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-BIG-BEAR-CA · Big Bear, CA 12,493 pop · income 53rd 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 Big Bear
Lowest/highest poles plus peers nearest Big Bear on median household income. Full ladder: /browse and /rankings.
median HH income
Grenada · lowest
42,470
Grenada · lowest
42,470 median HH income
21.8% of the leader · rank #1
New Burlington · near
72,455
New Burlington · near
72,455 median HH income
37.2% of the leader · rank #2
Big Bear · this city
72,457
Big Bear · this city
72,457 median HH income
37.2% of the leader · rank #3
Zillah · near
72,461
Zillah · near
72,461 median HH income
37.3% of the leader · rank #4
Hermitage · near
72,464
Hermitage · near
72,464 median HH income
37.3% of the leader · rank #5
Manchester · near
72,465
Manchester · near
72,465 median HH income
37.3% of the leader · rank #6
Lake Norman o… · highest
194,519
Lake Norman o… · highest
194,519 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 Big Bear 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: 12,493.
Agency-reported UCR totals per 100,000 population, not a neighborhood safety grade or a prediction of personal risk.
Big Bear - the verdict
Big Bear ranks in the 53rd 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.
53rd
percentile, household income
80th
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: Big Bear, CA
12,493 people live in Big Bear, California - a small town by U.S. Census Bureau ACS 2023 estimates. Big Bear households earn a median of $72,457 annually, above the median for U.S. cities on this measure, with a poverty rate of 11.0%. Big Bear's housing stock carries a median value of $427,700, and the median resident age is 44.3 years. Educational attainment runs 28.4% of adults with a bachelor's degree or higher. Separately, 50.9% of working-age residents are in the labor force.
Big Bear's reported crime rate runs above the national norm: per-100,000 total crime stands at 3704.4 in FBI UCR data, above the national average (a voluntary reporting program, read this as reporting activity, not a definitive danger score).
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. Workers in Big Bear report an average commute of 22.2 minutes, with 72.3% driving alone and 15.4% 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 Big Bear'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 work and mobility to reported crime to comparison shortlist; another city can have a different sequence or fewer supported layers because the source joins are not uniform.
For Big Bear, city-specific coverage includes commute-mode shares, FBI reported-crime rates.
No matched row is reported here for annual population history, within-city Census tract profiles, matched public-school count, local building permits; the page leaves those layers out instead of substituting a statewide or national value.
Question 1
How far does income reach against housing in Big Bear?
The home-value-to-income reference is comparatively stretched: the ACS median home value is 5.9 times median household income. The ACS poverty estimate is 11.0%, 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.
What does the journey to work look like in Big Bear?
Mode share answers how workers usually travel; it does not measure congestion, reliability, distance to a particular job, or the quality of transit service. Remote work has a visible role in the local pattern. That can reduce commute exposure for some workers, but it says nothing about job availability or broadband quality; read it alongside income and housing rather than as a stand-alone lifestyle score.
Driving alone is the largest reported mode at 72.3%. The reported mean trip to work is 22.2 minutes.
What can the FBI record say about safety in Big Bear?
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 3704.4 violent and property crimes per 100,000 residents, above the 2280.5 national reference used here. The difference is 62% higher in arithmetic terms, but agency participation is voluntary and reporting completeness varies.
Which cities make useful reference points for Big Bear?
Within California, the closest population matches are Mendota (12,554 residents, $46,458 income); Lindsay (12,572 residents, $50,563 income); Fortuna (12,413 residents, $61,603 income). Outside the state, the closest population matches in this dataset are Lake Norman of Iredell, NC (12,496 residents); Fort Atkinson, WI (12,490 residents); Cascades, VA (12,489 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.
Above median income · poverty 11.0% (Above-median poverty)
Cost of Living Index (state)
110.7 (US=100)
Highest-decile cost · BEA RPP 2024, California average
F
City profile score · Big Bear, CA
30/100
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.
Bachelor's+ share C
28.4%
Adults with a bachelor's degree or higher; ACS.
Household income C-
$72,457
Median household income vs U.S. cities (pop ≥1,000); ACS.
Poverty rate F
11.0%
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.
