Solana Beach vs Valley Center

A side-by-side comparison of Solana Beach and Valley Center: population, income, housing, and more.

Solana Beach and Valley Center are places in California. This page compares them across population, income, housing, education, commuting, and how each has changed since 2019.

Solana Beach has the higher population (12,841 vs 10,303 in Valley Center). Solana Beach has the higher median household income ($150,820 vs $116,620 in Valley Center). Solana Beach has the higher median home value ($1,934,700 vs $809,300 in Valley Center).

Population, income & housing

	Solana Beach	Valley Center
Population	12,841	10,303
Median age	47.9 yrs	40.8 yrs
Median household income	$150,820	$116,620
Median home value	$1,934,700	$809,300
Median gross rent	$3,022	$1,163
Housing units	6,388	3,450
Homeownership rate	68.4%	88.3%
Bachelor's degree or higher	71.8%	35.6%
Unemployment rate	3.3%	3.4%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Solana Beach	Valley Center
Population	13,356 → 12,841 (-3.9%)	11,077 → 10,303 (-7.0%)
Median household income	$108,118 → $150,820 (+39.5%)	$101,331 → $116,620 (+15.1%)
Median home value	$1,192,600 → $1,934,700 (+62.2%)	$614,800 → $809,300 (+31.6%)
Median gross rent	$2,232 → $3,022 (+35.4%)	$1,184 → $1,163 (-1.8%)

Solana Beach

Population

13,35612,841

Median household income

$108,118$150,820

Median home value

$1,192,600$1,934,700

Median gross rent

$2,232$3,022

Valley Center

Population

11,07710,303

Median household income

$101,331$116,620

Median home value

$614,800$809,300

Median gross rent

$1,184$1,163

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Solana Beach	Valley Center
Under 5	4.2%	9.6%
5 to 17	14.4%	15.0%
18 to 24	5.5%	7.4%
25 to 34	9.9%	13.0%
35 to 44	11.3%	10.0%
45 to 54	15.0%	10.2%
55 to 64	16.1%	11.3%
65 to 74	13.8%	13.6%
75 and over	9.9%	9.8%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Solana Beach	Valley Center
White (non-Hispanic)	75.0%	45.6%
Black or African American	0.7%	2.8%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.0%	0.9%
Asian	5.1%	2.2%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.0%	0.0%
Some other race	0.3%	1.8%
Two or more races	6.9%	3.5%
Hispanic or Latino	12.0%	43.1%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Solana Beach	Valley Center
No high school diploma	2.8%	13.6%
High school graduate	9.0%	16.7%
Some college or associate's	16.3%	34.0%
Bachelor's degree	43.1%	24.9%
Graduate or professional degree	28.8%	10.8%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Solana Beach	Valley Center
Drove alone	56.6%	78.0%
Carpooled	4.9%	5.8%
Public transit	1.7%	0.1%
Walked	3.8%	0.0%
Bicycle	1.1%	0.0%
Worked from home	30.7%	15.3%
Other means	1.2%	0.7%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Solana Beach	Valley Center
1-unit, detached	46.0%	83.9%
1-unit, attached	20.8%	3.2%
2 to 4 units	7.0%	0.2%
5 to 19 units	11.9%	0.0%
20 or more units	14.1%	0.0%
Mobile home & other	0.1%	12.8%

Poverty & households

	Solana Beach	Valley Center
Poverty rate	5.5%	12.4%
Average household size	2.36	3.40
Mean commute (minutes)	22	36
Median year structure built	1976	1983