Pacifica vs South San Francisco

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

Pacifica 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 37,527 in Pacifica). Pacifica has the higher median household income ($156,819 vs $135,909 in South San Francisco). Pacifica has the higher median home value ($1,211,700 vs $1,160,100 in South San Francisco).

Population, income & housing

	Pacifica	South San Francisco
Population	37,527	64,487
Median age	44.3 yrs	42.4 yrs
Median household income	$156,819	$135,909
Median home value	$1,211,700	$1,160,100
Median gross rent	$3,080	$2,833
Housing units	14,596	23,194
Homeownership rate	68.5%	60.8%
Bachelor's degree or higher	48.5%	40.1%
Unemployment rate	3.3%	2.5%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Pacifica	South San Francisco
Population	38,984 → 37,527 (-3.7%)	67,408 → 64,487 (-4.3%)
Median household income	$125,500 → $156,819 (+25.0%)	$105,459 → $135,909 (+28.9%)
Median home value	$882,800 → $1,211,700 (+37.3%)	$844,000 → $1,160,100 (+37.5%)
Median gross rent	$2,414 → $3,080 (+27.6%)	$2,105 → $2,833 (+34.6%)

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

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)

	Pacifica	South San Francisco
Under 5	4.8%	4.3%
5 to 17	13.5%	13.1%
18 to 24	6.0%	7.6%
25 to 34	12.2%	13.0%
35 to 44	14.2%	15.8%
45 to 54	14.8%	14.2%
55 to 64	14.1%	14.4%
65 to 74	12.7%	10.6%
75 and over	7.6%	7.0%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Pacifica	South San Francisco
White (non-Hispanic)	48.5%	20.6%
Black or African American	1.8%	1.7%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.0%	0.1%
Asian	20.6%	42.4%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	1.5%	1.0%
Some other race	0.8%	0.3%
Two or more races	7.5%	3.2%
Hispanic or Latino	19.4%	30.8%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Pacifica	South San Francisco
No high school diploma	4.5%	13.7%
High school graduate	16.0%	19.3%
Some college or associate's	31.0%	26.9%
Bachelor's degree	30.5%	27.6%
Graduate or professional degree	18.1%	12.5%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Pacifica	South San Francisco
Drove alone	63.8%	59.6%
Carpooled	7.0%	11.8%
Public transit	5.1%	8.5%
Walked	1.0%	1.9%
Bicycle	0.2%	0.8%
Worked from home	21.2%	16.5%
Other means	1.6%	1.0%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Pacifica	South San Francisco
1-unit, detached	73.7%	59.3%
1-unit, attached	5.3%	10.1%
2 to 4 units	4.7%	7.1%
5 to 19 units	7.7%	8.2%
20 or more units	7.1%	14.4%
Mobile home & other	1.5%	0.9%

Poverty & households

	Pacifica	South San Francisco
Poverty rate	6.2%	7.1%
Average household size	2.67	2.91
Mean commute (minutes)	28	27
Median year structure built	1966	1963