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Place dossier plate
SheetCA-COLFAX-CA · Colfax, CA 2,095 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 Colfax
Lowest/highest poles plus peers nearest Colfax on median household income. Full ladder: /browse and /rankings.
median HH income
Palomas comun… · lowest
19,418
Palomas comun… · lowest
19,418 median HH income
7.8% of the leader · rank #1
Colfax · this city
74,583
Colfax · this city
74,583 median HH income
29.8% of the leader · rank #2
Frankford · near
74,583
Frankford · near
74,583 median HH income
29.8% of the leader · rank #3
Grantville · near
74,583
Grantville · near
74,583 median HH income
29.8% of the leader · rank #4
Kapaau · near
74,583
Kapaau · near
74,583 median HH income
29.8% of the leader · rank #5
Georgetown · near
74,583
Georgetown · near
74,583 median HH income
29.8% of the leader · rank #6
Hidden Hills · highest
250,001
Hidden Hills · highest
250,001 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 Colfax 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: 2,095.
Nationally, Colfax sits in the 56th percentile for household income among US cities with a population of 1,000 or more. Source: Census ACS.
56th
percentile, household income
77th
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: Colfax, CA
Census ACS 2023 estimates count 2,095 residents in Colfax, a small town within California. The typical household in Colfax brings in $74,583 a year, above the median for U.S. cities on this measure, with a poverty rate of 10.8%. Home values in Colfax run a median of $397,100, and the median resident age is 36.3 years. About 19.5% of adults hold a bachelor's degree or higher, while 58.6% of working-age residents are in the labor force.
In 2024, 0 residential building permits were authorized in Colfax (No Permits), down 100% from five years earlier, per Census BPS data. NOAA puts Colfax's yearly average temperature at 59.3°F with 45.9 inches of precipitation per year and 7.2 inches of snowfall.
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. 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 Colfax'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 schools and households to housing and income to work and mobility to population change to comparison shortlist to climate and hazard context; another city can have a different sequence or fewer supported layers because the source joins are not uniform.
For Colfax, city-specific coverage includes matched public-school count, annual population history, local building permits, commute-mode shares.
No matched row is reported here for within-city Census tract profiles, FBI reported-crime rates; the page leaves those layers out instead of substituting a statewide or national value.
Question 1
What does the education layer cover for Colfax?
The NCES join finds 2 public schools within the city match. 19.5% 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.
How far does income reach against housing in Colfax?
The home-value-to-income reference is comparatively stretched: the ACS median home value is 5.3 times median household income. The ACS poverty estimate is 10.8%, 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.
What does the journey to work look like in Colfax?
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 73.9%. A reliable mean commute time is not available for this row, so the mode shares carry the comparison.
Which cities make useful reference points for Colfax?
Within California, the closest population matches are Parkwood (2,095 residents, $78,194 income); Soulsbyville (2,089 residents, $92,996 income); Collierville (2,107 residents, $99,792 income). Outside the state, the closest population matches in this dataset are Minerva Park, OH (2,095 residents); Palomas comunidad (Comerío Municipio), PR (2,095 residents); Mason City, IL (2,094 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.
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.
Population change
Is Colfax growing, shrinking, or holding steady?
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.
Census PEP estimates show the population grew by +72 residents from 2020 to 2025, a +3.7% change. Separately, Census BPS recorded 0 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
+3.7%
2025 estimate
2,043
2020 estimate
1,971
Census Population Estimates Program, 2020–2025; permit context uses Census BPS.
NOAA normals put the annual mean temperature at 59.3°F, with 45.9 inches of precipitation and 7.2 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.
Mean temperature
59.3°F
Annual precipitation
45.9 in
FEMA risk index (state avg)
88.7
NOAA Climate Normals and FEMA National Risk Index (state-averaged on PlainCities). Hazard context is not address-level.
