Highlands vs Montara

A side-by-side comparison of Highlands and Montara: population, income, housing, and more.

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

Montara has the higher population (2,897 vs 2,535 in Highlands). Highlands has the higher median household income ($250,001 vs $201,367 in Montara). Highlands has the higher median home value ($2,000,001 vs $1,467,400 in Montara).

Population, income & housing

	Highlands	Montara
Population	2,535	2,897
Median age	45.1 yrs	56.0 yrs
Median household income	$250,001	$201,367
Median home value	$2,000,001	$1,467,400
Median gross rent	$3,501	—
Housing units	866	1,226
Homeownership rate	81.9%	89.5%
Bachelor's degree or higher	75.8%	62.1%
Unemployment rate	5.3%	9.5%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Highlands	Montara
Population	2,985 → 2,535 (-15.1%)	2,504 → 2,897 (+15.7%)
Median household income	$217,500 → $250,001 (+14.9%)	$93,167 → $201,367 (+116.1%)
Median home value	$1,846,600 → $2,000,001 (+8.3%)	$1,012,400 → $1,467,400 (+44.9%)
Median gross rent	$2,459 → $3,501 (+42.4%)	$1,708 → $1,803 (+5.6%)

Highlands

Population

2,9852,535

Median household income

$217,500$250,001

Median home value

$1,846,600$2,000,001

Median gross rent

$2,459$3,501

Montara

Population

2,5042,897

Median household income

$93,167$201,367

Median home value

$1,012,400$1,467,400

Median gross rent

$1,708$1,803

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Highlands	Montara
Under 5	5.8%	3.2%
5 to 17	15.8%	10.0%
18 to 24	5.6%	13.8%
25 to 34	11.2%	5.6%
35 to 44	11.5%	9.5%
45 to 54	15.5%	5.7%
55 to 64	15.9%	19.0%
65 to 74	6.5%	26.0%
75 and over	12.3%	7.1%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Highlands	Montara
White (non-Hispanic)	53.4%	77.2%
Black or African American	2.3%	0.0%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.0%	0.0%
Asian	28.4%	1.8%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.0%	0.0%
Some other race	0.0%	0.0%
Two or more races	7.9%	3.5%
Hispanic or Latino	8.0%	17.5%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Highlands	Montara
No high school diploma	1.6%	6.2%
High school graduate	2.8%	8.0%
Some college or associate's	19.7%	23.8%
Bachelor's degree	34.0%	23.0%
Graduate or professional degree	41.9%	39.1%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Highlands	Montara
Drove alone	52.4%	55.9%
Carpooled	4.6%	5.9%
Public transit	1.9%	0.0%
Walked	6.4%	0.0%
Bicycle	0.0%	0.0%
Worked from home	34.4%	31.3%
Other means	0.3%	6.9%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Highlands	Montara
1-unit, detached	90.9%	87.4%
1-unit, attached	0.0%	12.6%
2 to 4 units	2.0%	0.0%
5 to 19 units	0.0%	0.0%
20 or more units	7.2%	0.0%
Mobile home & other	0.0%	0.0%

Poverty & households

	Highlands	Montara
Poverty rate	4.6%	3.6%
Average household size	2.97	2.71
Mean commute (minutes)	26	31
Median year structure built	1959	1975