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-BEND-CA · Big Bend, CA 132 pop · income 2nd 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 Bend
Lowest/highest poles plus peers nearest Big Bend on median household income. Full ladder: /browse and /rankings.
median HH income
Linwood · lowest
28,929
Linwood · lowest
28,929 median HH income
20.4% of the leader · rank #1
Big Bend · this city
28,958
Big Bend · this city
28,958 median HH income
20.4% of the leader · rank #2
Lynch · near
28,958
Lynch · near
28,958 median HH income
20.4% of the leader · rank #3
Berwind · near
28,966
Berwind · near
28,966 median HH income
20.4% of the leader · rank #4
Parmele · near
28,971
Parmele · near
28,971 median HH income
20.4% of the leader · rank #5
Heart Butte · near
28,977
Heart Butte · near
28,977 median HH income
20.4% of the leader · rank #6
Moskowite Cor… · highest
141,736
Moskowite Cor… · highest
141,736 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 Bend 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: 132.
Big Bend ranks in the 2nd percentile for household income nationally, out of every US city with at least 1,000 residents. Source: Census ACS.
2nd
percentile, household income
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 Bend, CA
132 people live in Big Bend, California - a small town by U.S. Census Bureau ACS 2023 estimates. Big Bend households earn a median of $28,958 annually, in the lower quartile of U.S. cities for household income, with a poverty rate of 0.0%. The median resident age is 49.5 years. Educational attainment runs 14.9% of adults with a bachelor's degree or higher. Separately, 20.2% of working-age residents are in the labor force.
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. Statewide, HUD pegs Fair Market Rent for a two-bedroom unit at $2,053 monthly. Statewide, average monthly utility bills in California run around $275, per EIA 2023 residential energy data. 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 Bend'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 comparison shortlist; another city can have a different sequence or fewer supported layers because the source joins are not uniform.
For Big Bend, city-specific coverage includes commute-mode shares.
No matched row is reported here for FBI reported-crime rates, within-city Census tract profiles, annual population history, local building permits, matched public-school count; the page leaves those layers out instead of substituting a statewide or national value.
Question 1
What does the journey to work look like in Big Bend?
Driving alone is the largest reported mode at 55.0%. A reliable mean commute time is not available for this row, so the mode shares carry the comparison.
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 Big Bend?
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.
Within California, the closest population matches are Mount Hebron (131 residents, $80,250 income); Moskowite Corner (136 residents, $141,736 income); Mettler (137 residents, $87,875 income). Outside the state, the closest population matches in this dataset are Bonanza Mountain Estates, CO (132 residents); Minidoka, ID (132 residents); Tennessee, IL (132 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.
Lowest-decile income · poverty 0.0% (Very low poverty)
Cost of Living Index (state)
110.7 (US=100)
Highest-decile cost · BEA RPP 2024, California average
F
City profile score · Big Bend, CA
30/100
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.
Poverty rate A+
0.0%
Share of residents below the poverty line; lower scores better on this axis.
Bachelor's+ share F
14.9%
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.
Household income F
$28,958
Median household income vs U.S. cities (pop ≥1,000); ACS.
Violent crime N/A
N/A
No FBI UCR violent-crime rate for this place (coverage is incomplete).
Big Bend profile (scored ACS/FBI dimensions)Read the chart values
Poverty rate: 100/100 (A+) · 0.0%
Bachelor's+ share: 20/100 (F) · 14.9%
Cost of living: 6/100 (F) · 110.7 index
Household income: 0/100 (F) · $28,958
How does Big Bend compare to other US cities?
Here's how Big Bend stacks up against the full field of US cities (population 1,000+), computed live from Census and FBI data.
Household income2% higher 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 Bend 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 Bend near the bottom of California's cities
Among the 1,458 California cities PlainCities tracks with reported median gross rent data, Big Bend ranks #1 - the 0th percentile within the state. This is a different, narrower cut than the nationwide percentiles above: it compares Big Bend only against its own state's cities, not the full US field.
Median Household Income
#1,324 of 1,338
1st percentile in California
Median Gross Rent
#1 of 1,458
0th percentile in California
Poverty Rate
#1,194 of 1,450
0th percentile in California
Bachelor's Degree or Higher
#1,051 of 1,458
28th 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
2nd percentile nationally for median household income. Source: Census ACS 2023 / FBI UCR 2023.
Income distribution context
$28,958Big Bend, CA median household income (Census ACS)
Show U.S. national quintile / Lorenz context Big Bend, 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 Bend, CA.
Key socioeconomic indicators
Bachelor's degree or higher (adults 25+)14.9%
Census ACS S1501, educational attainment
Poverty rate (households below FPL)0.0%
Census ACS S1701, poverty status
Labor force participation (adults 16+)20.2%
Census ACS S2301, share of working-age residents in the labor force
Population
132
Median Income
$28,958
Median Home Value
N/A
Median Age
49.5
Poverty Rate
0.0%
Labor force participation
20.2%
Bachelor's Degree+
14.9%
Commute Patterns
Commute source
How workers travel to work, Census ACS 2023
Drive Alone
55.0%
Carpool
0.0%
Public Transit
0.0%
Walk
35.0%
Work from Home
0.0%
Other
10.0%
Based on 20 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 Bend. 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 Bend 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 Bend sits in; the FEMA hazard score shown here is a statewide average of county NRI inputs, not a parcel-level reading.
How Big Bend 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, 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.