Instrument codes from this place’s ACS population and household income, BEA state COL, FBI safety, national income percentile, photo-finish peer city, home-value band, and matched Census-tract book - not a moving recommendation.
Income neighbourhood around Susanville
Lowest/highest poles plus peers nearest Susanville on median household income. Full ladder: /browse and /rankings.
median HH income
Lemon Hill · lowest
49,441
Lemon Hill · lowest
49,441 median HH income
30.6% of the leader · rank #1
Dumont · near
57,604
Dumont · near
57,604 median HH income
35.7% of the leader · rank #2
Tillamook · near
57,604
Tillamook · near
57,604 median HH income
35.7% of the leader · rank #3
Liverpool · near
57,604
Liverpool · near
57,604 median HH income
35.7% of the leader · rank #4
Orleans · near
57,604
Orleans · near
57,604 median HH income
35.7% of the leader · rank #5
Susanville · this city
57,607
Susanville · this city
57,607 median HH income
35.7% of the leader · rank #6
Greenlawn · highest
161,442
Greenlawn · highest
161,442 median HH income
100.0% of the leader · rank #7
What this shows Neighbourhood peers only - not a full nationwide city board. Open a near peer when the gap is small; open the poles when the spread is wide.
Compare beyond this state
Nationwide peers by population, income, & FBI crime rate
Out-of-state nearest neighbors for Susanville on ACS population and median household income
, plus FBI UCR reporting rate when the extract covers this place. Link sets are deduped so each column is a distinct comparison path, not a forecast that peers share a labor market or climate.
Similar population
Nearest out-of-state cities by ACS population. This city: 14,992.
Agency-reported UCR totals per 100,000 population, not a neighborhood safety grade or a prediction of personal risk.
Susanville - the verdict
Out of every US city with 1,000+ residents, Susanville places in the 32nd percentile for household income and the 36th percentile for safety. Source: Census ACS + FBI UCR.
32nd
percentile, household income
52nd
percentile, home value
88th
percentile, median rent
36th
percentile, safety
📝 How we sourced this
Population, income, and housing-cost figures come from the U.S. Census Bureau American Community Survey 5-year estimates (B-series tables). Crime data uses FBI UCR; climate uses NOAA Climate Normals; school counts come from NCES Common Core of Data; permits use the Census Building Permits Survey (BPS). See our methodology page for the full ETL pipeline and OMB / FIPS join keys.
Data Snapshot: Susanville, CA
14,992 people live in Susanville, California - a small town by U.S. Census Bureau ACS 2023 estimates. The typical household in Susanville brings in $57,607 a year, below the median for U.S. cities on this measure, with a poverty rate of 12.9%. Typical homes in Susanville are valued around $234,000, and the median resident age is 35.5 years. 10.4% of adults here have a bachelor's degree or higher; 31.0% of working-age residents are in the labor force.
In 2024, 0 residential building permits were authorized in Susanville (No Permits), down 100% from five years earlier, per Census BPS data. Crime here tracks close to the national norm: FBI UCR reporting places total crime at 1837.5 incidents per 100,000 residents, near the national average (voluntary agency reporting, reflects reporting activity, not a definitive danger score). NOAA climate normals record an annual average temperature of 50.2°F with 13.0 inches of precipitation per year.
California carries a cost-of-living premium: on BEA's 100-equals-national-average cost index, California scores 110.7 (Well Above Average), per the 2024 Regional Price Parities release. HUD Fair Market Rent for a typical two-bedroom in this state is $2,053 per month. Statewide, average monthly utility bills in California run around $275, per EIA 2023 residential energy data. The average commute for Susanville workers runs 17.1 minutes, with 79.6% driving alone and 3.9% working from home. FEMA's National Risk Index rates natural-hazard exposure at 88.7 out of 100 (Very High).
A decision-led reading path
Useful questions to ask of Susanville's data
How this reading path is ordered
This is not a composite city score. It is a city-specific route through the available public records, ordered for this profile so the page starts with questions the joined data can actually answer. The route here runs from comparison shortlist to work and mobility to population change to schools and households to reported crime to housing and income to within-city variation to climate and hazard context; another city can have a different sequence or fewer supported layers because the source joins are not uniform.
