Highlands vs Moss Beach

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

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

Moss Beach has the higher population (3,016 vs 2,535 in Highlands). Highlands has the higher median household income ($250,001 vs $128,333 in Moss Beach). Highlands has the higher median home value ($2,000,001 vs $1,112,900 in Moss Beach).

Population, income & housing

	Highlands	Moss Beach
Population	2,535	3,016
Median age	45.1 yrs	44.3 yrs
Median household income	$250,001	$128,333
Median home value	$2,000,001	$1,112,900
Median gross rent	$3,501	—
Housing units	866	1,050
Homeownership rate	81.9%	96.6%
Bachelor's degree or higher	75.8%	51.1%
Unemployment rate	5.3%	0.0%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Highlands	Moss Beach
Population	2,985 → 2,535 (-15.1%)	3,604 → 3,016 (-16.3%)
Median household income	$217,500 → $250,001 (+14.9%)	$108,860 → $128,333 (+17.9%)
Median home value	$1,846,600 → $2,000,001 (+8.3%)	$944,900 → $1,112,900 (+17.8%)
Median gross rent	$2,459 → $3,501 (+42.4%)	$1,822 → $3,067 (+68.3%)

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

Moss Beach

Population

3,6043,016

Median household income

$108,860$128,333

Median home value

$944,900$1,112,900

Median gross rent

$1,822$3,067

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Highlands	Moss Beach
Under 5	5.8%	6.2%
5 to 17	15.8%	16.9%
18 to 24	5.6%	8.5%
25 to 34	11.2%	5.9%
35 to 44	11.5%	13.8%
45 to 54	15.5%	18.8%
55 to 64	15.9%	10.7%
65 to 74	6.5%	9.7%
75 and over	12.3%	9.5%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Highlands	Moss Beach
White (non-Hispanic)	53.4%	58.8%
Black or African American	2.3%	0.5%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.0%	0.3%
Asian	28.4%	5.3%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.0%	0.0%
Some other race	0.0%	0.0%
Two or more races	7.9%	5.6%
Hispanic or Latino	8.0%	29.5%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Highlands	Moss Beach
No high school diploma	1.6%	18.3%
High school graduate	2.8%	7.2%
Some college or associate's	19.7%	23.4%
Bachelor's degree	34.0%	30.6%
Graduate or professional degree	41.9%	20.5%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Highlands	Moss Beach
Drove alone	52.4%	56.9%
Carpooled	4.6%	11.8%
Public transit	1.9%	6.5%
Walked	6.4%	0.8%
Bicycle	0.0%	5.7%
Worked from home	34.4%	18.3%
Other means	0.3%	0.0%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Highlands	Moss Beach
1-unit, detached	90.9%	78.5%
1-unit, attached	0.0%	1.6%
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%	19.9%

Poverty & households

	Highlands	Moss Beach
Poverty rate	4.6%	5.5%
Average household size	2.97	2.91
Mean commute (minutes)	26	29
Median year structure built	1959	1971