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Place dossier plate
SheetCA-CLEARLAKE-CA · Clearlake, CA 16,604 pop · income 9th pct · 21 tracts
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 Clearlake
Lowest/highest poles plus peers nearest Clearlake on median household income. Full ladder: /browse and /rankings.
median HH income
Ambler · lowest
41,563
Ambler · lowest
41,563 median HH income
20.8% of the leader · rank #1
Torreon CDP (… · near
41,573
Torreon CDP (… · near
41,573 median HH income
20.8% of the leader · rank #2
Lamar · near
41,579
Lamar · near
41,579 median HH income
20.8% of the leader · rank #3
Clearlake · this city
41,580
Clearlake · this city
41,580 median HH income
20.8% of the leader · rank #4
Evant · near
41,583
Evant · near
41,583 median HH income
20.8% of the leader · rank #5
Timpson · near
41,591
Timpson · near
41,591 median HH income
20.8% of the leader · rank #6
Moraga · highest
199,800
Moraga · highest
199,800 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 Clearlake 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: 16,604.
Agency-reported UCR totals per 100,000 population, not a neighborhood safety grade or a prediction of personal risk.
Clearlake - the verdict
Clearlake ranks in the 9th percentile for household income and the 24th percentile for safety nationally, out of every US city with at least 1,000 residents. Source: Census ACS + FBI UCR.
9th
percentile, household income
44th
percentile, home value
88th
percentile, median rent
24th
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: Clearlake, CA
Clearlake is a small town in California, home to 16,604 residents per U.S. Census Bureau ACS 2023 estimates. Households in Clearlake report a median income of $41,580 per year, in the lower quartile of U.S. cities for household income, with a poverty rate of 17.6%. Typical homes in Clearlake are valued around $204,500, and the median resident age is 35.8 years. 6.9% of adults here have a bachelor's degree or higher; 40.0% of working-age residents are in the labor force.
The Census Building Permit Survey recorded 17 residential units authorized here in 2024 (Stable), up 0% from five years earlier. Crime here tracks close to the national norm: the FBI's Uniform Crime Reporting program logs 2413.2 total incidents per 100,000 residents here, near the national average (agency reporting is voluntary, so this measures reporting activity, not a definitive danger score). The annual average temperature per NOAA climate normals runs 56.9°F with 29.9 inches of precipitation per year and 0.4 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. Statewide, HUD pegs Fair Market Rent for a two-bedroom unit at $2,053 monthly. EIA 2023 residential energy data puts California's average monthly utility costs around $275 (state average). The average commute for Clearlake workers runs 29.0 minutes, with 68.0% driving alone and 10.3% 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 Clearlake'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 population change to within-city variation to work and mobility to reported crime to comparison shortlist to housing and income to schools and households to climate and hazard context; another city can have a different sequence or fewer supported layers because the source joins are not uniform.
For Clearlake, city-specific coverage includes FBI reported-crime rates, local building permits, annual population history, within-city Census tract profiles, commute-mode shares, matched public-school count.
All six city-specific enrichment layers used by this profile are present.
Question 1
Is Clearlake growing, shrinking, or holding steady?
Census PEP estimates show the population grew by +194 residents from 2020 to 2025, a +1.2% change. Separately, Census BPS recorded 17 housing units authorized in 2024. PEP and ACS are different Census series, so the trend is kept separate from the headline ACS population.
Recent estimates point upward. Growth can increase housing demand and service needs, but the permit record must move in the same direction before calling it a supply response; the two series measure different things.
What can 21 Census tracts reveal inside Clearlake?
PlainCities matches 21 Census tracts to this city.
That layer breaks the citywide income, rent, and home-value medians into smaller Census geographies, which can reveal differences that one municipal median necessarily hides. A tract is a statistical area, not a locally defined neighborhood or a promise about conditions on a particular block. Start with the city profile for the broad comparison, then use the tract layer to test whether the same housing and income pattern is consistent across the city. Large within-city spreads are a reason to avoid treating any citywide median as a universal resident experience.
What does the journey to work look like in Clearlake?
