Pacifica vs San Carlos

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

Pacifica and San Carlos 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 29,797 in San Carlos). San Carlos has the higher median household income ($233,333 vs $156,819 in Pacifica). San Carlos has the higher median home value ($2,000,001 vs $1,211,700 in Pacifica).

Population, income & housing

	Pacifica	San Carlos
Population	37,527	29,797
Median age	44.3 yrs	41.6 yrs
Median household income	$156,819	$233,333
Median home value	$1,211,700	$2,000,001
Median gross rent	$3,080	$2,802
Housing units	14,596	11,679
Homeownership rate	68.5%	68.2%
Bachelor's degree or higher	48.5%	68.1%
Unemployment rate	3.3%	4.6%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Pacifica	San Carlos
Population	38,984 → 37,527 (-3.7%)	30,154 → 29,797 (-1.2%)
Median household income	$125,500 → $156,819 (+25.0%)	$182,083 → $233,333 (+28.1%)
Median home value	$882,800 → $1,211,700 (+37.3%)	$1,625,700 → $2,000,001 (+23.0%)
Median gross rent	$2,414 → $3,080 (+27.6%)	$2,321 → $2,802 (+20.7%)

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

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)

	Pacifica	San Carlos
Under 5	4.8%	5.3%
5 to 17	13.5%	18.6%
18 to 24	6.0%	5.2%
25 to 34	12.2%	9.8%
35 to 44	14.2%	16.3%
45 to 54	14.8%	14.8%
55 to 64	14.1%	13.6%
65 to 74	12.7%	9.6%
75 and over	7.6%	6.9%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Pacifica	San Carlos
White (non-Hispanic)	48.5%	57.3%
Black or African American	1.8%	0.8%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.0%	0.1%
Asian	20.6%	21.8%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	1.5%	0.8%
Some other race	0.8%	1.3%
Two or more races	7.5%	7.2%
Hispanic or Latino	19.4%	10.7%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Pacifica	San Carlos
No high school diploma	4.5%	3.3%
High school graduate	16.0%	7.7%
Some college or associate's	31.0%	20.9%
Bachelor's degree	30.5%	30.4%
Graduate or professional degree	18.1%	37.7%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Pacifica	San Carlos
Drove alone	63.8%	54.1%
Carpooled	7.0%	4.0%
Public transit	5.1%	3.7%
Walked	1.0%	1.5%
Bicycle	0.2%	1.8%
Worked from home	21.2%	32.5%
Other means	1.6%	2.4%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Pacifica	San Carlos
1-unit, detached	73.7%	66.9%
1-unit, attached	5.3%	4.8%
2 to 4 units	4.7%	3.8%
5 to 19 units	7.7%	15.8%
20 or more units	7.1%	8.7%
Mobile home & other	1.5%	0.0%

Poverty & households

	Pacifica	San Carlos
Poverty rate	6.2%	3.2%
Average household size	2.67	2.68
Mean commute (minutes)	28	25
Median year structure built	1966	1961