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Place dossier plate
SheetCA-COMPTON-CA · Compton, CA 93,525 pop · income 55th 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 Compton
Lowest/highest poles plus peers nearest Compton on median household income. Full ladder: /browse and /rankings.
median HH income
Erie · lowest
43,397
Erie · lowest
43,397 median HH income
31.9% of the leader · rank #1
Kennett Square · near
74,259
Kennett Square · near
74,259 median HH income
54.6% of the leader · rank #2
New Stanton · near
74,265
New Stanton · near
74,265 median HH income
54.6% of the leader · rank #3
Compton · this city
74,270
Compton · this city
74,270 median HH income
54.6% of the leader · rank #4
Bangor · near
74,271
Bangor · near
74,271 median HH income
54.6% of the leader · rank #5
McNeal · near
74,286
McNeal · near
74,286 median HH income
54.6% of the leader · rank #6
Mission Viejo · highest
136,071
Mission Viejo · highest
136,071 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 Compton 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: 93,525.
Agency-reported UCR totals per 100,000 population, not a neighborhood safety grade or a prediction of personal risk.
Compton - the verdict
Measured against every US city with at least 1,000 residents, Compton lands in the 55th percentile for household income and the 6th percentile for safety. Source: Census ACS + FBI UCR.
55th
percentile, household income
87th
percentile, home value
88th
percentile, median rent
6th
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: Compton, CA
Census ACS 2023 estimates count 93,525 residents in Compton, a small city within California. Compton households earn a median of $74,270 annually, above the median for U.S. cities on this measure, with a poverty rate of 14.2%. Compton's housing stock carries a median value of $546,700, and the median resident age is 33.9 years. Educational attainment runs 10.9% of adults with a bachelor's degree or higher. Separately, 59.0% of working-age residents are in the labor force.
The Census Building Permit Survey recorded 97 residential units authorized here in 2024 (Building Boom), up 131% from five years earlier. Compton's reported crime rate runs above the national norm: per-100,000 total crime stands at 4417.0 in FBI UCR data, above the national average (a voluntary reporting program, read this as reporting activity, not a definitive danger score).
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. A typical two-bedroom carries a HUD Fair Market Rent of $2,053 per month statewide. 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 Compton'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 comparison shortlist to schools and households to work and mobility to housing and income to reported crime to population change; another city can have a different sequence or fewer supported layers because the source joins are not uniform.
For Compton, city-specific coverage includes FBI reported-crime rates, annual population history, commute-mode shares, local building permits, matched public-school count.
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. Comparison shortlist
Which cities make useful reference points for Compton?
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 Carson (93,523 residents, $107,391 income); Redding (93,268 residents, $69,443 income); San Marcos (94,078 residents, $105,286 income). Outside the state, the closest population matches in this dataset are Fall River, MA (93,764 residents); Toms River, NJ (93,915 residents); Atascocita, TX (93,926 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.
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 36 public schools within the city match. 10.9% 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.
What does the journey to work look like in Compton?
Driving alone is the largest reported mode at 77.9%. 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.
How far does income reach against housing in Compton?
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 7.4 times median household income. The ACS poverty estimate is 14.2%, which keeps the citywide median from describing every household.
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 Compton?
The joined FBI UCR record reports 4417.0 violent and property crimes per 100,000 residents, above the 2280.5 national reference used here. The difference is 94% 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
4417.0
Violent rate
1271.7
Property rate
3145.2
FBI Uniform Crime Reporting, incidents per 100,000. Voluntary agency reporting; not a danger score.
Census PEP estimates show the population declined by -4,926 residents from 2020 to 2025, a -5.2% change. Separately, Census BPS recorded 97 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 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.
2020 estimate
95,426
2025 estimate
90,500
Period change
-5.2%
Census Population Estimates Program, 2020–2025; permit context uses Census BPS.
Above median income · poverty 14.2% (High poverty)
Cost of Living Index (state)
110.7 (US=100)
Highest-decile cost · BEA RPP 2024, California average
F
City profile score · Compton, CA
21/100
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.
Household income C-
$74,270
Median household income vs U.S. cities (pop ≥1,000); ACS.
Poverty rate F
14.2%
Share of residents below the poverty line; lower scores better on this axis.
Bachelor's+ share F
10.9%
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 F
1,272 /100k
FBI UCR violent offenses per 100,000 residents; lower is stronger on this axis.
