8%
Some other race	0.4%	0.2%
Two or more races	5.6%	4.6%
Hispanic or Latino	37.3%	49.7%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	San Marcos	Vista
No high school diploma	11.9%	18.7%
High school graduate	16.9%	22.1%
Some college or associate's	28.4%	32.0%
Bachelor's degree	28.4%	18.3%
Graduate or professional degree	14.4%	8.9%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	San Marcos	Vista
Drove alone	69.8%	75.7%
Carpooled	7.9%	7.4%
Public transit	0.5%	1.0%
Walked	1.6%	1.0%
Bicycle	0.5%	0.1%
Worked from home	18.7%	13.2%
Other means	1.0%	1.8%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	San Marcos	Vista
1-unit, detached	51.1%	48.9%
1-unit, attached	10.2%	8.0%
2 to 4 units	3.9%	5.5%
5 to 19 units	8.3%	20.2%
20 or more units	15.8%	11.4%
Mobile home & other	10.8%	5.9%

Poverty & households

	San Marcos	Vista
Poverty rate	10.2%	10.2%
Average household size	2.99	3.07
Mean commute (minutes)	27	27
Median year structure built	1994	1984