Huntington Beach, CA population, income and ZIP codes

Huntington Beach city is a mid-size city in California, with 196,010 residents counted in the Census American Community Survey 2019-2023 ACS 5-year estimates, which places it #23 of 1,618 ranked by population — larger than 98% of them. The median age here is 43.4 years against 39.1 nationally, a slightly older profile than the country as a whole. At this size the Census also publishes one-year estimates; the five-year values used here are steadier and let you compare against smaller neighbours on the same basis.

Households in Huntington Beach city earn a median of $119,885 a year, 52.6% above the national figure of $78,538 and 32% above the $91,111 median for the 1,050 California cities we cover. The median is the midpoint household, not an average, so a handful of very high earners cannot drag it upward the way they distort a mean. Poverty reaches 7.5% of residents here, below the 12.4% national rate.

The typical owner-occupied home in Huntington Beach city is valued at $1,047,300, 245.2% above the national figure and 78% above the $589,600 peer median, while median gross rent runs $2,424 a month, 72.4% above the national figure, or roughly $29,088 across a full year. A household on the local median income would put about 24.3% of gross pay toward that rent against the federal 30% cost-burden threshold, so renting here is within the standard affordability guideline. The home-price-to-income ratio works out to 8.7×, against roughly 3.9× nationally, so buying is out of reach on local earnings alone and the ownership market leans on outside income, equity or dual high earners. 55.8% of occupied homes are owner-occupied versus 65% nationally, so the market leans more heavily on renters. Gross rent folds in the utilities a tenant pays separately, so it is closer to the real monthly outlay than a headline rent figure.

Home values sit at 8.7× median household income, far past the 3.9× national mark, so ownership costs here are set by something other than local wages — second homes, retirees with equity, or commuters earning elsewhere.

All values below were released by the Census for this exact geography, with no gap-filling on our side. Small-area estimates still carry wider margins of error than state or national figures, so check the linked ACS tables before relying on them for lending, appraisal or legal work.