Petaluma vs Sonoma

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

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

Petaluma has the higher population (59,321 vs 10,726 in Sonoma). Petaluma has the higher median household income ($109,823 vs $101,281 in Sonoma). Sonoma has the higher median home value ($954,300 vs $834,900 in Petaluma).

Population, income & housing

	Petaluma	Sonoma
Population	59,321	10,726
Median age	45.0 yrs	54.4 yrs
Median household income	$109,823	$101,281
Median home value	$834,900	$954,300
Median gross rent	$2,379	$2,216
Housing units	24,842	5,929
Homeownership rate	63.9%	63.1%
Bachelor's degree or higher	42.9%	47.7%
Unemployment rate	4.5%	7.0%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Petaluma	Sonoma
Population	60,767 → 59,321 (-2.4%)	11,075 → 10,726 (-3.2%)
Median household income	$91,528 → $109,823 (+20.0%)	$84,352 → $101,281 (+20.1%)
Median home value	$633,900 → $834,900 (+31.7%)	$785,900 → $954,300 (+21.4%)
Median gross rent	$1,830 → $2,379 (+30.0%)	$1,836 → $2,216 (+20.7%)

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

Sonoma

Population

11,07510,726

Median household income

$84,352$101,281

Median home value

$785,900$954,300

Median gross rent

$1,836$2,216

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Petaluma	Sonoma
Under 5	4.3%	3.1%
5 to 17	14.3%	11.4%
18 to 24	5.8%	5.0%
25 to 34	12.7%	6.4%
35 to 44	12.9%	9.9%
45 to 54	13.0%	15.5%
55 to 64	15.7%	16.2%
65 to 74	12.5%	16.7%
75 and over	8.8%	15.9%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Petaluma	Sonoma
White (non-Hispanic)	66.9%	78.1%
Black or African American	1.3%	1.3%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.3%	0.0%
Asian	4.1%	1.9%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.1%	0.1%
Some other race	0.3%	0.1%
Two or more races	5.9%	2.7%
Hispanic or Latino	21.1%	15.8%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Petaluma	Sonoma
No high school diploma	7.9%	4.4%
High school graduate	17.5%	18.7%
Some college or associate's	31.6%	29.2%
Bachelor's degree	27.5%	28.6%
Graduate or professional degree	15.4%	19.1%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Petaluma	Sonoma
Drove alone	69.6%	67.4%
Carpooled	6.8%	3.3%
Public transit	1.5%	0.0%
Walked	2.5%	3.8%
Bicycle	0.4%	0.6%
Worked from home	18.0%	22.4%
Other means	1.2%	2.4%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Petaluma	Sonoma
1-unit, detached	68.9%	60.8%
1-unit, attached	6.7%	9.2%
2 to 4 units	5.3%	11.2%
5 to 19 units	4.9%	6.5%
20 or more units	10.8%	5.8%
Mobile home & other	3.5%	6.6%

Poverty & households

	Petaluma	Sonoma
Poverty rate	6.2%	8.5%
Average household size	2.43	1.98
Mean commute (minutes)	30	27
Median year structure built	1979	1979