Violent crime F
1,582 /100k
FBI UCR violent offenses per 100,000 residents; lower is stronger on this axis.
Big Bear profile (scored ACS/FBI dimensions)Read the chart values
Bachelor's+ share: 55/100 (C) · 28.4%
Household income: 52/100 (C-) · $72,457
Poverty rate: 36/100 (F) · 11.0%
Cost of living: 6/100 (F) · 110.7 index
Violent crime: 0/100 (F) · 1,582 /100k
Where Big Bear sits on home value vs crime among peer cities
Big Bear'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 - Big Bear highlighted among 27 peers.Read the chart values
Big Bear, CA (this city): home $427,700, crime 3,704/100k
Fort Atkinson, WI : home $198,600, crime 994/100k
Mendota, CA : home $250,400, crime 1,359/100k
Lindsay, CA : home $268,400, crime 1,904/100k
Fortuna, CA : home $353,200, crime 1,400/100k
Kingsburg, CA : home $356,900, crime 1,498/100k
Tehachapi, CA : home $344,700, crime 3,124/100k
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 Big Bear compare to other US cities?
Here's how Big Bear stacks up against the full field of US cities (population 1,000+), computed live from Census and FBI data.
Household income53% higher than other cities
Home value80% 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, Big Bear ranks #401 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 Big Bear 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 Big Bear near the bottom of California's cities
Among the 1,458 California cities PlainCities tracks with reported median gross rent data, Big Bear ranks #1 - the 0th percentile within the state. This is a different, narrower cut than the nationwide percentiles above: it compares Big Bear only against its own state's cities, not the full US field.
Median Household Income
#882 of 1,338
34th percentile in California
Median Gross Rent
#1 of 1,458
0th percentile in California
Median Home Value
#821 of 1,343
39th percentile in California
Poverty Rate
#438 of 1,450
70th percentile in California
Bachelor's Degree or Higher
#652 of 1,458
55th 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
53rd percentile nationally for median household income · 9th percentile for safety (lower crime rate). Source: Census ACS 2023 / FBI UCR 2023.
Big Bear's profile vs. every US city
Income, affordability, and safety percentile
Big Bear'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 Big Bear's home value compares nationally
Median home value vs. every US city (population 1,000+)
$427,70020th percentilemore affordable than 20% 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
Big Bear's home-value-to-income ratio: 5.9×
ACS median home value divided by median household income.
Band
pressured
> 5.0×
National rank
#14,028 of 15,516
More affordable than 10% of tracked cities (pop. 1,000+)
Size class
#2,944 of 3,317
Small cities (10,000–49,999)
At 5.9×, Big Bear sits in the pressured band:
national rank #14,028 of 15,516 and #2,944 of 3,317small cities (10,000–49,999).
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
$72,457Big Bear, CA median household income (Census ACS)
Show U.S. national quintile / Lorenz context Big Bear, 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 Big Bear, CA.
Key socioeconomic indicators
Bachelor's degree or higher (adults 25+)28.4%
Census ACS S1501, educational attainment
Poverty rate (households below FPL)11.0%
Census ACS S1701, poverty status
Labor force participation (adults 16+)50.9%
Census ACS S2301, share of working-age residents in the labor force
Population
12,493
Median Income
$72,457
Median Home Value
$427,700
Median Age
44.3
Poverty Rate
11.0%
Labor force participation
50.9%
Bachelor's Degree+
28.4%
Safety & Crime
Total Crime Rate
3704.4
per 100,000 residents
Violent Crime
1581.9
per 100,000 residents
Property Crime
2122.5
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.
Commute Patterns
Commute source
How workers travel to work, Census ACS 2023
Average Commute Time
22.2 minutes
Drive Alone
72.3%
Carpool
7.3%
Public Transit
0.0%
Walk
3.9%
Work from Home
15.4%
Other
1.1%
Based on 5,096 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 Big Bear. 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 Big Bear 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 Big Bear sits in; the FEMA hazard score shown here is a statewide average of county NRI inputs, not a parcel-level reading.
How Big Bear 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 ACS B08301/B08136, U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) 2023, BEA Regional Price Parities 2024, HUD Fair Market Rents 2026, FEMA National Risk Index.