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Place dossier plate
SheetCA-AVALON-CA · Avalon, CA 3,373 pop · income 72nd pct
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 Avalon
Lowest/highest poles plus peers nearest Avalon on median household income. Full ladder: /browse and /rankings.
median HH income
Waldron · lowest
41,028
Waldron · lowest
41,028 median HH income
16.4% of the leader · rank #1
Avalon · this city
91,713
Avalon · this city
91,713 median HH income
36.7% of the leader · rank #2
Lonsdale · near
91,719
Lonsdale · near
91,719 median HH income
36.7% of the leader · rank #3
Ferndale · near
91,732
Ferndale · near
91,732 median HH income
36.7% of the leader · rank #4
McKenna · near
91,733
McKenna · near
91,733 median HH income
36.7% of the leader · rank #5
Oxford · near
91,742
Oxford · near
91,742 median HH income
36.7% of the leader · rank #6
West Menlo Pa… · highest
250,001
West Menlo Pa… · highest
250,001 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, and FBI crime rate
Out-of-state nearest neighbors for Avalon 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: 3,373.
Agency-reported UCR totals per 100,000 population, not a neighborhood safety grade or a prediction of personal risk.
Avalon - the verdict
Avalon ranks in the 72nd percentile for household income and the 46th percentile for safety nationally, out of every US city with at least 1,000 residents. Source: Census ACS + FBI UCR.
72nd
percentile, household income
96th
percentile, home value
88th
percentile, median rent
46th
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: Avalon, CA
California's Avalon is a small town, with 3,373 residents per the latest Census Bureau ACS figures. The typical household in Avalon brings in $91,713 a year, above the median for U.S. cities on this measure, with a poverty rate of 8.1%. Home values in Avalon run a median of $902,800, and the median resident age is 36.9 years. Educational attainment runs 16.8% of adults with a bachelor's degree or higher. Separately, 74.6% of working-age residents are in the labor force.
In 2024, 0 residential building permits were authorized in Avalon (No Permits), per Census BPS data. Avalon reports a comparatively low crime rate: FBI UCR reporting places total crime at 1498.6 incidents per 100,000 residents, below the national average (voluntary agency reporting, reflects reporting activity, not a definitive danger score).
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. Monthly utility costs average around $275 across California, per EIA 2023 residential energy estimates. On FEMA's National Risk Index, this area rates 88.7 out of 100 for natural-hazard exposure (Very High).
A decision-led reading path
Useful questions to ask of Avalon'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 housing and income to comparison shortlist to reported crime to population change to work and mobility; another city can have a different sequence or fewer supported layers because the source joins are not uniform.
For Avalon, city-specific coverage includes commute-mode shares, FBI reported-crime rates, annual population history, local building permits.
No matched row is reported here for matched public-school count, within-city Census tract profiles; the page leaves those layers out instead of substituting a statewide or national value.
Question 1
How far does income reach against housing in Avalon?
The home-value-to-income reference is comparatively stretched: the ACS median home value is 9.8 times median household income. The ACS poverty estimate is 8.1%, which keeps the citywide median from describing every household.
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.
Which cities make useful reference points for Avalon?
Within California, the closest population matches are North Shore (3,373 residents, $43,208 income); Rio Dell (3,371 residents, $46,055 income); Meadowbrook (3,368 residents, $58,250 income). Outside the state, the closest population matches in this dataset are Red Oak, NC (3,372 residents); Ticonderoga, NY (3,375 residents); Waldron, AR (3,370 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.
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.
What can the FBI record say about safety in Avalon?
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.
The joined FBI UCR record reports 1498.6 violent and property crimes per 100,000 residents, below the 2280.5 national reference used here. The difference is 34% lower in arithmetic terms, but agency participation is voluntary and reporting completeness varies.
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.
Census PEP estimates show the population declined by -205 residents from 2020 to 2025, a -6.0% 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.
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.
Work and mobility
What does the journey to work look like in Avalon?
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.
Walking is the largest reported mode at 39.8%. A reliable mean commute time is not available for this row, so the mode shares carry the comparison.
Public transit
0.7%
Work from home
2.1%
Drive alone
38.7%
City-level Census ACS commuting estimates covering 1,766 workers age 16+.
Above median income · poverty 8.1% (Above-median poverty)
Cost of Living Index (state)
110.7 (US=100)
Highest-decile cost · BEA RPP 2024, California average
F
City profile score · Avalon, CA
35/100
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 B
$91,713
Median household income vs U.S. cities (pop ≥1,000); ACS.
Poverty rate D
8.1%
Share of residents below the poverty line; lower scores better on this axis.
