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Place dossier plate
SheetCA-BIG-BEAR-LAKE-CA · Big Bear Lake, CA 5,038 pop · income 56th 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 Lake
Lowest/highest poles plus peers nearest Big Bear Lake on median household income. Full ladder: /browse and /rankings.
median HH income
Hoopeston · lowest
55,180
Hoopeston · lowest
55,180 median HH income
29.7% of the leader · rank #1
West Kootenai · near
74,722
West Kootenai · near
74,722 median HH income
40.2% of the leader · rank #2
Mont Alto · near
74,722
Mont Alto · near
74,722 median HH income
40.2% of the leader · rank #3
Greencastle · near
74,725
Greencastle · near
74,725 median HH income
40.3% of the leader · rank #4
Big Bear Lake · this city
74,728
Big Bear Lake · this city
74,728 median HH income
40.3% of the leader · rank #5
Fort Pierre · near
74,732
Fort Pierre · near
74,732 median HH income
40.3% of the leader · rank #6
Sea Cliff · highest
185,650
Sea Cliff · highest
185,650 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
Out-of-state nearest neighbors for Big Bear Lake 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: 5,038.
Out of every US city with 1,000+ residents, Big Bear Lake places in the 56th percentile for household income. Source: Census ACS.
56th
percentile, household income
86th
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: Big Bear Lake, CA
5,038 people live in Big Bear Lake, California - a small town by U.S. Census Bureau ACS 2023 estimates. Big Bear Lake households earn a median of $74,728 annually, above the median for U.S. cities on this measure, with a poverty rate of 8.0%. Big Bear Lake's housing stock carries a median value of $517,900, and the median resident age is 45.5 years. 34.9% of adults here have a bachelor's degree or higher; 57.5% of working-age residents are in the labor force.
In 2024, 25 residential building permits were authorized in Big Bear Lake (Stable), up 0% from five years earlier, per Census BPS data. NOAA climate normals record an annual average temperature of 48.0°F with 20.0 inches of precipitation per year and 58.6 inches of snowfall.
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. 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). 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 Big Bear Lake'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 climate and hazard context to comparison shortlist to schools and households to work and mobility to housing and income to population change; another city can have a different sequence or fewer supported layers because the source joins are not uniform.
For Big Bear Lake, city-specific coverage includes matched public-school count, annual population history, commute-mode shares, local building permits.
No matched row is reported here for FBI reported-crime rates, within-city Census tract profiles; the page leaves those layers out instead of substituting a statewide or national value.
Question 1
What physical conditions frame life in Big Bear Lake?
NOAA normals put the annual mean temperature at 48.0°F, with 20.0 inches of precipitation and 58.6 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.
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 Big Bear Lake?
Within California, the closest population matches are Running Springs (5,043 residents, $85,681 income); Myrtletown (5,028 residents, $55,543 income); Jackson (5,061 residents, $75,051 income). Outside the state, the closest population matches in this dataset are Hoopeston, IL (5,039 residents); Milan, IL (5,037 residents); Sea Cliff, NY (5,037 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.
What does the education layer cover for Big Bear Lake?
The NCES join finds 2 public schools within the city match. 34.9% 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 matched institution count is small, so district boundaries and schools outside the city line may matter more than the municipal count suggests. Use the number as a coverage cue, then verify attendance zones with the district before making a household decision.
What does the journey to work look like in Big Bear Lake?
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 61.3%. A reliable mean commute time is not available for this row, so the mode shares carry the comparison.
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.
Housing and income
How far does income reach against housing in Big Bear Lake?
The home-value-to-income reference is comparatively stretched: the ACS median home value is 6.9 times median household income. The ACS poverty estimate is 8.0%, 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.
Household income
$74,728
Home value
$517,900
Value / income
6.9×
City-level Census ACS 2023 medians. The ratio divides two separate medians and is descriptive only.
Is Big Bear Lake growing, shrinking, or holding steady?
The recent population line is broadly flat. That makes the composition of change more important than the headline count: housing turnover, household size, and age structure can shift even when the total barely moves.
Census PEP estimates show the population declined by -23 residents from 2020 to 2025, a -0.5% change. Separately, Census BPS recorded 25 housing units authorized in 2024. PEP and ACS are different Census series, so the trend is kept separate from the headline ACS population.
Period change
-0.5%
2025 estimate
5,018
2020 estimate
5,041
Census Population Estimates Program, 2020–2025; permit context uses Census BPS.