Above median income · poverty 10.8% (Above-median poverty)
Cost of Living Index (state)
110.7 (US=100)
Highest-decile cost · BEA RPP 2024, California average
F
City profile score · Colfax, CA
34/100
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.
Household income C-
$74,583
Median household income vs U.S. cities (pop ≥1,000); ACS.
Poverty rate F
10.8%
Share of residents below the poverty line; lower scores better on this axis.
Bachelor's+ share F
19.5%
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).
Colfax profile (scored ACS/FBI dimensions)Read the chart values
Household income: 54/100 (C-) · $74,583
Poverty rate: 37/100 (F) · 10.8%
Bachelor's+ share: 33/100 (F) · 19.5%
Cost of living: 6/100 (F) · 110.7 index
How does Colfax compare to other US cities?
Colfax 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 value77% 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 Colfax 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 Colfax near the bottom of California's cities
Among the 1,458 California cities PlainCities tracks with reported median gross rent data, Colfax ranks #1 - the 0th percentile within the state. This is a different, narrower cut than the nationwide percentiles above: it compares Colfax only against its own state's cities, not the full US field.
Median Household Income
#856 of 1,338
36th percentile in California
Median Gross Rent
#1 of 1,458
0th percentile in California
Median Home Value
#868 of 1,343
35th percentile in California
Poverty Rate
#443 of 1,450
69th percentile in California
Bachelor's Degree or Higher
#914 of 1,458
37th 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 Colfax's home value compares nationally
Median home value vs. every US city (population 1,000+)
$397,10023rd percentilemore affordable than 23% 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
Colfax's home-value-to-income ratio: 5.3×
ACS median home value divided by median household income.
Band
pressured
> 5.0×
National rank
#13,355 of 15,516
More affordable than 14% of tracked cities (pop. 1,000+)
Size class
#10,025 of 11,323
Micro cities (under 10,000)
At 5.3×, Colfax sits in the pressured band:
national rank #13,355 of 15,516 and #10,025 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
$74,583Colfax, CA median household income (Census ACS)
Show U.S. national quintile / Lorenz context Colfax, 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 Colfax, CA.
Key socioeconomic indicators
Bachelor's degree or higher (adults 25+)19.5%
Census ACS S1501, educational attainment
Poverty rate (households below FPL)10.8%
Census ACS S1701, poverty status
Labor force participation (adults 16+)58.6%
Census ACS S2301, share of working-age residents in the labor force
Population
2,095
Median Income
$74,583
Median Home Value
$397,100
Median Age
36.3
Poverty Rate
10.8%
Labor force participation
58.6%
Bachelor's Degree+
19.5%
Climate
Avg Temperature
59.3°F
Annual Precipitation
45.9"
Annual Snowfall
7.2"
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
Colfax's Census PEP population estimates, 2020–2025.Read the chart as text
Period
Population
2020
1,971 residents
2021
2,009 residents
2022
2,032 residents
2023
2,033 residents
2024
2,042 residents
2025
2,043 residents
Housing Supply
BPS source
Census Bureau Building Permits Survey (BPS) - annual residential permits authorized
Total Permits (2024)
0
housing units authorized
Single-Family
0
detached homes
Multifamily
0
apartments & condos
5-Year Permit Trend (2019–2024)
Year
Total
Single-Family
Multifamily
Est. Value
2019
20
20
0
$3.8M
2020
13
13
0
$2.5M
2021
15
15
0
$3.6M
2022
0
0
0
-
2023
0
0
0
-
2024
0
0
0
-
Permit volume decreased 100% from 2019 to 2024.
Commute Patterns
Commute source
How workers travel to work, Census ACS 2023
Drive Alone
73.9%
Carpool
5.9%
Public Transit
0.0%
Walk
0.9%
Work from Home
19.2%
Based on 975 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 Colfax. 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 Colfax 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 Colfax sits in; the FEMA hazard score shown here is a statewide average of county NRI inputs, not a parcel-level reading.
How Colfax 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.