Menlo Park vs South San Francisco

A side-by-side comparison of Menlo Park and South San Francisco: population, income, housing, and more.

Menlo Park and South San Francisco are places in California. This page compares them across population, income, housing, education, commuting, and how each has changed since 2019.

South San Francisco has the higher population (64,487 vs 32,775 in Menlo Park). Menlo Park has the higher median household income ($206,588 vs $135,909 in South San Francisco). Menlo Park has the higher median home value ($2,000,001 vs $1,160,100 in South San Francisco).

Population, income & housing

	Menlo Park	South San Francisco
Population	32,775	64,487
Median age	38.5 yrs	42.4 yrs
Median household income	$206,588	$135,909
Median home value	$2,000,001	$1,160,100
Median gross rent	$3,156	$2,833
Housing units	13,136	23,194
Homeownership rate	55.3%	60.8%
Bachelor's degree or higher	72.7%	40.1%
Unemployment rate	4.2%	2.5%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Menlo Park	South San Francisco
Population	34,138 → 32,775 (-4.0%)	67,408 → 64,487 (-4.3%)
Median household income	$160,784 → $206,588 (+28.5%)	$105,459 → $135,909 (+28.9%)
Median home value	$2,000,001 → $2,000,001 (+0.0%)	$844,000 → $1,160,100 (+37.5%)
Median gross rent	$2,341 → $3,156 (+34.8%)	$2,105 → $2,833 (+34.6%)

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

South San Francisco

Population

67,40864,487

Median household income

$105,459$135,909

Median home value

$844,000$1,160,100

Median gross rent

$2,105$2,833

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Menlo Park	South San Francisco
Under 5	6.8%	4.3%
5 to 17	15.4%	13.1%
18 to 24	8.6%	7.6%
25 to 34	14.5%	13.0%
35 to 44	15.5%	15.8%
45 to 54	12.6%	14.2%
55 to 64	11.6%	14.4%
65 to 74	8.2%	10.6%
75 and over	7.0%	7.0%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Menlo Park	South San Francisco
White (non-Hispanic)	52.4%	20.6%
Black or African American	3.4%	1.7%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.0%	0.1%
Asian	18.2%	42.4%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.4%	1.0%
Some other race	0.5%	0.3%
Two or more races	5.4%	3.2%
Hispanic or Latino	19.8%	30.8%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Menlo Park	South San Francisco
No high school diploma	6.2%	13.7%
High school graduate	8.0%	19.3%
Some college or associate's	13.1%	26.9%
Bachelor's degree	26.6%	27.6%
Graduate or professional degree	46.1%	12.5%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Menlo Park	South San Francisco
Drove alone	49.4%	59.6%
Carpooled	7.2%	11.8%
Public transit	3.0%	8.5%
Walked	1.5%	1.9%
Bicycle	7.8%	0.8%
Worked from home	29.3%	16.5%
Other means	1.8%	1.0%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Menlo Park	South San Francisco
1-unit, detached	53.8%	59.3%
1-unit, attached	8.0%	10.1%
2 to 4 units	9.2%	7.1%
5 to 19 units	12.5%	8.2%
20 or more units	16.1%	14.4%
Mobile home & other	0.4%	0.9%

Poverty & households

	Menlo Park	South San Francisco
Poverty rate	5.1%	7.1%
Average household size	2.71	2.91
Mean commute (minutes)	24	27
Median year structure built	1962	1963