East Palo Alto vs Foster City

A side-by-side comparison of East Palo Alto and Foster City: population, income, housing, and more.

East Palo Alto and Foster City are places in California. This page compares them across population, income, housing, education, commuting, and how each has changed since 2019.

Foster City has the higher population (32,964 vs 29,143 in East Palo Alto). Foster City has the higher median household income ($193,633 vs $104,832 in East Palo Alto). Foster City has the higher median home value ($1,774,500 vs $1,124,000 in East Palo Alto).

Population, income & housing

	East Palo Alto	Foster City
Population	29,143	32,964
Median age	34.2 yrs	39.7 yrs
Median household income	$104,832	$193,633
Median home value	$1,124,000	$1,774,500
Median gross rent	$2,209	$3,501
Housing units	9,248	13,408
Homeownership rate	47.9%	51.2%
Bachelor's degree or higher	25.8%	74.1%
Unemployment rate	5.2%	4.8%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	East Palo Alto	Foster City
Population	29,593 → 29,143 (-1.5%)	33,997 → 32,964 (-3.0%)
Median household income	$67,087 → $104,832 (+56.3%)	$158,529 → $193,633 (+22.1%)
Median home value	$821,200 → $1,124,000 (+36.9%)	$1,245,800 → $1,774,500 (+42.4%)
Median gross rent	$1,766 → $2,209 (+25.1%)	$3,209 → $3,501 (+9.1%)

East Palo Alto

Population

29,59329,143

Median household income

$67,087$104,832

Median home value

$821,200$1,124,000

Median gross rent

$1,766$2,209

Foster City

Population

33,99732,964

Median household income

$158,529$193,633

Median home value

$1,245,800$1,774,500

Median gross rent

$3,209$3,501

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	East Palo Alto	Foster City
Under 5	5.7%	6.0%
5 to 17	17.1%	16.2%
18 to 24	9.7%	4.8%
25 to 34	18.0%	14.4%
35 to 44	14.5%	17.1%
45 to 54	11.4%	12.5%
55 to 64	14.1%	11.2%
65 to 74	5.4%	8.2%
75 and over	4.2%	9.6%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	East Palo Alto	Foster City
White (non-Hispanic)	12.4%	30.8%
Black or African American	11.9%	1.4%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.2%	0.1%
Asian	5.7%	53.9%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	4.5%	0.1%
Some other race	1.3%	0.9%
Two or more races	1.7%	5.9%
Hispanic or Latino	62.1%	6.7%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	East Palo Alto	Foster City
No high school diploma	23.8%	4.1%
High school graduate	23.1%	6.2%
Some college or associate's	27.3%	15.6%
Bachelor's degree	14.0%	34.0%
Graduate or professional degree	11.7%	40.1%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	East Palo Alto	Foster City
Drove alone	66.1%	55.1%
Carpooled	11.3%	7.1%
Public transit	2.0%	3.9%
Walked	1.9%	1.5%
Bicycle	1.4%	1.1%
Worked from home	14.3%	30.1%
Other means	3.0%	1.3%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	East Palo Alto	Foster City
1-unit, detached	57.7%	35.0%
1-unit, attached	3.0%	18.7%
2 to 4 units	4.2%	7.8%
5 to 19 units	10.2%	12.7%
20 or more units	23.6%	25.7%
Mobile home & other	1.2%	0.1%

Poverty & households

	East Palo Alto	Foster City
Poverty rate	9.7%	4.6%
Average household size	3.49	2.54
Mean commute (minutes)	25	31
Median year structure built	1963	1976