Side-by-side metrics and state or size-class ranks use the same Census and FBI fields shown on this profile. Results stay in the URL so you can bookmark or share them.
Place dossier plate
SheetCA-EL-CAJON-CA · El Cajon, CA 104,909 pop · income 45th 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 El Cajon
Lowest/highest poles plus peers nearest El Cajon on median household income. Full ladder: /browse and /rankings.
median HH income
Lomira · lowest
66,471
Lomira · lowest
66,471 median HH income
43.5% of the leader · rank #1
Atwood · near
66,473
Atwood · near
66,473 median HH income
43.5% of the leader · rank #2
Gramercy · near
66,475
Gramercy · near
66,475 median HH income
43.5% of the leader · rank #3
Elkhart · near
66,477
Elkhart · near
66,477 median HH income
43.5% of the leader · rank #4
El Cajon · this city
66,478
El Cajon · this city
66,478 median HH income
43.5% of the leader · rank #5
Kanawha · near
66,481
Kanawha · near
66,481 median HH income
43.5% of the leader · rank #6
San Mateo · highest
152,669
San Mateo · highest
152,669 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 El Cajon 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: 104,909.
Agency-reported UCR totals per 100,000 population, not a neighborhood safety grade or a prediction of personal risk.
El Cajon - the verdict
Measured against every US city with at least 1,000 residents, El Cajon lands in the 45th percentile for household income and the 34th percentile for safety. Source: Census ACS + FBI UCR.
45th
percentile, household income
91st
percentile, home value
88th
percentile, median rent
34th
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: El Cajon, CA
104,909 people live in El Cajon, California - a mid-sized U.S. city by U.S. Census Bureau ACS 2023 estimates. Households in El Cajon report a median income of $66,478 per year, below the median for U.S. cities on this measure, with a poverty rate of 16.1%. Home values in El Cajon run a median of $632,800, and the median resident age is 35.5 years. About 22.2% of adults hold a bachelor's degree or higher, while 56.2% of working-age residents are in the labor force.
The Census Building Permit Survey recorded 119 residential units authorized here in 2024 (Slowing), down 21% from five years earlier. Crime here tracks close to the national norm: FBI UCR figures show 1934.6 crimes per 100,000 residents, near the national average (reporting is voluntary across agencies, so treat this as reporting activity rather than a definitive danger score). The annual average temperature per NOAA climate normals runs 65.2°F with 11.6 inches of precipitation per year.
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. Monthly utility costs average around $275 across California, per EIA 2023 residential energy estimates. Natural-hazard exposure scores 88.7 out of 100 on FEMA's National Risk Index (Very High).
A decision-led reading path
Useful questions to ask of El Cajon'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 reported crime to comparison shortlist to housing and income to population change to climate and hazard context to schools and households to work and mobility; another city can have a different sequence or fewer supported layers because the source joins are not uniform.
For El Cajon, city-specific coverage includes commute-mode shares, local building permits, FBI reported-crime rates, matched public-school count, annual population history.
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. Reported crime
What can the FBI record say about safety in El Cajon?
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.
The joined FBI UCR record reports 1934.6 violent and property crimes per 100,000 residents, below the 2280.5 national reference used here. The difference is 15% lower in arithmetic terms, but agency participation is voluntary and reporting completeness varies.
Which cities make useful reference points for El Cajon?
Within California, the closest population matches are Burbank (105,165 residents, $95,816 income); Inglewood (105,575 residents, $71,029 income); Rialto (103,866 residents, $85,521 income). Outside the state, the closest population matches in this dataset are Brockton, MA (105,080 residents); San Tan Valley, AZ (105,231 residents); Renton, WA (105,279 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. The nationwide peer panel below adds a fourth FBI UCR reporting-rate lens, not personal risk.
How far does income reach against housing in El Cajon?
The home-value-to-income reference is comparatively stretched: the ACS median home value is 9.5 times median household income. The ACS poverty estimate is 16.1%, 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.
Is El Cajon growing, shrinking, or holding steady?
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.
Census PEP estimates show the population declined by -4,314 residents from 2020 to 2025, a -4.1% change. Separately, Census BPS recorded 119 housing units authorized in 2024. PEP and ACS are different Census series, so the trend is kept separate from the headline ACS population.
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.
Climate and hazard context
What physical conditions frame life in El Cajon?
NOAA normals put the annual mean temperature at 65.2°F, with 11.6 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.
Mean temperature
65.2°F
Annual precipitation
11.6 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.
The NCES join finds 43 public schools within the city match. 22.2% 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 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.
Matched public schools
43
Bachelor's degree+
22.2%
Poverty estimate
16.1%
NCES Common Core of Data school locations plus Census ACS resident characteristics.
What does the journey to work look like in El Cajon?
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 72.8%. A reliable mean commute time is not available for this row, so the mode shares carry the comparison.
Public transit
2.6%
Work from home
10.2%
Drive alone
72.8%
City-level Census ACS commuting estimates covering 44,717 workers age 16+.
Below median income · poverty 16.1% (High poverty)
Cost of Living Index (state)
110.7 (US=100)
Highest-decile cost · BEA RPP 2024, California average
F
City profile score · El Cajon, CA
27/100
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 D
$66,478
Median household income vs U.S. cities (pop ≥1,000); ACS.
Bachelor's+ share D
22.2%
Adults with a bachelor's degree or higher; ACS.
Poverty rate F
16.1%
Share of residents below the poverty line; lower scores better on this axis.
Violent crime F
434 /100k
FBI UCR violent offenses per 100,000 residents; lower is stronger 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.
