San Bruno vs San Carlos

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

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

San Bruno has the higher population (42,612 vs 29,797 in San Carlos). San Carlos has the higher median household income ($233,333 vs $135,976 in San Bruno). San Carlos has the higher median home value ($2,000,001 vs $1,199,400 in San Bruno).

Population, income & housing

	San Bruno	San Carlos
Population	42,612	29,797
Median age	39.8 yrs	41.6 yrs
Median household income	$135,976	$233,333
Median home value	$1,199,400	$2,000,001
Median gross rent	$2,696	$2,802
Housing units	16,736	11,679
Homeownership rate	61.8%	68.2%
Bachelor's degree or higher	43.8%	68.1%
Unemployment rate	4.9%	4.6%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	San Bruno	San Carlos
Population	43,083 → 42,612 (-1.1%)	30,154 → 29,797 (-1.2%)
Median household income	$109,387 → $135,976 (+24.3%)	$182,083 → $233,333 (+28.1%)
Median home value	$908,300 → $1,199,400 (+32.0%)	$1,625,700 → $2,000,001 (+23.0%)
Median gross rent	$2,372 → $2,696 (+13.7%)	$2,321 → $2,802 (+20.7%)

San Bruno

Population

43,08342,612

Median household income

$109,387$135,976

Median home value

$908,300$1,199,400

Median gross rent

$2,372$2,696

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)

	San Bruno	San Carlos
Under 5	4.7%	5.3%
5 to 17	12.7%	18.6%
18 to 24	7.5%	5.2%
25 to 34	15.5%	9.8%
35 to 44	15.6%	16.3%
45 to 54	12.8%	14.8%
55 to 64	13.7%	13.6%
65 to 74	10.7%	9.6%
75 and over	6.6%	6.9%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	San Bruno	San Carlos
White (non-Hispanic)	28.5%	57.3%
Black or African American	1.3%	0.8%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.1%	0.1%
Asian	31.7%	21.8%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	2.6%	0.8%
Some other race	0.9%	1.3%
Two or more races	5.1%	7.2%
Hispanic or Latino	29.9%	10.7%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	San Bruno	San Carlos
No high school diploma	9.3%	3.3%
High school graduate	21.2%	7.7%
Some college or associate's	25.7%	20.9%
Bachelor's degree	29.9%	30.4%
Graduate or professional degree	13.9%	37.7%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	San Bruno	San Carlos
Drove alone	61.0%	54.1%
Carpooled	9.6%	4.0%
Public transit	6.6%	3.7%
Walked	2.9%	1.5%
Bicycle	1.3%	1.8%
Worked from home	16.8%	32.5%
Other means	1.8%	2.4%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	San Bruno	San Carlos
1-unit, detached	57.4%	66.9%
1-unit, attached	3.8%	4.8%
2 to 4 units	8.8%	3.8%
5 to 19 units	11.5%	15.8%
20 or more units	18.2%	8.7%
Mobile home & other	0.3%	0.0%

Poverty & households

	San Bruno	San Carlos
Poverty rate	5.1%	3.2%
Average household size	2.72	2.68
Mean commute (minutes)	25	25
Median year structure built	1961	1961