Bachelor's+ share F
16.8%
Adults with a bachelor's degree or higher; ACS.
Violent crime F
500 /100k
FBI UCR violent offenses per 100,000 residents; lower is stronger on this axis.
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.
Avalon profile (scored ACS/FBI dimensions)Read the chart values
Household income: 71/100 (B) · $91,713
Poverty rate: 47/100 (D) · 8.1%
Bachelor's+ share: 25/100 (F) · 16.8%
Violent crime: 16/100 (F) · 500 /100k
Cost of living: 6/100 (F) · 110.7 index
Where Avalon sits on home value vs crime among peer cities
Avalon'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 - Avalon highlighted among 25 peers.Read the chart values
Avalon, CA (this city): home $902,800, crime 1,499/100k
Waldron, AR : home $99,300, crime 2,624/100k
Breckenridge, MN : home $142,000, crime 879/100k
Rio Dell, CA : home $313,400, crime 1,980/100k
Yountville, CA : home $748,900, crime 420/100k
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 Avalon compare to other US cities?
Avalon measured against every US city with 1,000+ residents, computed live from the same Census and FBI data shown throughout this page.
Household income72% higher than other cities
Home value96% pricier than other cities
Median rent88% pricier than other cities
Safety46% 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, Avalon ranks #142 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 Avalon 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 Avalon near the bottom of California's cities
Among the 1,458 California cities PlainCities tracks with reported median gross rent data, Avalon ranks #1 - the 0th percentile within the state. This is a different, narrower cut than the nationwide percentiles above: it compares Avalon only against its own state's cities, not the full US field.
Median Household Income
#611 of 1,338
54th percentile in California
Median Gross Rent
#1 of 1,458
0th percentile in California
Median Home Value
#288 of 1,343
79th percentile in California
Poverty Rate
#603 of 1,450
58th percentile in California
Bachelor's Degree or Higher
#988 of 1,458
32nd 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
72nd percentile nationally for median household income · 46th percentile for safety (lower crime rate). Source: Census ACS 2023 / FBI UCR 2023.
Avalon's profile vs. every US city
Income, affordability, and safety percentile
Avalon'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 Avalon's home value compares nationally
Median home value vs. every US city (population 1,000+)
$902,8004th percentilemore affordable than 4% 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
Avalon's home-value-to-income ratio: 9.8×
ACS median home value divided by median household income.
Band
pressured
> 5.0×
National rank
#15,347 of 15,516
More affordable than 1% of tracked cities (pop. 1,000+)
Size class
#11,209 of 11,323
Micro cities (under 10,000)
At 9.8×, Avalon sits in the pressured band:
national rank #15,347 of 15,516 and #11,209 of 11,323micro cities (under 10,000).
Housing value is high relative to the citywide income median, a comparison flag, not a verdict on any household.
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
$91,713Avalon, CA median household income (Census ACS)
Show U.S. national quintile / Lorenz context Avalon, 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 Avalon, CA.
Key socioeconomic indicators
Bachelor's degree or higher (adults 25+)16.8%
Census ACS S1501, educational attainment
Poverty rate (households below FPL)8.1%
Census ACS S1701, poverty status
Labor force participation (adults 16+)74.6%
Census ACS S2301, share of working-age residents in the labor force
Population
3,373
Median Income
$91,713
Median Home Value
$902,800
Median Age
36.9
Poverty Rate
8.1%
Labor force participation
74.6%
Bachelor's Degree+
16.8%
Safety & Crime
Total Crime Rate
1498.6
per 100,000 residents
Violent Crime
499.5
per 100,000 residents
Property Crime
999.1
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.
Population Change
PEP vintage
Annual U.S. Census Bureau Population Estimates Program (PEP) estimates, 2020–2025
Avalon's Census PEP population estimates, 2020–2025.Read the chart as text
Period
Population
2020
3,442 residents
2021
3,368 residents
2022
3,319 residents
2023
3,287 residents
2024
3,267 residents
2025
3,237 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
0
0
0
-
2020
0
0
0
-
2021
0
0
0
-
2022
3
3
0
$0.6M
2023
2
0
2
$0.6M
2024
0
0
0
-
Commute Patterns
Commute source
How workers travel to work, Census ACS 2023
Drive Alone
38.7%
Carpool
11.4%
Public Transit
0.7%
Walk
39.8%
Work from Home
2.1%
Other
7.3%
Based on 1,766 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 Avalon. 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 Avalon 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 Avalon sits in; the FEMA hazard score shown here is a statewide average of county NRI inputs, not a parcel-level reading.
How Avalon 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, 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.