According to the United States Census Bureau, the CDP has a total area of 2.7 square miles (7.0 km2), all of it land.

The racial makeup of Tahoe Vista was 1,279 (89.3%) White, 3 (0.2%) African American, 8 (0.6%) Native American, 21 (1.5%) Asian, 2 (0.1%) Pacific Islander, 82 (5.7%) from other races, and 38 (2.7%) from two or more races.

961 people (67.1% of the population) lived in owner-occupied housing units and 472 people (32.9%) lived in rental housing units.

At the 2000 census there were 1,668 people, 670 households, and 402 families in the CDP.

There were 1,265 housing units at an average density of 467.9 per square mile (180.7/km2).

[6] Of the 670 households 28.7% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 49.0% were married couples living together, 5.2% had a female householder with no husband present, and 39.9% were non-families.

Males had a median income of $35,764 versus $29,250 for females.