For Susanville, city-specific coverage includes annual population history, commute-mode shares, local building permits, within-city Census tract profiles, FBI reported-crime rates, matched public-school count.
All six city-specific enrichment layers used by this profile are present.
1. Comparison shortlist
Which cities make useful reference points for Susanville?
Use the in-state set to hold state policy and broad price conditions more nearly constant. Use the nationwide size set to ask whether cities with a similar resident count produce different housing, income, or commute outcomes. The income set is a third lens, deliberately separate from population matching. The nationwide peer panel below adds a fourth FBI UCR reporting-rate lens, not personal risk.
Within California, the closest population matches are Pacific Grove (15,003 residents, $105,568 income); Camp Pendleton South (15,011 residents, $66,265 income); Lemon Hill (14,942 residents, $49,441 income). Outside the state, the closest population matches in this dataset are Arlington, TN (14,989 residents); Greenlawn, NY (14,986 residents); Metuchen, NJ (14,982 residents). A third, income-matched reference set of 6 out-of-state cities sits in the income neighbourhood chart near the Place Dossier plate. These are mechanical peer sets, not claims that the places share a labor market, climate, culture, or metro context.
What does the journey to work look like in Susanville?
Driving alone is the largest reported mode at 79.6%. The reported mean trip to work is 17.1 minutes.
Mode share answers how workers usually travel; it does not measure congestion, reliability, distance to a particular job, or the quality of transit service. No single mode completely explains the work trip here. The mix is more useful than a one-number commute grade, especially when comparing places where transit, walking, and remote work divide the non-driving share differently.
Is Susanville growing, shrinking, or holding steady?
Census PEP estimates show the population declined by -3,627 residents from 2020 to 2025, a -22.1% change. Separately, Census BPS recorded 0 housing units authorized in 2024. PEP and ACS are different Census series, so the trend is kept separate from the headline ACS population.
Recent estimates point downward. A falling count can reflect migration, household size, annexation boundaries, or estimation noise, so it is a prompt to inspect the full series rather than a claim about local economic health.
What can 9 Census tracts reveal inside Susanville?
PlainCities matches 9 Census tracts to this city.
That layer breaks the citywide income, rent, and home-value medians into smaller Census geographies, which can reveal differences that one municipal median necessarily hides. A tract is a statistical area, not a locally defined neighborhood or a promise about conditions on a particular block. Start with the city profile for the broad comparison, then use the tract layer to test whether the same housing and income pattern is consistent across the city. Large within-city spreads are a reason to avoid treating any citywide median as a universal resident experience.
These joined records add useful context, but they do not need another full-size panel. Each remains a separate measure with its own geography and source boundary.
Schools and households
What does the education layer cover for Susanville?
The city has a broader matched school footprint, but count alone does not describe performance, capacity, program availability, or attendance boundaries. This profile deliberately avoids converting it into an unsupported family-friendliness score.
The NCES join finds 10 public schools within the city match. 10.4% of adults age 25+ hold a bachelor's degree or higher in the ACS estimate. These measures answer different questions: the school count describes local institutions, while adult attainment describes residents and cannot be used as a school-quality rating.
Poverty estimate
12.9%
Bachelor's degree+
10.4%
Matched public schools
10
NCES Common Core of Data school locations plus Census ACS resident characteristics.
What can the FBI record say about safety in Susanville?
The joined FBI UCR record reports 1837.5 violent and property crimes per 100,000 residents, below the 2280.5 national reference used here. The difference is 19% lower in arithmetic terms, but agency participation is voluntary and reporting completeness varies.
Treat this as a reporting-rate comparison, not a prediction of personal risk or a neighborhood-level safety grade. Tourism, daytime population, reporting practices, and variation inside the city are not adjusted away. The state rank and same-state peer table are the narrower comparisons available on this page.
Total reported rate
1837.5
Violent rate
686.9
Property rate
1150.6
FBI Uniform Crime Reporting, incidents per 100,000. Voluntary agency reporting; not a danger score.
How far does income reach against housing in Susanville?