Above median income · poverty 8.0% (Above-median poverty)
Cost of Living Index (state)
110.7 (US=100)
Highest-decile cost · BEA RPP 2024, California average
D
City profile score · Big Bear Lake, CA
43/100
4 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 B-
34.9%
Adults with a bachelor's degree or higher; ACS.
Household income C-
$74,728
Median household income vs U.S. cities (pop ≥1,000); ACS.
Poverty rate D
8.0%
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 N/A
N/A
No FBI UCR violent-crime rate for this place (coverage is incomplete).
Big Bear Lake profile (scored ACS/FBI dimensions)Read the chart values
Bachelor's+ share: 66/100 (B-) · 34.9%
Household income: 54/100 (C-) · $74,728
Poverty rate: 48/100 (D) · 8.0%
Cost of living: 6/100 (F) · 110.7 index
How does Big Bear Lake compare to other US cities?
Big Bear Lake measured against every US city with 1,000+ residents, computed live from the same Census and FBI data shown throughout this page.
Household income56% higher than other cities
Home value86% 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 Big Bear Lake 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 Lake near the bottom of California's cities
Among the 1,458 California cities PlainCities tracks with reported median gross rent data, Big Bear Lake ranks #1 - the 0th percentile within the state. This is a different, narrower cut than the nationwide percentiles above: it compares Big Bear Lake only against its own state's cities, not the full US field.
Median Household Income
#855 of 1,338
36th percentile in California
Median Gross Rent
#1 of 1,458
0th percentile in California
Median Home Value
#674 of 1,343
50th percentile in California
Poverty Rate
#612 of 1,450
57th percentile in California
Bachelor's Degree or Higher
#525 of 1,458
64th 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
56th percentile nationally for median household income. Source: Census ACS 2023 / FBI UCR 2023.
How Big Bear Lake's home value compares nationally
Median home value vs. every US city (population 1,000+)
$517,90014th percentilemore affordable than 14% 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 Lake's home-value-to-income ratio: 6.9×
ACS median home value divided by median household income.
Band
pressured
> 5.0×
National rank
#14,640 of 15,516
More affordable than 6% of tracked cities (pop. 1,000+)
Size class
#10,789 of 11,323
Micro cities (under 10,000)
At 6.9×, Big Bear Lake sits in the pressured band:
national rank #14,640 of 15,516 and #10,789 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
$74,728Big Bear Lake, CA median household income (Census ACS)
Show U.S. national quintile / Lorenz context Big Bear Lake, 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 Lake, CA.
Key socioeconomic indicators
Bachelor's degree or higher (adults 25+)34.9%
Census ACS S1501, educational attainment
Poverty rate (households below FPL)8.0%
Census ACS S1701, poverty status
Labor force participation (adults 16+)57.5%
Census ACS S2301, share of working-age residents in the labor force
Population
5,038
Median Income
$74,728
Median Home Value
$517,900
Median Age
45.5
Poverty Rate
8.0%
Labor force participation
57.5%
Bachelor's Degree+
34.9%
Climate
Avg Temperature
48.0°F
Annual Precipitation
20.0"
Annual Snowfall
58.6"
Schools
Total Schools
2
Public schools in this city
Population Change
PEP vintage
Annual U.S. Census Bureau Population Estimates Program (PEP) estimates, 2020–2025
Big Bear Lake's Census PEP population estimates, 2020–2025.Read the chart as text
Period
Population
2020
5,041 residents
2021
5,046 residents
2022
5,034 residents
2023
5,035 residents
2024
5,048 residents
2025
5,018 residents
Housing Supply
BPS source
Census Bureau Building Permits Survey (BPS) - annual residential permits authorized
🏗️ Stable
Total Permits (2024)
25
housing units authorized
Single-Family
25
detached homes
Multifamily
0
apartments & condos
Supply Intensity
5
permits per 1,000 residents
5-Year Permit Trend (2019–2024)
Year
Total
Single-Family
Multifamily
Est. Value
2019
25
25
0
$7.8M
2020
23
23
0
$7.6M
2021
24
24
0
$9.6M
2022
32
30
2
$12.3M
2023
38
33
5
$16.6M
2024
25
25
0
$17.3M
Permit volume increased 0% from 2019 to 2024.
Commute Patterns
Commute source
How workers travel to work, Census ACS 2023
Drive Alone
61.3%
Carpool
12.1%
Public Transit
0.0%
Walk
2.0%
Work from Home
23.8%
Other
0.8%
Based on 2,408 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 Lake. 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 Lake 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 Lake sits in; the FEMA hazard score shown here is a statewide average of county NRI inputs, not a parcel-level reading.
How Big Bear Lake 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 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.