Solvang vs Vandenberg AFB

A side-by-side comparison of Solvang and Vandenberg AFB: population, income, housing, and more.

Solvang and Vandenberg AFB are places in California. This page compares them across population, income, housing, education, commuting, and how each has changed since 2019.

Solvang has the higher population (6,034 vs 3,688 in Vandenberg AFB). Solvang has the higher median household income ($118,208 vs $83,096 in Vandenberg AFB). Since 2019, Vandenberg AFB's population has grown faster (+8.9% vs +4.0%).

Population, income & housing

	Solvang	Vandenberg AFB
Population	6,034	3,688
Median age	53.6 yrs	25.7 yrs
Median household income	$118,208	$83,096
Median home value	$936,900	—
Median gross rent	$1,773	$2,462
Housing units	2,619	1,192
Homeownership rate	60.4%	0.0%
Bachelor's degree or higher	38.5%	46.0%
Unemployment rate	2.8%	5.6%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Solvang	Vandenberg AFB
Population	5,804 → 6,034 (+4.0%)	3,387 → 3,688 (+8.9%)
Median household income	$83,431 → $118,208 (+41.7%)	$69,911 → $83,096 (+18.9%)
Median home value	$729,200 → $936,900 (+28.5%)	—
Median gross rent	$1,531 → $1,773 (+15.8%)	$1,874 → $2,462 (+31.4%)

Solvang

Population

5,8046,034

Median household income

$83,431$118,208

Median home value

$729,200$936,900

Median gross rent

$1,531$1,773

Vandenberg AFB

Population

3,3873,688

Median household income

$69,911$83,096

Median gross rent

$1,874$2,462

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Solvang	Vandenberg AFB
Under 5	2.6%	10.2%
5 to 17	11.9%	19.5%
18 to 24	7.9%	17.9%
25 to 34	8.7%	34.5%
35 to 44	10.7%	14.7%
45 to 54	11.0%	2.3%
55 to 64	14.7%	0.6%
65 to 74	16.9%	0.3%
75 and over	15.6%	0.0%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Solvang	Vandenberg AFB
White (non-Hispanic)	67.7%	58.5%
Black or African American	0.5%	10.0%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.0%	0.9%
Asian	2.9%	4.0%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.3%	0.7%
Some other race	0.0%	0.0%
Two or more races	6.4%	11.3%
Hispanic or Latino	22.1%	14.6%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Solvang	Vandenberg AFB
No high school diploma	7.2%	0.0%
High school graduate	16.9%	16.8%
Some college or associate's	37.4%	37.2%
Bachelor's degree	26.1%	28.2%
Graduate or professional degree	12.4%	17.8%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Solvang	Vandenberg AFB
Drove alone	62.0%	73.4%
Carpooled	9.1%	8.3%
Public transit	1.0%	1.1%
Walked	7.3%	6.8%
Bicycle	1.5%	3.5%
Worked from home	19.1%	6.9%
Other means	0.0%	0.1%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Solvang	Vandenberg AFB
1-unit, detached	57.0%	98.2%
1-unit, attached	4.2%	0.0%
2 to 4 units	4.9%	0.0%
5 to 19 units	17.4%	0.0%
20 or more units	8.1%	1.8%
Mobile home & other	8.3%	0.0%

Poverty & households

	Solvang	Vandenberg AFB
Poverty rate	7.7%	2.1%
Average household size	2.34	2.83
Mean commute (minutes)	31	11
Median year structure built	1983	1998