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.
Place dossier plate
SheetCA-BARSTOW-CA · Barstow, CA 25,198 pop · income 22nd pct · 466 tracts
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 Barstow
Lowest/highest poles plus peers nearest Barstow on median household income. Full ladder: /browse and /rankings.
median HH income
Freeland · lowest
51,810
Freeland · lowest
51,810 median HH income
23.3% of the leader · rank #1
Barstow · this city
51,811
Barstow · this city
51,811 median HH income
23.3% of the leader · rank #2
Frankfort · near
51,813
Frankfort · near
51,813 median HH income
23.3% of the leader · rank #3
Peebles · near
51,813
Peebles · near
51,813 median HH income
23.3% of the leader · rank #4
McCook · near
51,815
McCook · near
51,815 median HH income
23.3% of the leader · rank #5
Lafayette · highest
222,393
Lafayette · highest
222,393 median HH income
100.0% of the leader · rank #6
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 Barstow 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: 25,198.
Agency-reported UCR totals per 100,000 population, not a neighborhood safety grade or a prediction of personal risk.
Barstow - the verdict
Barstow ranks in the 22nd percentile for household income and the 9th percentile for safety nationally, out of every US city with at least 1,000 residents. Source: Census ACS + FBI UCR.
22nd
percentile, household income
49th
percentile, home value
88th
percentile, median rent
9th
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: Barstow, CA
California's Barstow is a small city, with 25,198 residents per the latest Census Bureau ACS figures. Households in Barstow report a median income of $51,811 per year, in the lower quartile of U.S. cities for household income, with a poverty rate of 18.3%. Typical homes in Barstow are valued around $222,600, and the median resident age is 32.9 years. Educational attainment runs 11.1% of adults with a bachelor's degree or higher. Separately, 46.3% of working-age residents are in the labor force.
The Census Building Permit Survey recorded 4 residential units authorized here in 2024 (Building Boom), up 300% from five years earlier. Barstow's reported crime rate runs above the national norm: FBI UCR reporting places total crime at 3747.4 incidents per 100,000 residents, above the national average (voluntary agency reporting, reflects reporting activity, not a definitive danger score). NOAA puts Barstow's yearly average temperature at 65.7°F with 5.0 inches of precipitation per year and 0.3 inches of snowfall.
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. A typical two-bedroom carries a HUD Fair Market Rent of $2,053 per month statewide. EIA 2023 residential energy data puts California's average monthly utility costs around $275 (state average). The average commute for Barstow workers runs 27.4 minutes, with 77.3% driving alone and 3.4% 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 Barstow'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 reported crime to within-city variation to work and mobility to population change to schools and households to housing and income to comparison shortlist to climate and hazard context; another city can have a different sequence or fewer supported layers because the source joins are not uniform.
For Barstow, city-specific coverage includes FBI reported-crime rates, within-city Census tract profiles, matched public-school count, commute-mode shares, local building permits, annual population history.
All six city-specific enrichment layers used by this profile are present.
Question 1
What can the FBI record say about safety in Barstow?
The joined FBI UCR record reports 3747.4 violent and property crimes per 100,000 residents, above the 2280.5 national reference used here. The difference is 64% higher 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.
PlainCities matches 466 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.
What does the journey to work look like in Barstow?
Driving alone is the largest reported mode at 77.3%. The reported mean trip to work is 27.4 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.
Which cities make useful reference points for Barstow?
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 Dinuba (25,201 residents, $59,048 income); Norco (25,211 residents, $125,117 income); Lafayette (25,277 residents, $222,393 income). Outside the state, the closest population matches in this dataset are North Laurel, MD (25,201 residents); Walker, MI (25,201 residents); Carteret, NJ (25,187 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.
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.
Population change
Is Barstow growing, shrinking, or holding steady?
Census PEP estimates show the population declined by -602 residents from 2020 to 2025, a -2.4% change. Separately, Census BPS recorded 4 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.
2020 estimate
25,406
2025 estimate
24,804
Period change
-2.4%
Census Population Estimates Program, 2020–2025; permit context uses Census BPS.
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 12 public schools within the city match. 11.1% 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
18.3%
Bachelor's degree+
11.1%
Matched public schools
12
NCES Common Core of Data school locations plus Census ACS resident characteristics.
How far does income reach against housing in Barstow?
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 4.3 times median household income. The ACS poverty estimate is 18.3%, which keeps the citywide median from describing every household.
Value / income
4.3×
Home value
$222,600
Household income
$51,811
City-level Census ACS 2023 medians. The ratio divides two separate medians and is descriptive only.
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 65.7°F, with 5.0 inches of precipitation and 0.3 inches of annual snowfall. 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
5.0 in
Mean temperature
65.7°F
NOAA Climate Normals and FEMA National Risk Index (state-averaged on PlainCities). Hazard context is not address-level.
Highest-decile cost · BEA RPP 2024, California average
F
City profile score · Barstow, CA
12/100
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
$51,811
Median household income vs U.S. cities (pop ≥1,000); ACS.
Poverty rate F
18.3%
Share of residents below the poverty line; lower scores better on this axis.
Bachelor's+ share F
11.1%
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
1,108 /100k
FBI UCR violent offenses per 100,000 residents; lower is stronger on this axis.