Driving alone is the largest reported mode at 68.0%. The reported mean trip to work is 29.0 minutes.
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 Clearlake?
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.
Within California, the closest population matches are Bostonia (16,545 residents, $73,549 income); Fillmore (16,665 residents, $90,343 income); Kerman (16,492 residents, $57,556 income). Outside the state, the closest population matches in this dataset are Farmingville, NY (16,605 residents); Fairburn, GA (16,609 residents); La Vista, NE (16,594 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.
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 Clearlake?
The joined FBI UCR record reports 2413.2 violent and property crimes per 100,000 residents, near the 2280.5 national reference used here. The difference is 6% higher in arithmetic terms, but agency participation is voluntary and reporting completeness varies.
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.
Total reported rate
2413.2
Violent rate
828.8
Property rate
1584.4
FBI Uniform Crime Reporting, incidents per 100,000. Voluntary agency reporting; not a danger score.
How far does income reach against housing in Clearlake?
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 home-value-to-income reference is comparatively stretched: the ACS median home value is 4.9 times median household income. The ACS poverty estimate is 17.6%, which keeps the citywide median from describing every household.
Value / income
4.9×
Home value
$204,500
Household income
$41,580
City-level Census ACS 2023 medians. The ratio divides two separate medians and is descriptive only.
What does the education layer cover for Clearlake?
The city has a broader matched school footprint, but count alone does not describe performance, capacity, program availability, or attendance boundaries. This profile deliberately avoids converting it into an unsupported family-friendliness score.
The NCES join finds 5 public schools within the city match. 6.9% 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.
Poverty estimate
17.6%
Bachelor's degree+
6.9%
Matched public schools
5
NCES Common Core of Data school locations plus Census ACS resident characteristics.
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.
NOAA normals put the annual mean temperature at 56.9°F, with 29.9 inches of precipitation and 0.4 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.
FEMA risk index (state avg)
88.7
Annual precipitation
29.9 in
Mean temperature
56.9°F
NOAA Climate Normals and FEMA National Risk Index (state-averaged on PlainCities). Hazard context is not address-level.
Lowest-decile income · poverty 17.6% (High poverty)
Cost of Living Index (state)
110.7 (US=100)
Highest-decile cost · BEA RPP 2024, California average
F
City profile score · Clearlake, CA
7/100
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.
Poverty rate F
17.6%
Share of residents below the poverty line; lower scores better on this axis.
Household income F
$41,580
Median household income vs U.S. cities (pop ≥1,000); 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.
Bachelor's+ share F
6.9%
Adults with a bachelor's degree or higher; ACS.
Violent crime F
829 /100k
FBI UCR violent offenses per 100,000 residents; lower is stronger on this axis.
Clearlake profile (scored ACS/FBI dimensions)Read the chart values
Poverty rate: 18/100 (F) · 17.6%
Household income: 9/100 (F) · $41,580
Cost of living: 6/100 (F) · 110.7 index
Bachelor's+ share: 0/100 (F) · 6.9%
Violent crime: 0/100 (F) · 829 /100k
Where Clearlake sits on home value vs crime among peer cities
Clearlake'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 - Clearlake highlighted among 10 peers.Read the chart values
Clearlake, CA (this city): home $204,500, crime 2,413/100k
Fairburn, GA : home $249,200, crime 1,144/100k
La Vista, NE : home $244,900, crime 1,234/100k
Warsaw, IN : home $175,300, crime 2,174/100k
Beaver Dam, WI : home $189,800, crime 1,269/100k
Fillmore, CA : home $567,500, crime 855/100k
Kerman, CA : home $331,500, crime 1,852/100k
Ukiah, CA : home $448,100, crime 1,923/100k
Moraga, CA : home $1,597,600, crime 578/100k
El Segundo, CA : home $1,521,600, crime 5,977/100k
How does Clearlake compare to other US cities?
Clearlake measured against every US city with 1,000+ residents, computed live from the same Census and FBI data shown throughout this page.
