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Place dossier plate
SheetCA-DOBBINS-CA · Dobbins, CA 511 pop · income 22nd 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 Dobbins
Lowest/highest poles plus peers nearest Dobbins on median household income. Full ladder: /browse and /rankings.
median HH income
Buda · lowest
49,922
Buda · lowest
49,922 median HH income
32.1% of the leader · rank #1
Dobbins · this city
51,827
Dobbins · this city
51,827 median HH income
33.4% of the leader · rank #2
South Bay · near
51,827
South Bay · near
51,827 median HH income
33.4% of the leader · rank #3
Sandoval · near
51,827
Sandoval · near
51,827 median HH income
33.4% of the leader · rank #4
Lowell · near
51,829
Lowell · near
51,829 median HH income
33.4% of the leader · rank #5
Pleasanton · near
51,830
Pleasanton · near
51,830 median HH income
33.4% of the leader · rank #6
Dorrington · highest
155,357
Dorrington · highest
155,357 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 Dobbins 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: 511.
Nationally, Dobbins sits in the 22nd percentile for household income among US cities with a population of 1,000 or more. Source: Census ACS.
22nd
percentile, household income
78th
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: Dobbins, CA
Dobbins is a small town in California, home to 511 residents per U.S. Census Bureau ACS 2023 estimates. Households in Dobbins report a median income of $51,827 per year, in the lower quartile of U.S. cities for household income, with a poverty rate of 16.8%. Dobbins's housing stock carries a median value of $411,100, and the median resident age is 60.0 years. About 32.3% of adults hold a bachelor's degree or higher, while 50.5% of working-age residents are in the labor force.
NOAA climate normals record an annual average temperature of 58.7°F with 46.3 inches of precipitation per year.
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. HUD Fair Market Rent for a typical two-bedroom in this state is $2,053 per month. Statewide, average monthly utility bills in California run around $275, per EIA 2023 residential energy data. 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 Dobbins'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 climate and hazard context to comparison shortlist to work and mobility to housing and income; another city can have a different sequence or fewer supported layers because the source joins are not uniform.
For Dobbins, city-specific coverage includes matched public-school count, commute-mode shares.
No matched row is reported here for local building permits, annual population history, 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 Dobbins?
The NCES join finds 1 public school within the city match. 32.3% 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.
NOAA normals put the annual mean temperature at 58.7°F, with 46.3 inches of precipitation. 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.
Which cities make useful reference points for Dobbins?
Within California, the closest population matches are Fall River Mills (511 residents); Pumpkin Center (511 residents); Cold Springs CDP (El Dorado County) (512 residents, $71,523 income). Outside the state, the closest population matches in this dataset are Groton Long Point, CT (511 residents); Toomsboro, GA (511 residents); Basalt, ID (511 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.
What does the journey to work look like in Dobbins?
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.
Driving alone is the largest reported mode at 70.5%. A reliable mean commute time is not available for this row, so the mode shares carry the comparison.
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.
Housing and income
How far does income reach against housing in Dobbins?
The home-value-to-income reference is comparatively stretched: the ACS median home value is 7.9 times median household income. The ACS poverty estimate is 16.8%, 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.
Household income
$51,827
Home value
$411,100
Value / income
7.9×
City-level Census ACS 2023 medians. The ratio divides two separate medians and is descriptive only.
Highest-decile cost · BEA RPP 2024, California average
F
City profile score · Dobbins, CA
25/100
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.
Bachelor's+ share C+
32.3%
Adults with a bachelor's degree or higher; ACS.
Household income F
$51,827
Median household income vs U.S. cities (pop ≥1,000); ACS.
Poverty rate F
16.8%
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.
Violent crime N/A
N/A
No FBI UCR violent-crime rate for this place (coverage is incomplete).
Dobbins profile (scored ACS/FBI dimensions)Read the chart values
Bachelor's+ share: 62/100 (C+) · 32.3%
Household income: 23/100 (F) · $51,827
Poverty rate: 19/100 (F) · 16.8%
Cost of living: 6/100 (F) · 110.7 index
How does Dobbins compare to other US cities?
Dobbins measured against every US city with 1,000+ residents, computed live from the same Census and FBI data shown throughout this page.
Household income22% higher than other cities
Home value78% 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 Dobbins 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 Dobbins near the bottom of California's cities
Among the 1,458 California cities PlainCities tracks with reported median gross rent data, Dobbins ranks #1 - the 0th percentile within the state. This is a different, narrower cut than the nationwide percentiles above: it compares Dobbins only against its own state's cities, not the full US field.
Median Household Income
#1,162 of 1,338
13th percentile in California
Median Gross Rent
#1 of 1,458
0th percentile in California
Median Home Value
#847 of 1,343
37th percentile in California
Poverty Rate
#252 of 1,450
83rd percentile in California
Bachelor's Degree or Higher
#573 of 1,458
60th 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
22nd percentile nationally for median household income. Source: Census ACS 2023 / FBI UCR 2023.
How Dobbins's home value compares nationally
Median home value vs. every US city (population 1,000+)
$411,10022nd percentilemore affordable than 22% 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
Dobbins's home-value-to-income ratio: 7.9×
ACS median home value divided by median household income.
Band
pressured
> 5.0×
National rank
#14,990 of 15,516
More affordable than 3% of tracked cities (pop. 1,000+)
Size class
#10,998 of 11,323
Micro cities (under 10,000)
At 7.9×, Dobbins sits in the pressured band:
national rank #14,990 of 15,516 and #10,998 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
$51,827Dobbins, CA median household income (Census ACS)
Show U.S. national quintile / Lorenz context Dobbins, 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 Dobbins, CA.
Key socioeconomic indicators
Bachelor's degree or higher (adults 25+)32.3%
Census ACS S1501, educational attainment
Poverty rate (households below FPL)16.8%
Census ACS S1701, poverty status
Labor force participation (adults 16+)50.5%
Census ACS S2301, share of working-age residents in the labor force
Population
511
Median Income
$51,827
Median Home Value
$411,100
Median Age
60.0
Poverty Rate
16.8%
Labor force participation
50.5%
Bachelor's Degree+
32.3%
Climate
Avg Temperature
58.7°F
Annual Precipitation
46.3"
Annual Snowfall
N/A
Schools
Total Schools
1
Public schools in this city
Commute Patterns
Commute source
How workers travel to work, Census ACS 2023
Drive Alone
70.5%
Carpool
14.3%
Public Transit
1.6%
Walk
1.2%
Work from Home
12.3%
Based on 244 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 Dobbins. 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 Dobbins 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 Dobbins sits in; the FEMA hazard score shown here is a statewide average of county NRI inputs, not a parcel-level reading.
How Dobbins 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 ACS B08301/B08136, U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) 2023, BEA Regional Price Parities 2024, HUD Fair Market Rents 2026, FEMA National Risk Index.