Petaluma vs Santa Rosa

A side-by-side comparison of Petaluma and Santa Rosa: population, income, housing, and more.

Petaluma and Santa Rosa are places in California. This page compares them across population, income, housing, education, commuting, and how each has changed since 2019.

Santa Rosa has the higher population (177,216 vs 59,321 in Petaluma). Petaluma has the higher median household income ($109,823 vs $97,410 in Santa Rosa). Petaluma has the higher median home value ($834,900 vs $685,000 in Santa Rosa).

Population, income & housing

	Petaluma	Santa Rosa
Population	59,321	177,216
Median age	45.0 yrs	40.5 yrs
Median household income	$109,823	$97,410
Median home value	$834,900	$685,000
Median gross rent	$2,379	$2,084
Housing units	24,842	70,961
Homeownership rate	63.9%	56.2%
Bachelor's degree or higher	42.9%	34.8%
Unemployment rate	4.5%	5.5%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Petaluma	Santa Rosa
Population	60,767 → 59,321 (-2.4%)	179,701 → 177,216 (-1.4%)
Median household income	$91,528 → $109,823 (+20.0%)	$75,630 → $97,410 (+28.8%)
Median home value	$633,900 → $834,900 (+31.7%)	$540,600 → $685,000 (+26.7%)
Median gross rent	$1,830 → $2,379 (+30.0%)	$1,609 → $2,084 (+29.5%)

Petaluma

Population

60,76759,321

Median household income

$91,528$109,823

Median home value

$633,900$834,900

Median gross rent

$1,830$2,379

Santa Rosa

Population

179,701177,216

Median household income

$75,630$97,410

Median home value

$540,600$685,000

Median gross rent

$1,609$2,084

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Petaluma	Santa Rosa
Under 5	4.3%	4.9%
5 to 17	14.3%	15.6%
18 to 24	5.8%	8.2%
25 to 34	12.7%	13.5%
35 to 44	12.9%	14.1%
45 to 54	13.0%	12.9%
55 to 64	15.7%	12.1%
65 to 74	12.5%	11.2%
75 and over	8.8%	7.4%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Petaluma	Santa Rosa
White (non-Hispanic)	66.9%	51.0%
Black or African American	1.3%	1.7%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.3%	0.2%
Asian	4.1%	6.3%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.1%	0.5%
Some other race	0.3%	0.4%
Two or more races	5.9%	4.1%
Hispanic or Latino	21.1%	35.8%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Petaluma	Santa Rosa
No high school diploma	7.9%	14.5%
High school graduate	17.5%	19.2%
Some college or associate's	31.6%	31.6%
Bachelor's degree	27.5%	21.3%
Graduate or professional degree	15.4%	13.4%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Petaluma	Santa Rosa
Drove alone	69.6%	73.1%
Carpooled	6.8%	11.1%
Public transit	1.5%	1.1%
Walked	2.5%	2.3%
Bicycle	0.4%	0.6%
Worked from home	18.0%	10.5%
Other means	1.2%	1.3%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Petaluma	Santa Rosa
1-unit, detached	68.9%	57.8%
1-unit, attached	6.7%	10.4%
2 to 4 units	5.3%	8.9%
5 to 19 units	4.9%	9.9%
20 or more units	10.8%	9.0%
Mobile home & other	3.5%	4.0%

Poverty & households

	Petaluma	Santa Rosa
Poverty rate	6.2%	9.5%
Average household size	2.43	2.54
Mean commute (minutes)	30	23
Median year structure built	1979	1980