This is a citywide price-to-income reference, not a mortgage-affordability test; it does not include interest rates, taxes, insurance, household size, or an individual buyer's down payment. Housing value is high relative to the citywide income median. That flags a question for comparison, not a verdict: tenure, household composition, financing costs, and the age of the ACS estimate can all change what a resident actually pays.
The home-value-to-income reference is comparatively stretched: the ACS median home value is 4.1 times median household income. The ACS poverty estimate is 12.9%, which keeps the citywide median from describing every household.
Value / income
4.1×
Home value
$234,000
Household income
$57,607
City-level Census ACS 2023 medians. The ratio divides two separate medians and is descriptive only.
What physical conditions frame life in Susanville?
The two sources should not be blended into one comfort or safety score. Use the climate values for baseline conditions and the risk index as a prompt to inspect specific hazards, insurance, and local emergency guidance for a particular address.
NOAA normals put the annual mean temperature at 50.2°F, with 13.0 inches of precipitation. FEMA's state-averaged National Risk Index score for California is 88.7 out of 100. Climate normals describe long-run weather; the FEMA score on PlainCities is a state average of county NRI inputs and combines hazards, exposure, vulnerability, and resilience.
FEMA risk index (state avg)
88.7
Annual precipitation
13.0 in
Mean temperature
50.2°F
NOAA Climate Normals and FEMA National Risk Index (state-averaged on PlainCities). Hazard context is not address-level.
Below median income · poverty 12.9% (Above-median poverty)
Cost of Living Index (state)
110.7 (US=100)
Highest-decile cost · BEA RPP 2024, California average
F
City profile score · Susanville, CA
17/100
5 published dimensions · ACS/FBI 2023
Comparative score against U.S. cities with population of 1,000 or more on Census ACS medians
(income, poverty, bachelor's share, cost of living) and FBI UCR violent-crime rates when
published. Higher means a stronger standing on those published figures, not a livability
rating, not a recommendation to move, buy, or pick a "best" city. Missing inputs drop out
and redistribute weight.
How it is calculated.
Household income F
$57,607
Median household income vs U.S. cities (pop ≥1,000); ACS.
Poverty rate F
12.9%
Share of residents below the poverty line; lower scores better on this axis.
Bachelor's+ share F
10.4%
Adults with a bachelor's degree or higher; ACS.
Cost of living F
110.7 index
BEA state Regional Price Parities index (100 ≈ national average); lower is stronger on this axis. Same value for every city in the state.
Violent crime F
687 /100k
FBI UCR violent offenses per 100,000 residents; lower is stronger on this axis.
Susanville profile (scored ACS/FBI dimensions)Read the chart values
Household income: 31/100 (F) · $57,607
Poverty rate: 28/100 (F) · 12.9%
Bachelor's+ share: 8/100 (F) · 10.4%
Cost of living: 6/100 (F) · 110.7 index
Violent crime: 6/100 (F) · 687 /100k
Where Susanville sits on home value vs crime among peer cities
Susanville's median home value and FBI crime rate plotted with similar-size and
same-state peers (padded with large cities when the peer set is thin). The second
read: pricey does not always mean safer, check which quadrant this city lands in.
Census ACS median home value vs FBI UCR crime rate - Susanville highlighted among 26 peers.Read the chart values
Susanville, CA (this city): home $234,000, crime 1,838/100k
Metuchen, NJ : home $565,400, crime 1,034/100k
Highland Park, NJ : home $463,600, crime 1,370/100k
Hudson, WI : home $355,000, crime 1,763/100k
Pacific Grove, CA : home $1,129,400, crime 1,051/100k
California City, CA : home $239,600, crime 2,176/100k
New York, NY : home $751,700, crime 3,039/100k
Los Angeles, CA : home $879,500, crime 2,212/100k
Chicago, IL : home $315,200, crime 4,012/100k
Houston, TX : home $253,400, crime 5,442/100k
Phoenix, AZ : home $381,900, crime 3,125/100k
Philadelphia, PA : home $232,400, crime 5,457/100k
San Antonio, TX : home $219,700, crime 5,218/100k
San Diego, CA : home $848,500, crime 2,082/100k
Dallas, TX : home $295,300, crime 4,010/100k
San Jose, CA : home $1,187,800, crime 3,195/100k
Austin, TX : home $512,700, crime 3,709/100k
Fort Worth, TX : home $277,300, crime 3,158/100k
Columbus, OH : home $234,500, crime 3,088/100k
Indianapolis, IN : home $207,000, crime 4,214/100k
San Francisco, CA : home $1,380,500, crime 4,526/100k
Seattle, WA : home $912,100, crime 5,783/100k
Denver, CO : home $586,700, crime 5,755/100k
Oklahoma City, OK : home $215,100, crime 3,570/100k
El Paso, TX : home $171,700, crime 1,772/100k
Washington, DC : home $724,600, crime 4,514/100k
How does Susanville compare to other US cities?
