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Place dossier plate
SheetCA-CAPITOLA-CA · Capitola, CA 9,813 pop · income 75th 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 Capitola
Lowest/highest poles plus peers nearest Capitola on median household income. Full ladder: /browse and /rankings.
median HH income
Uniontown · lowest
35,451
Uniontown · lowest
35,451 median HH income
23.8% of the leader · rank #1
Lake View · near
96,409
Lake View · near
96,409 median HH income
64.8% of the leader · rank #2
Capitola · this city
96,412
Capitola · this city
96,412 median HH income
64.8% of the leader · rank #3
Warm Beach · near
96,413
Warm Beach · near
96,413 median HH income
64.8% of the leader · rank #4
Coldstream · near
96,417
Coldstream · near
96,417 median HH income
64.8% of the leader · rank #5
Lafayette · near
96,419
Lafayette · near
96,419 median HH income
64.8% of the leader · rank #6
Fairview · highest
148,801
Fairview · highest
148,801 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 Capitola 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: 9,813.
Agency-reported UCR totals per 100,000 population, not a neighborhood safety grade or a prediction of personal risk.
Capitola - the verdict
Nationally, Capitola sits in the 75th percentile for household income and the 14th percentile for safety among US cities with a population of 1,000 or more. Source: Census ACS + FBI UCR.
75th
percentile, household income
94th
percentile, home value
88th
percentile, median rent
14th
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: Capitola, CA
Census ACS 2023 estimates count 9,813 residents in Capitola, a small town within California. Capitola households earn a median of $96,412 annually, placing it in the top quartile of U.S. cities for household income, with a poverty rate of 10.9%. Capitola's housing stock carries a median value of $746,000, and the median resident age is 46.3 years. 45.6% of adults here have a bachelor's degree or higher; 61.9% of working-age residents are in the labor force.
In 2024, 46 residential building permits were authorized in Capitola (Building Boom), up 207% from five years earlier, per Census BPS data. Capitola's reported crime rate runs above the national norm: FBI UCR reporting places total crime at 3150.4 incidents per 100,000 residents, above the national average (voluntary agency reporting, reflects reporting activity, not a definitive danger score).
California carries a cost-of-living premium: BEA Regional Price Parities 2024 puts California at 110.7 on a 100-equals-national-average scale (Well Above Average). A typical two-bedroom carries a HUD Fair Market Rent of $2,053 per month statewide. Monthly utility costs average around $275 across California, per EIA 2023 residential energy estimates. 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 Capitola'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 housing and income to population change to reported crime to schools and households to comparison shortlist; another city can have a different sequence or fewer supported layers because the source joins are not uniform.
For Capitola, city-specific coverage includes local building permits, matched public-school count, FBI reported-crime rates, commute-mode shares, annual population history.
No matched row is reported here for within-city Census tract profiles; 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 Capitola?
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 56.5%. A reliable mean commute time is not available for this row, so the mode shares carry the comparison.
How far does income reach against housing in Capitola?
The home-value-to-income reference is comparatively stretched: the ACS median home value is 7.7 times median household income. The ACS poverty estimate is 10.9%, 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.
Is Capitola growing, shrinking, or holding steady?
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.
Census PEP estimates show the population declined by -577 residents from 2020 to 2025, a -5.8% change. Separately, Census BPS recorded 46 housing units authorized in 2024. PEP and ACS are different Census series, so the trend is kept separate from the headline ACS population.
Which cities make useful reference points for Capitola?
Within California, the closest population matches are Camp Pendleton Mainside (9,801 residents, $56,250 income); Madera Acres (9,758 residents, $76,033 income); Rio Vista (10,002 residents, $86,970 income). Outside the state, the closest population matches in this dataset are DeRidder, LA (9,812 residents); Wakefield-Peace Dale, RI (9,812 residents); Uniontown, PA (9,819 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.
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.
Reported crime
What can the FBI record say about safety in Capitola?
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 3150.4 violent and property crimes per 100,000 residents, above the 2280.5 national reference used here. The difference is 38% higher in arithmetic terms, but agency participation is voluntary and reporting completeness varies.
Property rate
2907.3
Violent rate
243.2
Total reported rate
3150.4
FBI Uniform Crime Reporting, incidents per 100,000. Voluntary agency reporting; not a danger score.
The NCES join finds 2 public schools within the city match. 45.6% 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.
Matched public schools
2
Bachelor's degree+
45.6%
Poverty estimate
10.9%
NCES Common Core of Data school locations plus Census ACS resident characteristics.
High income · poverty 10.9% (Above-median poverty)
Cost of Living Index (state)
110.7 (US=100)
Highest-decile cost · BEA RPP 2024, California average
D
City profile score · Capitola, CA
47/100
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 A-
45.6%
Adults with a bachelor's degree or higher; ACS.
Household income B+
$96,412
Median household income vs U.S. cities (pop ≥1,000); ACS.
