Foster City vs San Carlos

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

Foster City and San Carlos 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 29,797 in San Carlos). San Carlos has the higher median household income ($233,333 vs $193,633 in Foster City). San Carlos has the higher median home value ($2,000,001 vs $1,774,500 in Foster City).

Population, income & housing

	Foster City	San Carlos
Population	32,964	29,797
Median age	39.7 yrs	41.6 yrs
Median household income	$193,633	$233,333
Median home value	$1,774,500	$2,000,001
Median gross rent	$3,501	$2,802
Housing units	13,408	11,679
Homeownership rate	51.2%	68.2%
Bachelor's degree or higher	74.1%	68.1%
Unemployment rate	4.8%	4.6%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Foster City	San Carlos
Population	33,997 → 32,964 (-3.0%)	30,154 → 29,797 (-1.2%)
Median household income	$158,529 → $193,633 (+22.1%)	$182,083 → $233,333 (+28.1%)
Median home value	$1,245,800 → $1,774,500 (+42.4%)	$1,625,700 → $2,000,001 (+23.0%)
Median gross rent	$3,209 → $3,501 (+9.1%)	$2,321 → $2,802 (+20.7%)

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

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)

	Foster City	San Carlos
Under 5	6.0%	5.3%
5 to 17	16.2%	18.6%
18 to 24	4.8%	5.2%
25 to 34	14.4%	9.8%
35 to 44	17.1%	16.3%
45 to 54	12.5%	14.8%
55 to 64	11.2%	13.6%
65 to 74	8.2%	9.6%
75 and over	9.6%	6.9%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Foster City	San Carlos
White (non-Hispanic)	30.8%	57.3%
Black or African American	1.4%	0.8%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.1%	0.1%
Asian	53.9%	21.8%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.1%	0.8%
Some other race	0.9%	1.3%
Two or more races	5.9%	7.2%
Hispanic or Latino	6.7%	10.7%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Foster City	San Carlos
No high school diploma	4.1%	3.3%
High school graduate	6.2%	7.7%
Some college or associate's	15.6%	20.9%
Bachelor's degree	34.0%	30.4%
Graduate or professional degree	40.1%	37.7%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Foster City	San Carlos
Drove alone	55.1%	54.1%
Carpooled	7.1%	4.0%
Public transit	3.9%	3.7%
Walked	1.5%	1.5%
Bicycle	1.1%	1.8%
Worked from home	30.1%	32.5%
Other means	1.3%	2.4%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Foster City	San Carlos
1-unit, detached	35.0%	66.9%
1-unit, attached	18.7%	4.8%
2 to 4 units	7.8%	3.8%
5 to 19 units	12.7%	15.8%
20 or more units	25.7%	8.7%
Mobile home & other	0.1%	0.0%

Poverty & households

	Foster City	San Carlos
Poverty rate	4.6%	3.2%
Average household size	2.54	2.68
Mean commute (minutes)	31	25
Median year structure built	1976	1961