Barstow profile (scored ACS/FBI dimensions)Read the chart values
Household income: 23/100 (F) · $51,811
Poverty rate: 16/100 (F) · 18.3%
Bachelor's+ share: 9/100 (F) · 11.1%
Cost of living: 6/100 (F) · 110.7 index
Violent crime: 0/100 (F) · 1,108 /100k
Where Barstow sits on home value vs crime among peer cities
Barstow'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 - Barstow highlighted among 10 peers.Read the chart values
Barstow, CA (this city): home $222,600, crime 3,747/100k
Walker, MI : home $266,400, crime 2,667/100k
Carteret, NJ : home $370,200, crime 1,576/100k
Hazelwood, MO : home $154,900, crime 3,011/100k
Dickinson, ND : home $252,400, crime 2,003/100k
Dinuba, CA : home $267,300, crime 2,768/100k
Norco, CA : home $731,900, crime 2,688/100k
Lafayette, CA : home $2,000,000+, crime 1,348/100k
Loma Linda, CA : home $557,800, crime 1,878/100k
Reedley, CA : home $311,700, crime 1,427/100k
How does Barstow compare to other US cities?
Where Barstow sits among all US cities (population 1,000+) on each measure, computed live from Census and FBI data.
Household income22% higher than other cities
Home value49% pricier than other cities
Median rent88% pricier than other cities
Safety9% 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, Barstow ranks #402 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 Barstow 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 Barstow near the bottom of California's cities
Among the 1,458 California cities PlainCities tracks with reported median gross rent data, Barstow ranks #1 - the 0th percentile within the state. This is a different, narrower cut than the nationwide percentiles above: it compares Barstow only against its own state's cities, not the full US field.
Median Household Income
#1,163 of 1,338
13th percentile in California
Median Gross Rent
#1 of 1,458
0th percentile in California
Median Home Value
#1,220 of 1,343
9th percentile in California
Poverty Rate
#219 of 1,450
85th percentile in California
Bachelor's Degree or Higher
#1,176 of 1,458
19th 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
22nd percentile nationally for median household income · 9th percentile for safety (lower crime rate). Source: Census ACS 2023 / FBI UCR 2023.
Barstow's profile vs. every US city
Income, affordability, and safety percentile
Barstow'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 Barstow's home value compares nationally
Median home value vs. every US city (population 1,000+)
$222,600Among the most affordablemore affordable than 51% 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
Barstow's home-value-to-income ratio: 4.3×
ACS median home value divided by median household income.
Band
moderate
3.0–5.0×
National rank
#11,515 of 15,516
More affordable than 26% of tracked cities (pop. 1,000+)
Size class
#2,219 of 3,317
Small cities (10,000–49,999)
At 4.3×, Barstow sits in the moderate band:
national rank #11,515 of 15,516 and #2,219 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
$51,811Barstow, CA median household income (Census ACS)
Show U.S. national quintile / Lorenz context Barstow, 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 Barstow, CA.
Key socioeconomic indicators
Bachelor's degree or higher (adults 25+)11.1%
Census ACS S1501, educational attainment
Poverty rate (households below FPL)18.3%
Census ACS S1701, poverty status
Labor force participation (adults 16+)46.3%
Census ACS S2301, share of working-age residents in the labor force
Population
25,198
Median Income
$51,811
Median Home Value
$222,600
Median Age
32.9
Poverty Rate
18.3%
Labor force participation
46.3%
Bachelor's Degree+
11.1%
Safety & Crime
Total Crime Rate
3747.4
per 100,000 residents
Violent Crime
1108.1
per 100,000 residents
Property Crime
2639.3
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
65.7°F
Annual Precipitation
5.0"
Annual Snowfall
0.3"
Schools
Total Schools
12
Public schools in this city
Population Change
PEP vintage
Annual U.S. Census Bureau Population Estimates Program (PEP) estimates, 2020–2025
Barstow's Census PEP population estimates, 2020–2025.Read the chart as text
Period
Population
2020
25,406 residents
2021
25,245 residents
2022
25,095 residents
2023
25,012 residents
2024
24,966 residents
2025
24,804 residents
Housing Supply
BPS source
Census Bureau Building Permits Survey (BPS) - annual residential permits authorized
📈 Building Boom
Total Permits (2024)
4
housing units authorized
Single-Family
4
detached homes
Multifamily
0
apartments & condos
Supply Intensity
0.2
permits per 1,000 residents
5-Year Permit Trend (2019–2024)
Year
Total
Single-Family
Multifamily
Est. Value
2019
1
1
0
$0.1M
2020
0
0
0
-
2021
1
1
0
$0.3M
2022
3
3
0
$0.8M
2023
3
3
0
$1.3M
2024
4
4
0
$1.4M
Permit volume increased 300% from 2019 to 2024.
Commute Patterns
Commute source
How workers travel to work, Census ACS 2023
Average Commute Time
27.4 minutes
Drive Alone
77.3%
Carpool
10.8%
Public Transit
0.8%
Walk
6.1%
Work from Home
3.4%
Other
1.6%
Based on 8,830 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 Barstow. 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 Barstow 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 Barstow sits in; the FEMA hazard score shown here is a statewide average of county NRI inputs, not a parcel-level reading.
How Barstow 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.