Pacifica vs San Mateo

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

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

San Mateo has the higher population (103,555 vs 37,527 in Pacifica). Pacifica has the higher median household income ($156,819 vs $152,669 in San Mateo). San Mateo has the higher median home value ($1,563,200 vs $1,211,700 in Pacifica).

Population, income & housing

	Pacifica	San Mateo
Population	37,527	103,555
Median age	44.3 yrs	38.0 yrs
Median household income	$156,819	$152,669
Median home value	$1,211,700	$1,563,200
Median gross rent	$3,080	$3,079
Housing units	14,596	42,431
Homeownership rate	68.5%	50.8%
Bachelor's degree or higher	48.5%	57.6%
Unemployment rate	3.3%	4.3%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Pacifica	San Mateo
Population	38,984 → 37,527 (-3.7%)	104,333 → 103,555 (-0.7%)
Median household income	$125,500 → $156,819 (+25.0%)	$124,842 → $152,669 (+22.3%)
Median home value	$882,800 → $1,211,700 (+37.3%)	$1,098,400 → $1,563,200 (+42.3%)
Median gross rent	$2,414 → $3,080 (+27.6%)	$2,475 → $3,079 (+24.4%)

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 Mateo

Population

104,333103,555

Median household income

$124,842$152,669

Median home value

$1,098,400$1,563,200

Median gross rent

$2,475$3,079

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Pacifica	San Mateo
Under 5	4.8%	6.0%
5 to 17	13.5%	13.7%
18 to 24	6.0%	7.2%
25 to 34	12.2%	17.2%
35 to 44	14.2%	15.1%
45 to 54	14.8%	12.8%
55 to 64	14.1%	11.7%
65 to 74	12.7%	8.6%
75 and over	7.6%	7.8%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Pacifica	San Mateo
White (non-Hispanic)	48.5%	36.7%
Black or African American	1.8%	1.5%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.0%	0.2%
Asian	20.6%	26.8%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	1.5%	1.6%
Some other race	0.8%	1.0%
Two or more races	7.5%	5.5%
Hispanic or Latino	19.4%	26.8%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Pacifica	San Mateo
No high school diploma	4.5%	9.8%
High school graduate	16.0%	12.2%
Some college or associate's	31.0%	20.4%
Bachelor's degree	30.5%	31.4%
Graduate or professional degree	18.1%	26.2%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Pacifica	San Mateo
Drove alone	63.8%	58.5%
Carpooled	7.0%	6.9%
Public transit	5.1%	6.1%
Walked	1.0%	2.9%
Bicycle	0.2%	0.7%
Worked from home	21.2%	22.3%
Other means	1.6%	2.6%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Pacifica	San Mateo
1-unit, detached	73.7%	41.2%
1-unit, attached	5.3%	9.8%
2 to 4 units	4.7%	6.7%
5 to 19 units	7.7%	15.8%
20 or more units	7.1%	26.1%
Mobile home & other	1.5%	0.3%

Poverty & households

	Pacifica	San Mateo
Poverty rate	6.2%	7.9%
Average household size	2.67	2.56
Mean commute (minutes)	28	27
Median year structure built	1966	1964