Where Susanville sits among all US cities (population 1,000+) on each measure, computed live from Census and FBI data.
Household income32% higher than other cities
Home value52% pricier than other cities
Median rent88% pricier than other cities
Safety36% safer than other cities
"Safer than" reflects total crime rate from FBI UCR; the others use Census ACS estimates.
A national percentile can hide a lot of local variation: narrowed to California alone, Susanville ranks #204 of 441 California cities by lowest crime rate - a different, more locally useful comparison than stacking it against the entire country.
How we calculate these percentiles & ranks
Each percentile compares Susanville against every qualifying US city; each in-state rank narrows that to California only. Full formula and direction notes: methodology.
California-relative analysis
Median Gross Rent places Susanville near the bottom of California's cities
Among the 1,458 California cities PlainCities tracks with reported median gross rent data, Susanville ranks #1 - the 0th percentile within the state. This is a different, narrower cut than the nationwide percentiles above: it compares Susanville only against its own state's cities, not the full US field.
Median Household Income
#1,087 of 1,338
19th percentile in California
Median Gross Rent
#1 of 1,458
0th percentile in California
Median Home Value
#1,199 of 1,343
11th percentile in California
Poverty Rate
#367 of 1,450
74th percentile in California
Bachelor's Degree or Higher
#1,201 of 1,458
17th percentile in California
How in-state ranks are ordered
Ranked by raw value (highest first); a higher rank is not automatically "better" for every measure, see each metric's own context above. This is a comparison within California only, not a livability score. See the methodology for the source and calculation.
Gauge source note
32nd percentile nationally for median household income · 36th percentile for safety (lower crime rate). Source: Census ACS 2023 / FBI UCR 2023.
Susanville's profile vs. every US city
Income, affordability, and safety percentile
Susanville's percentile rank on 3 favorable-direction measures (income, affordability, safety) vs. every tracked US city -- higher on every axis is more favorable. Not a composite quality score, just the arithmetic mean of the axes shown.
How Susanville's home value compares nationally
Median home value vs. every US city (population 1,000+)
$234,00048th percentilemore affordable than 48% of 15,600 US cities
Show national distribution
Each bar is a $25K-wide band; taller bars hold more US cities. The dashed line + filled bar mark this entry. Hover or tap any bar for its full count, share, and where it sits relative to this entry.
Source U.S. Census Bureau ACS 5-Year Estimates · 2023
Susanville's home-value-to-income ratio: 4.1×
ACS median home value divided by median household income, a citywide price-to-income reference, not a mortgage-affordability score.
Band
moderate
3.0–5.0×
National rank
#10,880 of 15,516
More affordable than 30% of tracked cities (pop. 1,000+)
Size class
#2,040 of 3,317
Small cities (10,000–49,999)
At 4.1×, Susanville sits in the moderate band:
national rank #10,880 of 15,516 and #2,040 of 3,317small cities (10,000–49,999).
Income and home value move in the same broad scale; check same-state peers before treating the multiple as an advantage or a warning.
How this ratio is calculated
Ratio = Census ACS 2023 median home value ÷ median household income for cities with both fields and population ≥ 1,000.
Rank 1 = lowest ratio (most compact). Bands match the fleet affordability thresholds used on guides (<3.0 / 3.0–5.0 / >5.0).
This is not a mortgage payment estimate and does not include rates, taxes, insurance, or down payment.
