Side-by-side metrics and state or size-class ranks use the same Census and FBI fields shown on this profile. Results stay in the URL so you can bookmark or share them.
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.
Compare beyond this state
Nationwide peers by population, income
Out-of-state nearest neighbors for Baker on ACS population and median household income
. 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: 482.
482 people call Baker, California home. Source: Census ACS.
15th
percentile, home value
88th
percentile, median rent
📝 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: Baker, CA
Baker is a small town in California, home to 482 residents per U.S. Census Bureau ACS 2023 estimates. Home values in Baker run a median of $115,100, and the median resident age is 28.9 years. About 0.0% of adults hold a bachelor's degree or higher, while 72.0% of working-age residents are in the labor force.
The annual average temperature per NOAA climate normals runs 70.3°F with 4.3 inches of precipitation per year.
California carries a cost-of-living premium: the state registers 110.7 on a 100-equals-national-average index (Well Above Average) per BEA Regional Price Parities 2024. 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. Natural-hazard exposure scores 88.7 out of 100 on FEMA's National Risk Index (Very High).
A decision-led reading path
Useful questions to ask of Baker'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 work and mobility to schools and households to climate and hazard context to comparison shortlist; another city can have a different sequence or fewer supported layers because the source joins are not uniform.
For Baker, city-specific coverage includes matched public-school count, commute-mode shares.
No matched row is reported here for within-city Census tract profiles, annual population history, FBI reported-crime rates, local building permits; the page leaves those layers out instead of substituting a statewide or national value.
1. Work and mobility
What does the journey to work look like in Baker?
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.
Driving alone is the largest reported mode at 64.5%. A reliable mean commute time is not available for this row, so the mode shares carry the comparison.
The NCES join finds 3 public schools within the city match. 0.0% 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.
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.
NOAA normals put the annual mean temperature at 70.3°F, with 4.3 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.
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.
Which cities make useful reference points for Baker?
Within California, the closest population matches are Nipinnawasee (482 residents, $74,488 income); San Ardo (481 residents); Springville (481 residents, $141,635 income). Outside the state, the closest population matches in this dataset are Hillsboro, AL (482 residents); Benson, IL (482 residents); Floodwood, MN (482 residents). 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.
Highest-decile cost · BEA RPP 2024, California average
F
City profile score · Baker, CA
14/100
3 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.
Poverty rate F
11.6%
Share of residents below the poverty line; lower scores better 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.
Bachelor's+ share F
0.0%
Adults with a bachelor's degree or higher; ACS.
Household income N/A
N/A
No ACS median household income on file for this place.
Violent crime N/A
N/A
No FBI UCR violent-crime rate for this place (coverage is incomplete).
Baker profile (scored ACS/FBI dimensions)Read the chart values
Poverty rate: 33/100 (F) · 11.6%
Cost of living: 6/100 (F) · 110.7 index
Bachelor's+ share: 0/100 (F) · 0.0%
How does Baker compare to other US cities?
Where Baker sits among all US cities (population 1,000+) on each measure, computed live from Census and FBI data.
Home value15% pricier than other cities
Median rent88% pricier than other cities
"Safer than" reflects total crime rate from FBI UCR; the others use Census ACS estimates.
How we calculate these percentiles & ranks
Each percentile compares Baker 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 Baker near the bottom of California's cities
Among the 1,458 California cities PlainCities tracks with reported median gross rent data, Baker ranks #1 - the 0th percentile within the state. This is a different, narrower cut than the nationwide percentiles above: it compares Baker only against its own state's cities, not the full US field.
Median Gross Rent
#1 of 1,458
0th percentile in California
Median Home Value
#1,320 of 1,343
2nd percentile in California
Poverty Rate
#415 of 1,450
71st percentile in California
Bachelor's Degree or Higher
#1,411 of 1,458
0th 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.
How Baker's home value compares nationally
Median home value vs. every US city (population 1,000+)
$115,100Among the most affordablemore affordable than 85% 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
Income distribution context
Median household income is not available for Baker in the current Census ACS release (common for very small places).
Key socioeconomic indicators
Bachelor's degree or higher (adults 25+)0.0%
Census ACS S1501, educational attainment
Poverty rate (households below FPL)11.6%
Census ACS S1701, poverty status
Labor force participation (adults 16+)72.0%
Census ACS S2301, share of working-age residents in the labor force
Population
482
Median Income
N/A
Median Home Value
$115,100
Median Age
28.9
Poverty Rate
11.6%
Labor force participation
72.0%
Bachelor's Degree+
0.0%
Climate
Avg Temperature
70.3°F
Annual Precipitation
4.3"
Annual Snowfall
0.0"
Schools
Total Schools
3
Public schools in this city
Commute Patterns
Commute source
How workers travel to work, Census ACS 2023
Drive Alone
64.5%
Carpool
2.9%
Public Transit
0.0%
Walk
26.7%
Work from Home
3.3%
Other
2.6%
Based on 273 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 Baker. 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 Baker 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 Baker sits in; the FEMA hazard score shown here is a statewide average of county NRI inputs, not a parcel-level reading.
How Baker 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, NOAA Climate Normals, NCES CCD, 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.