Burlingame vs San Carlos

A side-by-side comparison of Burlingame and San Carlos: population, income, housing, and more.

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

Burlingame has the higher population (30,526 vs 29,797 in San Carlos). San Carlos has the higher median household income ($233,333 vs $168,832 in Burlingame). Both have a median home value of $2,000,001.

Population, income & housing

	Burlingame	San Carlos
Population	30,526	29,797
Median age	41.5 yrs	41.6 yrs
Median household income	$168,832	$233,333
Median home value	$2,000,001	$2,000,001
Median gross rent	$2,643	$2,802
Housing units	13,675	11,679
Homeownership rate	50.5%	68.2%
Bachelor's degree or higher	64.2%	68.1%
Unemployment rate	4.6%	4.6%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Burlingame	San Carlos
Population	30,576 → 30,526 (-0.2%)	30,154 → 29,797 (-1.2%)
Median household income	$128,447 → $168,832 (+31.4%)	$182,083 → $233,333 (+28.1%)
Median home value	$1,901,900 → $2,000,001 (+5.2%)	$1,625,700 → $2,000,001 (+23.0%)
Median gross rent	$2,210 → $2,643 (+19.6%)	$2,321 → $2,802 (+20.7%)

Burlingame

Population

30,57630,526

Median household income

$128,447$168,832

Median home value

$1,901,900$2,000,001

Median gross rent

$2,210$2,643

San Carlos

Population

30,15429,797

Median household income

$182,083$233,333

Median home value

$1,625,700$2,000,001

Median gross rent

$2,321$2,802

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Burlingame	San Carlos
Under 5	5.9%	5.3%
5 to 17	16.3%	18.6%
18 to 24	4.7%	5.2%
25 to 34	13.0%	9.8%
35 to 44	16.0%	16.3%
45 to 54	16.3%	14.8%
55 to 64	12.3%	13.6%
65 to 74	7.8%	9.6%
75 and over	7.7%	6.9%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Burlingame	San Carlos
White (non-Hispanic)	51.9%	57.3%
Black or African American	1.0%	0.8%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.1%	0.1%
Asian	28.0%	21.8%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.2%	0.8%
Some other race	1.1%	1.3%
Two or more races	4.0%	7.2%
Hispanic or Latino	13.7%	10.7%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Burlingame	San Carlos
No high school diploma	5.0%	3.3%
High school graduate	9.8%	7.7%
Some college or associate's	21.0%	20.9%
Bachelor's degree	32.8%	30.4%
Graduate or professional degree	31.4%	37.7%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Burlingame	San Carlos
Drove alone	55.5%	54.1%
Carpooled	4.7%	4.0%
Public transit	9.2%	3.7%
Walked	3.8%	1.5%
Bicycle	0.6%	1.8%
Worked from home	24.1%	32.5%
Other means	2.0%	2.4%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Burlingame	San Carlos
1-unit, detached	48.7%	66.9%
1-unit, attached	3.6%	4.8%
2 to 4 units	5.2%	3.8%
5 to 19 units	21.3%	15.8%
20 or more units	21.1%	8.7%
Mobile home & other	0.0%	0.0%

Poverty & households

	Burlingame	San Carlos
Poverty rate	6.1%	3.2%
Average household size	2.42	2.68
Mean commute (minutes)	31	25
Median year structure built	1957	1961