Household income9% higher than other cities
Home value44% pricier than other cities
Median rent88% pricier than other cities
Safety24% 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, Clearlake ranks #297 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 Clearlake 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 Clearlake near the bottom of California's cities
Among the 1,458 California cities PlainCities tracks with reported median gross rent data, Clearlake ranks #1 - the 0th percentile within the state. This is a different, narrower cut than the nationwide percentiles above: it compares Clearlake only against its own state's cities, not the full US field.
Median Household Income
#1,271 of 1,338
5th percentile in California
Median Gross Rent
#1 of 1,458
0th percentile in California
Median Home Value
#1,251 of 1,343
7th percentile in California
Poverty Rate
#233 of 1,450
84th percentile in California
Bachelor's Degree or Higher
#1,288 of 1,458
11th 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
9th percentile nationally for median household income · 24th percentile for safety (lower crime rate). Source: Census ACS 2023 / FBI UCR 2023.
Clearlake's profile vs. every US city
Income, affordability, and safety percentile
Clearlake'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 Clearlake's home value compares nationally
Median home value vs. every US city (population 1,000+)
$204,500Among the most affordablemore affordable than 56% 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
Clearlake's home-value-to-income ratio: 4.9×
ACS median home value divided by median household income.
Band
moderate
3.0–5.0×
National rank
#12,751 of 15,516
More affordable than 18% of tracked cities (pop. 1,000+)
Size class
#2,565 of 3,317
Small cities (10,000–49,999)
At 4.9×, Clearlake sits in the moderate band:
national rank #12,751 of 15,516 and #2,565 of 3,317small cities (10,000–49,999).
Income and home value move in the same broad scale; check same-state peers before treating the multiple as an advantage or a warning.
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
$41,580Clearlake, CA median household income (Census ACS)
Show U.S. national quintile / Lorenz context Clearlake, 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 Clearlake, CA.
Key socioeconomic indicators
Bachelor's degree or higher (adults 25+)6.9%
Census ACS S1501, educational attainment
Poverty rate (households below FPL)17.6%
Census ACS S1701, poverty status
Labor force participation (adults 16+)40.0%
Census ACS S2301, share of working-age residents in the labor force
Population
16,604
Median Income
$41,580
Median Home Value
$204,500
Median Age
35.8
Poverty Rate
17.6%
Labor force participation
40.0%
Bachelor's Degree+
6.9%
Safety & Crime
Total Crime Rate
2413.2
per 100,000 residents
Violent Crime
828.8
per 100,000 residents
Property Crime
1584.4
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.
Climate
Avg Temperature
56.9°F
Annual Precipitation
29.9"
Annual Snowfall
0.4"
Schools
Total Schools
5
Public schools in this city
Population Change
PEP vintage
Annual U.S. Census Bureau Population Estimates Program (PEP) estimates, 2020–2025
Clearlake's Census PEP population estimates, 2020–2025.Read the chart as text
Period
Population
2020
16,699 residents
2021
16,789 residents
2022
16,604 residents
2023
16,595 residents
2024
16,713 residents
2025
16,893 residents
Housing Supply
BPS source
Census Bureau Building Permits Survey (BPS) - annual residential permits authorized
🏗️ Stable
Total Permits (2024)
17
housing units authorized
Single-Family
17
detached homes
Multifamily
0
apartments & condos
Supply Intensity
1
permits per 1,000 residents
5-Year Permit Trend (2019–2024)
Year
Total
Single-Family
Multifamily
Est. Value
2019
17
17
0
$3.9M
2020
20
20
0
$4.6M
2021
11
11
0
$1.4M
2022
5
5
0
$1.1M
2023
1
1
0
$0.1M
2024
17
17
0
$4.6M
Permit volume increased 0% from 2019 to 2024.
Commute Patterns
Commute source
How workers travel to work, Census ACS 2023
Average Commute Time
29.0 minutes
Drive Alone
68.0%
Carpool
12.8%
Public Transit
2.6%
Walk
4.0%
Work from Home
10.3%
Other
2.3%
Based on 4,864 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 Clearlake. 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 Clearlake 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 Clearlake sits in; the FEMA hazard score shown here is a statewide average of county NRI inputs, not a parcel-level reading.
How Clearlake 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, 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.