Foster City vs Pacifica

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

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

Pacifica has the higher population (37,527 vs 32,964 in Foster City). Foster City has the higher median household income ($193,633 vs $156,819 in Pacifica). Foster City has the higher median home value ($1,774,500 vs $1,211,700 in Pacifica).

Population, income & housing

	Foster City	Pacifica
Population	32,964	37,527
Median age	39.7 yrs	44.3 yrs
Median household income	$193,633	$156,819
Median home value	$1,774,500	$1,211,700
Median gross rent	$3,501	$3,080
Housing units	13,408	14,596
Homeownership rate	51.2%	68.5%
Bachelor's degree or higher	74.1%	48.5%
Unemployment rate	4.8%	3.3%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Foster City	Pacifica
Population	33,997 → 32,964 (-3.0%)	38,984 → 37,527 (-3.7%)
Median household income	$158,529 → $193,633 (+22.1%)	$125,500 → $156,819 (+25.0%)
Median home value	$1,245,800 → $1,774,500 (+42.4%)	$882,800 → $1,211,700 (+37.3%)
Median gross rent	$3,209 → $3,501 (+9.1%)	$2,414 → $3,080 (+27.6%)

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

Pacifica

Population

38,98437,527

Median household income

$125,500$156,819

Median home value

$882,800$1,211,700

Median gross rent

$2,414$3,080

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Foster City	Pacifica
Under 5	6.0%	4.8%
5 to 17	16.2%	13.5%
18 to 24	4.8%	6.0%
25 to 34	14.4%	12.2%
35 to 44	17.1%	14.2%
45 to 54	12.5%	14.8%
55 to 64	11.2%	14.1%
65 to 74	8.2%	12.7%
75 and over	9.6%	7.6%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Foster City	Pacifica
White (non-Hispanic)	30.8%	48.5%
Black or African American	1.4%	1.8%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.1%	0.0%
Asian	53.9%	20.6%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.1%	1.5%
Some other race	0.9%	0.8%
Two or more races	5.9%	7.5%
Hispanic or Latino	6.7%	19.4%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Foster City	Pacifica
No high school diploma	4.1%	4.5%
High school graduate	6.2%	16.0%
Some college or associate's	15.6%	31.0%
Bachelor's degree	34.0%	30.5%
Graduate or professional degree	40.1%	18.1%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Foster City	Pacifica
Drove alone	55.1%	63.8%
Carpooled	7.1%	7.0%
Public transit	3.9%	5.1%
Walked	1.5%	1.0%
Bicycle	1.1%	0.2%
Worked from home	30.1%	21.2%
Other means	1.3%	1.6%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Foster City	Pacifica
1-unit, detached	35.0%	73.7%
1-unit, attached	18.7%	5.3%
2 to 4 units	7.8%	4.7%
5 to 19 units	12.7%	7.7%
20 or more units	25.7%	7.1%
Mobile home & other	0.1%	1.5%

Poverty & households

	Foster City	Pacifica
Poverty rate	4.6%	6.2%
Average household size	2.54	2.67
Mean commute (minutes)	31	28
Median year structure built	1976	1966