Salinas

Population & Demographics

Salinas, CA

Salinas is home to 161,761 people. Explore its demographics, housing, and economy — plus how its 63,139 resident workers commute each day.

CaliforniaCensus ACS 5-Year · LODES 2023
161,761
people
Population

161,761 residents

Median age 32.4 · U.S. Census Bureau, ACS 5-Year (2024).

Salinas population & demographics

Who lives in Salinas — population, age, housing, and income, from the U.S. Census Bureau.

Population
161,761
Median age
32.4yrs
Median household income
$91,908
Median home value
$654,100
Median gross rent
$1,991/mo
Bachelor’s degree or higher
16.5%
Poverty rate
13.6%

Source: U.S. Census Bureau, American Community Survey (ACS) 2024 5-Year Estimates. Values shown as “—” are suppressed or unavailable for this place.

Race & ethnicity in Salinas

How Salinas breaks down by race and ethnicity — each bar is that group’s share of the population, from the U.S. Census Bureau ACS 5-Year (2024).

Hispanic or Latino80.9%
White11.0%
Asian5.4%
Two or more races1.3%
Black1.0%
Some other race0.2%
American Indian / Alaska Native0.1%
Native Hawaiian / Pacific Islander0.1%

Race across Salinas

Each dot is a group of people, placed in their 2020 Census block and colored by race or ethnicity — the pattern shows where groups live across Salinas.

Salinas at a glance
Employed Residents
63,139
Fewer than the city’s total population
Median home–work distance
17.6mi
Straight-line, not road distance
Work Locally
38.9%
Share working within the area
Work from home
4.3%
Residents who work from home (ACS)
Top destination outside city
Monterey
Excludes local — most work in-city

These figures are for Salinas proper — the Census place within its city limits — not the surrounding metro area. Metro-wide totals you’ll see elsewhere are larger because they bundle in neighboring cities and suburbs.

How Salinas commutes

Every dot is a worker moving between home and job. Trace where the area pulls people in from — and where its residents head each day.

53
Commute Score

53 / 100

How short the typical commute is here, on an absolute 0–100 scale (higher is shorter). How it’s calculated.

Salinas

63,139 commutes, one dot at a time

Salinas

Where 63,139 workers commute

Each dot ≈ 75 workers

Where residents work

Top destinations for people who live in Salinas, by worker count.

1Salinas0.0 mi24,583
2Monterey15.2 mi3,425
3San Jose44.8 mi2,608
4Soledad24.5 mi1,201
5Watsonville17.6 mi1,152
6San Francisco86.1 mi1,124
7Seaside11.7 mi878
8Marina8.8 mi822

Who commutes in

Top origin places for workers who travel into Salinas.

1Salinas0.0 mi24,583
2Soledad24.5 mi1,775
3Prunedale7.8 mi1,463
4San Jose44.8 mi1,231
5Marina8.8 mi1,147
6Seaside11.7 mi1,092
7Hollister17.4 mi1,049
8Greenfield33.2 mi1,002

Top industries

The sectors that employ Salinas’s workforce. Each bar is scaled to that sector’s share of all local jobs — the top sectors shown don’t add up to 100%.

Bar length = each sector’s share of all local jobs (0–100%)
AGAgriculture, Forestry, Fishing and Hunting20.9%
HCHealth Care and Social Assistance16.1%
EDEducational Services10.8%
RTRetail Trade10.3%
AFAccommodation and Food Services7.6%
PAPublic Administration7.4%
WSWholesale Trade4.7%
ADAdministrative and Support and Waste Management and Remediation Services4.1%
MFManufacturing3.4%
Connectivity

Internet options for Salinas

The biggest home-internet providers in the area — tap any to compare local plans.

7 providers · 1 with fiber
Speed availabilityshare of homes a plan reaches
1 Gbps~all homes
2 Gbps95%
5 Gbps70%
8 Gbps
See all internet providers in Salinas

FindBetterInternet is a CensusFlow partner site — we link out so you can compare local plans, and CensusFlow’s Census data stays independent. Provider data is from the FCC National Broadband Map (satellite + fixed wireless excluded).