Guadalupe vs Isla Vista

A side-by-side comparison of Guadalupe and Isla Vista: population, income, housing, and more.

Guadalupe and Isla Vista are places in California. This page compares them across population, income, housing, education, commuting, and how each has changed since 2019.

Isla Vista has the higher population (13,717 vs 8,422 in Guadalupe). Guadalupe has the higher median household income ($71,048 vs $24,428 in Isla Vista). Isla Vista has the higher median home value ($1,241,700 vs $452,100 in Guadalupe).

Population, income & housing

	Guadalupe	Isla Vista
Population	8,422	13,717
Median age	28.4 yrs	21.2 yrs
Median household income	$71,048	$24,428
Median home value	$452,100	$1,241,700
Median gross rent	$1,674	$1,856
Housing units	2,281	5,166
Homeownership rate	56.5%	1.0%
Bachelor's degree or higher	11.1%	40.8%
Unemployment rate	11.9%	17.1%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Guadalupe	Isla Vista
Population	7,451 → 8,422 (+13.0%)	27,707 → 13,717 (-50.5%)
Median household income	$50,864 → $71,048 (+39.7%)	$24,545 → $24,428 (-0.5%)
Median home value	$257,100 → $452,100 (+75.8%)	$466,700 → $1,241,700 (+166.1%)
Median gross rent	$1,209 → $1,674 (+38.5%)	$1,503 → $1,856 (+23.5%)

Guadalupe

Population

7,4518,422

Median household income

$50,864$71,048

Median home value

$257,100$452,100

Median gross rent

$1,209$1,674

Isla Vista

Population

27,70713,717

Median household income

$24,545$24,428

Median home value

$466,700$1,241,700

Median gross rent

$1,503$1,856

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Guadalupe	Isla Vista
Under 5	12.2%	0.2%
5 to 17	25.8%	2.7%
18 to 24	8.3%	84.7%
25 to 34	13.3%	6.1%
35 to 44	13.2%	1.4%
45 to 54	8.8%	1.7%
55 to 64	10.3%	0.9%
65 to 74	5.0%	1.5%
75 and over	3.2%	0.9%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Guadalupe	Isla Vista
White (non-Hispanic)	7.2%	53.2%
Black or African American	0.0%	4.8%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.0%	0.0%
Asian	2.7%	14.9%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.0%	0.2%
Some other race	0.0%	0.3%
Two or more races	1.2%	3.3%
Hispanic or Latino	88.9%	23.3%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Guadalupe	Isla Vista
No high school diploma	42.9%	9.4%
High school graduate	19.8%	19.0%
Some college or associate's	26.1%	30.9%
Bachelor's degree	6.9%	20.8%
Graduate or professional degree	4.2%	20.0%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Guadalupe	Isla Vista
Drove alone	78.3%	50.6%
Carpooled	15.5%	4.6%
Public transit	1.5%	3.5%
Walked	1.6%	17.2%
Bicycle	0.0%	13.1%
Worked from home	2.7%	8.3%
Other means	0.3%	2.8%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Guadalupe	Isla Vista
1-unit, detached	69.1%	5.1%
1-unit, attached	8.8%	3.7%
2 to 4 units	17.1%	19.9%
5 to 19 units	3.3%	37.5%
20 or more units	1.7%	33.8%
Mobile home & other	0.0%	0.0%

Poverty & households

	Guadalupe	Isla Vista
Poverty rate	28.3%	69.3%
Average household size	3.94	2.61
Mean commute (minutes)	24	16
Median year structure built	1985	1975