Violent crime D
243 /100k
FBI UCR violent offenses per 100,000 residents; lower is stronger on this axis.
Poverty rate F
10.9%
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.
Capitola profile (scored ACS/FBI dimensions)Read the chart values
Bachelor's+ share: 80/100 (A-) · 45.6%
Household income: 75/100 (B+) · $96,412
Violent crime: 41/100 (D) · 243 /100k
Poverty rate: 36/100 (F) · 10.9%
Cost of living: 6/100 (F) · 110.7 index
Where Capitola sits on home value vs crime among peer cities
Capitola'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 - Capitola highlighted among 26 peers.Read the chart values
Capitola, CA (this city): home $746,000, crime 3,150/100k
Uniontown, PA : home $87,600, crime 4,148/100k
Thomaston, GA : home $146,100, crime 2,739/100k
College Place, WA : home $335,000, crime 1,906/100k
Rio Vista, CA : home $480,300, crime 628/100k
Orange Cove, CA : home $232,900, crime 614/100k
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 Capitola compare to other US cities?
Capitola measured against every US city with 1,000+ residents, computed live from the same Census and FBI data shown throughout this page.
Household income75% higher than other cities
Home value94% pricier than other cities
Median rent88% pricier than other cities
Safety14% 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, Capitola ranks #374 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 Capitola 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 Capitola near the bottom of California's cities
Among the 1,458 California cities PlainCities tracks with reported median gross rent data, Capitola ranks #1 - the 0th percentile within the state. This is a different, narrower cut than the nationwide percentiles above: it compares Capitola only against its own state's cities, not the full US field.
Median Household Income
#554 of 1,338
59th percentile in California
Median Gross Rent
#1 of 1,458
0th percentile in California
Median Home Value
#404 of 1,343
70th percentile in California
Poverty Rate
#442 of 1,450
70th percentile in California
Bachelor's Degree or Higher
#330 of 1,458
77th 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
75th percentile nationally for median household income · 14th percentile for safety (lower crime rate). Source: Census ACS 2023 / FBI UCR 2023.
Capitola's profile vs. every US city
Income, affordability, and safety percentile
Capitola'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 Capitola's home value compares nationally
Median home value vs. every US city (population 1,000+)
$746,0006th percentilemore affordable than 6% 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
Capitola's home-value-to-income ratio: 7.7×
ACS median home value divided by median household income.
Band
pressured
> 5.0×
National rank
#14,948 of 15,516
More affordable than 4% of tracked cities (pop. 1,000+)
Size class
#10,966 of 11,323
Micro cities (under 10,000)
At 7.7×, Capitola sits in the pressured band:
national rank #14,948 of 15,516 and #10,966 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
$96,412Capitola, CA median household income (Census ACS)
Show U.S. national quintile / Lorenz context Capitola, 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 Capitola, CA.
Key socioeconomic indicators
Bachelor's degree or higher (adults 25+)45.6%
Census ACS S1501, educational attainment
Poverty rate (households below FPL)10.9%
Census ACS S1701, poverty status
Labor force participation (adults 16+)61.9%
Census ACS S2301, share of working-age residents in the labor force
Population
9,813
Median Income
$96,412
Median Home Value
$746,000
Median Age
46.3
Poverty Rate
10.9%
Labor force participation
61.9%
Bachelor's Degree+
45.6%
Safety & Crime
Total Crime Rate
3150.4
per 100,000 residents
Violent Crime
243.2
per 100,000 residents
Property Crime
2907.3
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.
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
Capitola's Census PEP population estimates, 2020–2025.Read the chart as text
Period
Population
2020
9,917 residents
2021
9,835 residents
2022
9,703 residents
2023
9,580 residents
2024
9,460 residents
2025
9,340 residents
Housing Supply
BPS source
Census Bureau Building Permits Survey (BPS) - annual residential permits authorized
📈 Building Boom
Total Permits (2024)
46
housing units authorized
Single-Family
10
detached homes
Multifamily
36
apartments & condos
Supply Intensity
4.7
permits per 1,000 residents
5-Year Permit Trend (2019–2024)
Year
Total
Single-Family
Multifamily
Est. Value
2019
15
13
2
$6.3M
2020
4
4
0
$1.3M
2021
4
4
0
$1.3M
2022
4
4
0
$1.4M
2023
12
12
0
$3.2M
2024
46
10
36
$11.7M
Permit volume increased 207% from 2019 to 2024.
Commute Patterns
Commute source
How workers travel to work, Census ACS 2023
Drive Alone
56.5%
Carpool
4.7%
Public Transit
1.1%
Walk
6.1%
Work from Home
25.7%
Other
5.9%
Based on 4,972 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 Capitola. 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 Capitola 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 Capitola sits in; the FEMA hazard score shown here is a statewide average of county NRI inputs, not a parcel-level reading.
How Capitola 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, 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.