El Cajon profile (scored ACS/FBI dimensions)Read the chart values
Household income: 44/100 (D) · $66,478
Bachelor's+ share: 41/100 (D) · 22.2%
Poverty rate: 21/100 (F) · 16.1%
Violent crime: 20/100 (F) · 434 /100k
Cost of living: 6/100 (F) · 110.7 index
Where El Cajon sits on home value vs crime among peer cities
El Cajon'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 - El Cajon highlighted among 11 peers.Read the chart values
El Cajon, CA (this city): home $632,800, crime 1,935/100k
Brockton, MA : home $405,500, crime 1,945/100k
Renton, WA : home $631,400, crime 3,653/100k
Spokane Valley, WA : home $344,300, crime 3,758/100k
Boulder, CO : home $982,600, crime 3,055/100k
Burbank, CA : home $1,041,100, crime 3,462/100k
Inglewood, CA : home $744,300, crime 4,289/100k
Rialto, CA : home $454,400, crime 3,037/100k
Jurupa Valley, CA : home $538,700, crime 2,703/100k
San Mateo, CA : home $1,563,200, crime 2,127/100k
Menifee, CA : home $487,200, crime 982/100k
How does El Cajon compare to other US cities?
Where El Cajon sits among all US cities (population 1,000+) on each measure, computed live from Census and FBI data.
Household income45% higher than other cities
Home value91% pricier than other cities
Median rent88% pricier than other cities
Safety34% safer than other cities
"Safer than" reflects total crime rate from FBI UCR; the others use Census ACS estimates.
National percentiles can mask local variation. Looking only at California, El Cajon ranks #226 of 441 California cities by lowest crime rate - a narrower, more locally useful cut than the national comparison above.
How we calculate these percentiles & ranks
Each percentile compares El Cajon 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 El Cajon near the bottom of California's cities
Among the 1,458 California cities PlainCities tracks with reported median gross rent data, El Cajon ranks #1 - the 0th percentile within the state. This is a different, narrower cut than the nationwide percentiles above: it compares El Cajon only against its own state's cities, not the full US field.
Median Household Income
#965 of 1,338
28th percentile in California
Median Gross Rent
#1 of 1,458
0th percentile in California
Median Home Value
#533 of 1,343
60th percentile in California
Poverty Rate
#267 of 1,450
82nd percentile in California
Bachelor's Degree or Higher
#825 of 1,458
43rd 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
45th percentile nationally for median household income · 34th percentile for safety (lower crime rate). Source: Census ACS 2023 / FBI UCR 2023.
El Cajon's profile vs. every US city
Income, affordability, and safety percentile
El Cajon'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 El Cajon's home value compares nationally
Median home value vs. every US city (population 1,000+)
$632,8009th percentilemore affordable than 9% 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
El Cajon's home-value-to-income ratio: 9.5×
ACS median home value divided by median household income.
Band
pressured
> 5.0×
National rank
#15,307 of 15,516
More affordable than 1% of tracked cities (pop. 1,000+)
Size class
#725 of 750
Mid-size cities (50,000–199,999)
At 9.5×, El Cajon sits in the pressured band:
national rank #15,307 of 15,516 and #725 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
$66,478El Cajon, CA median household income (Census ACS)
Show U.S. national quintile / Lorenz context El Cajon, 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 El Cajon, CA.
Key socioeconomic indicators
Bachelor's degree or higher (adults 25+)22.2%
Census ACS S1501, educational attainment
Poverty rate (households below FPL)16.1%
Census ACS S1701, poverty status
Labor force participation (adults 16+)56.2%
Census ACS S2301, share of working-age residents in the labor force
Population
104,909
Median Income
$66,478
Median Home Value
$632,800
Median Age
35.5
Poverty Rate
16.1%
Labor force participation
56.2%
Bachelor's Degree+
22.2%
Safety & Crime
Total Crime Rate
1934.6
per 100,000 residents
Violent Crime
434.4
per 100,000 residents
Property Crime
1500.3
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
65.2°F
Annual Precipitation
11.6"
Annual Snowfall
0.0"
Schools
Total Schools
43
Public schools in this city
Population Change
PEP vintage
Annual U.S. Census Bureau Population Estimates Program (PEP) estimates, 2020–2025
El Cajon's Census PEP population estimates, 2020–2025.Read the chart as text
Period
Population
2020
106,069 residents
2021
105,098 residents
2022
104,073 residents
2023
103,371 residents
2024
102,841 residents
2025
101,755 residents
Housing Supply
BPS source
Census Bureau Building Permits Survey (BPS) - annual residential permits authorized
🏗️ Slowing
Total Permits (2024)
119
housing units authorized
Single-Family
119
detached homes
Multifamily
0
apartments & condos
Supply Intensity
1.1
permits per 1,000 residents
5-Year Permit Trend (2019–2024)
Year
Total
Single-Family
Multifamily
Est. Value
2019
151
149
2
$35.3M
2020
52
52
0
$9.6M
2021
41
37
4
$5.6M
2022
63
63
0
$10.0M
2023
135
72
63
$26.6M
2024
119
119
0
$25.0M
Permit volume decreased 21% from 2019 to 2024.
Commute Patterns
Commute source
How workers travel to work, Census ACS 2023
Drive Alone
72.8%
Carpool
9.3%
Public Transit
2.6%
Walk
2.5%
Work from Home
10.2%
Other
2.6%
Based on 44,717 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 El Cajon. 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 El Cajon 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 El Cajon sits in; the FEMA hazard score shown here is a statewide average of county NRI inputs, not a parcel-level reading.
How El Cajon 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.