Thornton vs Waterloo

A side-by-side comparison of Thornton and Waterloo: population, income, housing, and more.

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

Waterloo has the higher population (886 vs 815 in Thornton). Waterloo has the higher median household income ($250,001 vs $47,917 in Thornton). Waterloo has the higher median home value ($883,200 vs $455,300 in Thornton).

Population, income & housing

	Thornton	Waterloo
Population	815	886
Median age	32.2 yrs	53.7 yrs
Median household income	$47,917	$250,001
Median home value	$455,300	$883,200
Median gross rent	$898	$1,908
Housing units	285	345
Homeownership rate	49.8%	38.6%
Bachelor's degree or higher	11.0%	27.3%
Unemployment rate	11.0%	0.0%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Thornton	Waterloo
Population	1,033 → 815 (-21.1%)	670 → 886 (+32.2%)
Median household income	$29,141 → $47,917 (+64.4%)	$85,000 → $250,001 (+194.1%)
Median home value	$322,700 → $455,300 (+41.1%)	$683,800 → $883,200 (+29.2%)
Median gross rent	$781 → $898 (+15.0%)	$923 → $1,908 (+106.7%)

Thornton

Population

1,033815

Median household income

$29,141$47,917

Median home value

$322,700$455,300

Median gross rent

$781$898

Waterloo

Population

670886

Median household income

$85,000$250,001

Median home value

$683,800$883,200

Median gross rent

$923$1,908

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Thornton	Waterloo
Under 5	4.7%	6.8%
5 to 17	23.2%	6.1%
18 to 24	13.0%	14.9%
25 to 34	14.8%	8.7%
35 to 44	4.5%	8.4%
45 to 54	17.4%	6.9%
55 to 64	12.6%	27.4%
65 to 74	3.8%	9.8%
75 and over	5.9%	11.1%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Thornton	Waterloo
White (non-Hispanic)	32.3%	86.6%
Black or African American	3.2%	0.0%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.0%	0.0%
Asian	0.4%	1.1%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.0%	0.0%
Some other race	1.2%	0.0%
Two or more races	2.7%	1.9%
Hispanic or Latino	60.2%	10.4%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Thornton	Waterloo
No high school diploma	34.9%	5.8%
High school graduate	25.5%	10.8%
Some college or associate's	28.6%	56.1%
Bachelor's degree	10.4%	18.9%
Graduate or professional degree	0.6%	8.4%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Thornton	Waterloo
Drove alone	81.5%	79.9%
Carpooled	14.5%	0.0%
Public transit	0.0%	0.0%
Walked	0.9%	0.0%
Bicycle	0.0%	0.0%
Worked from home	3.1%	18.4%
Other means	0.0%	1.7%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Thornton	Waterloo
1-unit, detached	70.5%	95.1%
1-unit, attached	10.2%	0.0%
2 to 4 units	12.3%	0.0%
5 to 19 units	0.0%	0.0%
20 or more units	0.0%	0.0%
Mobile home & other	7.0%	4.9%

Poverty & households

	Thornton	Waterloo
Poverty rate	29.5%	5.6%
Average household size	3.08	2.57
Mean commute (minutes)	31	28
Median year structure built	1966	1956