Income distribution context
$57,607Susanville, CA median household income (Census ACS)
Show U.S. national quintile / Lorenz context Susanville, CA median household income (Census ACS 5-year) with U.S. national quintile shares for context. Diagonal = equality; the curve is national, not computed for Susanville, CA.
Key socioeconomic indicators
Bachelor's degree or higher (adults 25+)10.4%
Census ACS S1501, educational attainment
Poverty rate (households below FPL)12.9%
Census ACS S1701, poverty status
Labor force participation (adults 16+)31.0%
Census ACS S2301, share of working-age residents in the labor force
Population
14,992
Median Income
$57,607
Median Home Value
$234,000
Median Age
35.5
Poverty Rate
12.9%
Labor force participation
31.0%
Bachelor's Degree+
10.4%
Safety & Crime
Total Crime Rate
1837.5
per 100,000 residents
Violent Crime
686.9
per 100,000 residents
Property Crime
1150.6
per 100,000 residents
Crime reporting caveat
Reflects incidents reported to the FBI's Uniform Crime Reporting program — agency participation is voluntary and reporting completeness varies by jurisdiction and year, so this reflects reporting activity, not a definitive danger score. Not adjusted for tourism, commuter, or daytime population.
Climate
Avg Temperature
50.2°F
Annual Precipitation
13.0"
Annual Snowfall
N/A
Schools
Total Schools
10
Public schools in this city
Population Change
PEP vintage
Annual U.S. Census Bureau Population Estimates Program (PEP) estimates, 2020–2025
Susanville's Census PEP population estimates, 2020–2025.Read the chart as text
Period
Population
2020
16,443 residents
2021
15,530 residents
2022
14,031 residents
2023
12,617 residents
2024
12,722 residents
2025
12,816 residents
Housing Supply
BPS source
Census Bureau Building Permits Survey (BPS) - annual residential permits authorized
Total Permits (2024)
0
housing units authorized
Single-Family
0
detached homes
Multifamily
0
apartments & condos
5-Year Permit Trend (2019–2024)
Year
Total
Single-Family
Multifamily
Est. Value
2019
8
4
4
$1.5M
2020
16
2
14
$2.0M
2021
2
2
0
$0.4M
2022
2
2
0
$0.6M
2023
11
1
10
$2.0M
2024
0
0
0
-
Permit volume decreased 100% from 2019 to 2024.
Commute Patterns
Commute source
How workers travel to work, Census ACS 2023
Average Commute Time
17.1 minutes
Drive Alone
79.6%
Carpool
10.5%
Public Transit
0.7%
Walk
3.9%
Work from Home
3.9%
Other
1.4%
Based on 3,908 workers 16 and over.
Monthly Utility Costs
California statewide monthly utility average (EIA 2023): $275
EIA 2023 residential energy data puts average monthly utilities across California at $275 (electricity about $150 , water and sewer about $70 ).
These are California statewide averages, not a meter reading for Susanville. Actual bills vary by home size, usage, and local rates. Source: U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) 2023.
Living Costs & Risk
California's BEA cost-of-living index is 110.7 (Well Above Average; US average = 100, RPP 2024). HUD Fair Market Rent for a typical two-bedroom in the county around Susanville is $2,053/mo. FEMA's National Risk Index, averaged to California statewide on PlainCities, rates natural-hazard exposure at 88.7 / 100 (Very High).
Cost/risk geography note
Cost of living is a California statewide BEA average; rent is a county-level HUD Fair Market Rent for the county Susanville sits in; the FEMA hazard score shown here is a statewide average of county NRI inputs, not a parcel-level reading.
How Susanville compares to similar-size California cities
Same-state peer method
Closest same-state population matches, not geographic neighbors. Population + median household income come from Census Bureau ACS 5-year B01001 and B19013.
Source: U.S. Census Bureau ACS 5-Year 2023, FBI UCR, NOAA Climate Normals, NCES CCD, Census BPS 2024, Census ACS B08301/B08136, U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) 2023, BEA Regional Price Parities 2024, HUD Fair Market Rents 2026, FEMA National Risk Index.