Compton profile (scored ACS/FBI dimensions)Read the chart values
Household income: 54/100 (C-) · $74,270
Poverty rate: 24/100 (F) · 14.2%
Bachelor's+ share: 9/100 (F) · 10.9%
Cost of living: 6/100 (F) · 110.7 index
Violent crime: 0/100 (F) · 1,272 /100k
Where Compton sits on home value vs crime among peer cities
Compton'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 - Compton highlighted among 11 peers.Read the chart values
Compton, CA (this city): home $546,700, crime 4,417/100k
Fall River, MA : home $357,800, crime 2,135/100k
Plantation, FL : home $447,700, crime 2,483/100k
Livonia, MI : home $265,300, crime 1,490/100k
Erie, PA : home $108,200, crime 2,305/100k
Carson, CA : home $645,600, crime 3,351/100k
Redding, CA : home $363,800, crime 2,393/100k
San Marcos, CA : home $792,400, crime 882/100k
Mission Viejo, CA : home $946,300, crime 1,285/100k
South Gate, CA : home $608,500, crime 4,125/100k
Chino, CA : home $641,500, crime 2,511/100k
How does Compton compare to other US cities?
Here's how Compton stacks up against the full field of US cities (population 1,000+), computed live from Census and FBI data.
Household income55% higher than other cities
Home value87% pricier than other cities
Median rent88% pricier than other cities
Safety6% safer than other cities
"Safer than" reflects total crime rate from FBI UCR; the others use Census ACS estimates.
Zoom in to just California and the picture shifts: Compton ranks #420 of 441 California cities by lowest crime rate, a different read than the national percentile above.
How we calculate these percentiles & ranks
Each percentile compares Compton 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 Compton near the bottom of California's cities
Among the 1,458 California cities PlainCities tracks with reported median gross rent data, Compton ranks #1 - the 0th percentile within the state. This is a different, narrower cut than the nationwide percentiles above: it compares Compton only against its own state's cities, not the full US field.
Median Household Income
#860 of 1,338
36th percentile in California
Median Gross Rent
#1 of 1,458
0th percentile in California
Median Home Value
#650 of 1,343
52nd percentile in California
Poverty Rate
#313 of 1,450
78th percentile in California
Bachelor's Degree or Higher
#1,184 of 1,458
19th 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
55th percentile nationally for median household income · 6th percentile for safety (lower crime rate). Source: Census ACS 2023 / FBI UCR 2023.
Compton's profile vs. every US city
Income, affordability, and safety percentile
Compton'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 Compton's home value compares nationally
Median home value vs. every US city (population 1,000+)
$546,70013th percentilemore affordable than 13% 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
Compton's home-value-to-income ratio: 7.4×
ACS median home value divided by median household income.
Band
pressured
> 5.0×
National rank
#14,837 of 15,516
More affordable than 4% of tracked cities (pop. 1,000+)
Size class
#669 of 750
Mid-size cities (50,000–199,999)
At 7.4×, Compton sits in the pressured band:
national rank #14,837 of 15,516 and #669 of 750mid-size cities (50,000–199,999).
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
$74,270Compton, CA median household income (Census ACS)
Show U.S. national quintile / Lorenz context Compton, 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 Compton, CA.
Key socioeconomic indicators
Bachelor's degree or higher (adults 25+)10.9%
Census ACS S1501, educational attainment
Poverty rate (households below FPL)14.2%
Census ACS S1701, poverty status
Labor force participation (adults 16+)59.0%
Census ACS S2301, share of working-age residents in the labor force
Population
93,525
Median Income
$74,270
Median Home Value
$546,700
Median Age
33.9
Poverty Rate
14.2%
Labor force participation
59.0%
Bachelor's Degree+
10.9%
Safety & Crime
Total Crime Rate
4417.0
per 100,000 residents
Violent Crime
1271.7
per 100,000 residents
Property Crime
3145.2
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
36
Public schools in this city
Population Change
PEP vintage
Annual U.S. Census Bureau Population Estimates Program (PEP) estimates, 2020–2025
Compton's Census PEP population estimates, 2020–2025.Read the chart as text
Period
Population
2020
95,426 residents
2021
93,390 residents
2022
92,166 residents
2023
91,526 residents
2024
91,147 residents
2025
90,500 residents
Housing Supply
BPS source
Census Bureau Building Permits Survey (BPS) - annual residential permits authorized
📈 Building Boom
Total Permits (2024)
97
housing units authorized
Single-Family
83
detached homes
Multifamily
14
apartments & condos
Supply Intensity
1
permits per 1,000 residents
5-Year Permit Trend (2019–2024)
Year
Total
Single-Family
Multifamily
Est. Value
2019
42
29
13
$6.7M
2020
21
21
0
$1.7M
2021
53
51
2
$4.4M
2022
126
111
15
$14.0M
2023
91
85
6
$10.9M
2024
97
83
14
$16.8M
Permit volume increased 131% from 2019 to 2024.
Commute Patterns
Commute source
How workers travel to work, Census ACS 2023
Drive Alone
77.9%
Carpool
11.6%
Public Transit
3.6%
Walk
0.6%
Work from Home
4.3%
Other
2.0%
Based on 40,787 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 Compton. 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 Compton 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 Compton sits in; the FEMA hazard score shown here is a statewide average of county NRI inputs, not a parcel-level reading.
How Compton 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.