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Place dossier plate
SheetCA-CASTELLA-CA · Castella, CA 287 pop · income 44th 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 Castella
Lowest/highest poles plus peers nearest Castella on median household income. Full ladder: /browse and /rankings.
median HH income
Di Giorgio · lowest
33,281
Di Giorgio · lowest
33,281 median HH income
24.5% of the leader · rank #1
Castella · this city
65,556
Castella · this city
65,556 median HH income
48.3% of the leader · rank #2
Linn · near
65,556
Linn · near
65,556 median HH income
48.3% of the leader · rank #3
Trimble · near
65,556
Trimble · near
65,556 median HH income
48.3% of the leader · rank #4
Bethlehem · near
65,556
Bethlehem · near
65,556 median HH income
48.3% of the leader · rank #5
Englewood · near
65,557
Englewood · near
65,557 median HH income
48.3% of the leader · rank #6
Bloomfield · highest
135,750
Bloomfield · highest
135,750 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 Castella 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: 287.
Out of every US city with 1,000+ residents, Castella places in the 44th percentile for household income. Source: Census ACS.
44th
percentile, household income
72nd
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: Castella, CA
California's Castella is a small town, with 287 residents per the latest Census Bureau ACS figures. Median household income here is $65,556 per year, below the median for U.S. cities on this measure, with a poverty rate of 8.0%. Typical homes in Castella are valued around $354,300, and the median resident age is 50.7 years. 19.9% of adults here have a bachelor's degree or higher; 47.4% of working-age residents are in the labor force.
The city is served by 1 public schools according to NCES Common Core of Data.
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. EIA 2023 residential energy data puts California's average monthly utility costs around $275 (state average). 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 Castella'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 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 Castella, city-specific coverage includes matched public-school count, commute-mode shares.
No matched row is reported here for local building permits, FBI reported-crime rates, within-city Census tract profiles, annual population history; 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 Castella?
Mode share answers how workers usually travel; it does not measure congestion, reliability, distance to a particular job, or the quality of transit service. The profile is strongly car-oriented, so a relocation comparison should put trip distance, vehicle access, and household fuel costs ahead of a citywide commute average. The same-state peer links offer a more relevant benchmark than a national label.
Driving alone is the largest reported mode at 85.2%. 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 Castella?
The home-value-to-income reference is comparatively stretched: the ACS median home value is 5.4 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.
The NCES join finds 1 public school within the city match. 19.9% 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.
Which cities make useful reference points for Castella?
Within California, the closest population matches are Canby (287 residents); Hood (286 residents); Clipper Mills (285 residents). Outside the state, the closest population matches in this dataset are Ambrose, GA (287 residents); Bay View Gardens, IL (287 residents); Buckingham, IL (287 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.
Below 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
F
City profile score · Castella, CA
33/100
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 D
8.0%
Share of residents below the poverty line; lower scores better on this axis.
Household income D
$65,556
Median household income vs U.S. cities (pop ≥1,000); ACS.
Bachelor's+ share F
19.9%
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.
Violent crime N/A
N/A
No FBI UCR violent-crime rate for this place (coverage is incomplete).
Castella profile (scored ACS/FBI dimensions)Read the chart values
Poverty rate: 48/100 (D) · 8.0%
Household income: 43/100 (D) · $65,556
Bachelor's+ share: 34/100 (F) · 19.9%
Cost of living: 6/100 (F) · 110.7 index
How does Castella compare to other US cities?
Castella measured against every US city with 1,000+ residents, computed live from the same Census and FBI data shown throughout this page.
Household income44% higher than other cities
Home value72% 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 Castella 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 Castella near the bottom of California's cities
Among the 1,458 California cities PlainCities tracks with reported median gross rent data, Castella ranks #1 - the 0th percentile within the state. This is a different, narrower cut than the nationwide percentiles above: it compares Castella only against its own state's cities, not the full US field.
Median Household Income
#978 of 1,338
27th percentile in California
Median Gross Rent
#1 of 1,458
0th percentile in California
Median Home Value
#949 of 1,343
29th percentile in California
Poverty Rate
#612 of 1,450
57th percentile in California
Bachelor's Degree or Higher
#905 of 1,458
38th 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
44th percentile nationally for median household income. Source: Census ACS 2023 / FBI UCR 2023.
How Castella's home value compares nationally
Median home value vs. every US city (population 1,000+)
$354,30028th percentilemore affordable than 28% 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
Castella's home-value-to-income ratio: 5.4×
ACS median home value divided by median household income.
Band
pressured
> 5.0×
National rank
#13,460 of 15,516
More affordable than 13% of tracked cities (pop. 1,000+)
Size class
#10,083 of 11,323
Micro cities (under 10,000)
At 5.4×, Castella sits in the pressured band:
national rank #13,460 of 15,516 and #10,083 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
$65,556Castella, CA median household income (Census ACS)
Show U.S. national quintile / Lorenz context Castella, 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 Castella, CA.
Key socioeconomic indicators
Bachelor's degree or higher (adults 25+)19.9%
Census ACS S1501, educational attainment
Poverty rate (households below FPL)8.0%
Census ACS S1701, poverty status
Labor force participation (adults 16+)47.4%
Census ACS S2301, share of working-age residents in the labor force
Population
287
Median Income
$65,556
Median Home Value
$354,300
Median Age
50.7
Poverty Rate
8.0%
Labor force participation
47.4%
Bachelor's Degree+
19.9%
Schools
Total Schools
1
Public schools in this city
Commute Patterns
Commute source
How workers travel to work, Census ACS 2023
Drive Alone
85.2%
Carpool
1.9%
Public Transit
0.0%
Walk
0.0%
Work from Home
13.0%
Based on 108 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 Castella. 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 Castella 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 Castella sits in; the FEMA hazard score shown here is a statewide average of county NRI inputs, not a parcel-level reading.
How Castella 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, NCES CCD, 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.