Foster City vs Menlo Park

A side-by-side comparison of Foster City and Menlo Park: population, income, housing, and more.

Foster City and Menlo Park 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 32,775 in Menlo Park). Menlo Park has the higher median household income ($206,588 vs $193,633 in Foster City). Menlo Park has the higher median home value ($2,000,001 vs $1,774,500 in Foster City).

Population, income & housing

	Foster City	Menlo Park
Population	32,964	32,775
Median age	39.7 yrs	38.5 yrs
Median household income	$193,633	$206,588
Median home value	$1,774,500	$2,000,001
Median gross rent	$3,501	$3,156
Housing units	13,408	13,136
Homeownership rate	51.2%	55.3%
Bachelor's degree or higher	74.1%	72.7%
Unemployment rate	4.8%	4.2%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Foster City	Menlo Park
Population	33,997 → 32,964 (-3.0%)	34,138 → 32,775 (-4.0%)
Median household income	$158,529 → $193,633 (+22.1%)	$160,784 → $206,588 (+28.5%)
Median home value	$1,245,800 → $1,774,500 (+42.4%)	$2,000,001 → $2,000,001 (+0.0%)
Median gross rent	$3,209 → $3,501 (+9.1%)	$2,341 → $3,156 (+34.8%)

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

Menlo Park

Population

34,13832,775

Median household income

$160,784$206,588

Median home value

$2,000,001$2,000,001

Median gross rent

$2,341$3,156

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Foster City	Menlo Park
Under 5	6.0%	6.8%
5 to 17	16.2%	15.4%
18 to 24	4.8%	8.6%
25 to 34	14.4%	14.5%
35 to 44	17.1%	15.5%
45 to 54	12.5%	12.6%
55 to 64	11.2%	11.6%
65 to 74	8.2%	8.2%
75 and over	9.6%	7.0%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Foster City	Menlo Park
White (non-Hispanic)	30.8%	52.4%
Black or African American	1.4%	3.4%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.1%	0.0%
Asian	53.9%	18.2%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.1%	0.4%
Some other race	0.9%	0.5%
Two or more races	5.9%	5.4%
Hispanic or Latino	6.7%	19.8%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Foster City	Menlo Park
No high school diploma	4.1%	6.2%
High school graduate	6.2%	8.0%
Some college or associate's	15.6%	13.1%
Bachelor's degree	34.0%	26.6%
Graduate or professional degree	40.1%	46.1%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Foster City	Menlo Park
Drove alone	55.1%	49.4%
Carpooled	7.1%	7.2%
Public transit	3.9%	3.0%
Walked	1.5%	1.5%
Bicycle	1.1%	7.8%
Worked from home	30.1%	29.3%
Other means	1.3%	1.8%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Foster City	Menlo Park
1-unit, detached	35.0%	53.8%
1-unit, attached	18.7%	8.0%
2 to 4 units	7.8%	9.2%
5 to 19 units	12.7%	12.5%
20 or more units	25.7%	16.1%
Mobile home & other	0.1%	0.4%

Poverty & households

	Foster City	Menlo Park
Poverty rate	4.6%	5.1%
Average household size	2.54	2.71
Mean commute (minutes)	31	24
Median year structure built	1976	1962