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Place dossier plate
SheetCA-EL-CENTRO-CA · El Centro, CA 44,186 pop · income 29th pct · 40 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 El Centro
Lowest/highest poles plus peers nearest El Centro on median household income. Full ladder: /browse and /rankings.
median HH income
Wilkes-Barre · lowest
47,970
Wilkes-Barre · lowest
47,970 median HH income
21.5% of the leader · rank #1
Campbellsburg · near
56,087
Campbellsburg · near
56,087 median HH income
25.1% of the leader · rank #2
Cameron · near
56,090
Cameron · near
56,090 median HH income
25.1% of the leader · rank #3
El Centro · this city
56,093
El Centro · this city
56,093 median HH income
25.1% of the leader · rank #4
Gorman · near
56,094
Gorman · near
56,094 median HH income
25.1% of the leader · rank #5
Bayside · near
56,094
Bayside · near
56,094 median HH income
25.1% of the leader · rank #6
Danville · highest
223,206
Danville · highest
223,206 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 Centro 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: 44,186.
Agency-reported UCR totals per 100,000 population, not a neighborhood safety grade or a prediction of personal risk.
El Centro - the verdict
Measured against every US city with at least 1,000 residents, El Centro lands in the 29th percentile for household income and the 43rd percentile for safety. Source: Census ACS + FBI UCR.
29th
percentile, household income
64th
percentile, home value
88th
percentile, median rent
43rd
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 Centro, CA
44,186 people live in El Centro, California - a small city by U.S. Census Bureau ACS 2023 estimates. The typical household in El Centro brings in $56,093 a year, below the median for U.S. cities on this measure, with a poverty rate of 17.2%. Typical homes in El Centro are valued around $291,100, and the median resident age is 31.6 years. 15.8% of adults here have a bachelor's degree or higher; 53.8% of working-age residents are in the labor force.
In 2024, 70 residential building permits were authorized in El Centro (Slowing), down 19% from five years earlier, per Census BPS data. El Centro reports a comparatively low crime rate: per-100,000 total crime stands at 1595.9 in FBI UCR data, below the national average (a voluntary reporting program, read this as reporting activity, not a definitive danger score). NOAA climate normals record an annual average temperature of 74.3°F with 2.5 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. EIA 2023 residential energy data puts California's average monthly utility costs around $275 (state average). Workers in El Centro report an average commute of 21.8 minutes, with 78.0% driving alone and 4.6% working from home. 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 El Centro'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 climate and hazard context to within-city variation to schools and households to reported crime to housing and income to work and mobility to comparison shortlist; another city can have a different sequence or fewer supported layers because the source joins are not uniform.
For El Centro, city-specific coverage includes within-city Census tract profiles, local building permits, commute-mode shares, FBI reported-crime rates, matched public-school count, annual population history.
All six city-specific enrichment layers used by this profile are present.
1. Population change
Is El Centro growing, shrinking, or holding steady?
The recent population line is broadly flat. That makes the composition of change more important than the headline count: housing turnover, household size, and age structure can shift even when the total barely moves.
Census PEP estimates show the population declined by -38 residents from 2020 to 2025, a -0.1% change. Separately, Census BPS recorded 70 housing units authorized in 2024. PEP and ACS are different Census series, so the trend is kept separate from the headline ACS population.
NOAA normals put the annual mean temperature at 74.3°F, with 2.5 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.
What can 40 Census tracts reveal inside El Centro?
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.
PlainCities matches 40 Census tracts to this city.
Which cities make useful reference points for El Centro?
Within California, the closest population matches are Oakley (44,311 residents, $132,067 income); Rohnert Park (44,461 residents, $96,635 income); Lompoc (43,819 residents, $70,038 income). Outside the state, the closest population matches in this dataset are North Fort Myers, FL (44,189 residents); Wilkes-Barre, PA (44,217 residents); Concord, NH (44,219 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.
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.
Schools and households
What does the education layer cover for El Centro?
The NCES join finds 24 public schools within the city match. 15.8% 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
24
Bachelor's degree+
15.8%
Poverty estimate
17.2%
NCES Common Core of Data school locations plus Census ACS resident characteristics.
What can the FBI record say about safety in El Centro?
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 1595.9 violent and property crimes per 100,000 residents, below the 2280.5 national reference used here. The difference is 30% lower in arithmetic terms, but agency participation is voluntary and reporting completeness varies.
Property rate
1267.5
Violent rate
328.4
Total reported rate
1595.9
FBI Uniform Crime Reporting, incidents per 100,000. Voluntary agency reporting; not a danger score.
How far does income reach against housing in El Centro?
The home-value-to-income reference is comparatively stretched: the ACS median home value is 5.2 times median household income. The ACS poverty estimate is 17.2%, 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
$56,093
Home value
$291,100
Value / income
5.2×
City-level Census ACS 2023 medians. The ratio divides two separate medians and is descriptive only.
What does the journey to work look like in El Centro?
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 78.0%. The reported mean trip to work is 21.8 minutes.
Public transit
0.0%
Work from home
4.6%
Drive alone
78.0%
City-level Census ACS commuting estimates covering 16,938 workers age 16+.
Below median income · poverty 17.2% (High poverty)
Cost of Living Index (state)
110.7 (US=100)
Highest-decile cost · BEA RPP 2024, California average
F
City profile score · El Centro, 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 F
$56,093
Median household income vs U.S. cities (pop ≥1,000); ACS.
Violent crime F
328 /100k
FBI UCR violent offenses per 100,000 residents; lower is stronger on this axis.
Bachelor's+ share F
15.8%
Adults with a bachelor's degree or higher; ACS.
Poverty rate F
17.2%
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.
El Centro profile (scored ACS/FBI dimensions)Read the chart values
Household income: 29/100 (F) · $56,093
Violent crime: 29/100 (F) · 328 /100k
Bachelor's+ share: 22/100 (F) · 15.8%
Poverty rate: 19/100 (F) · 17.2%
Cost of living: 6/100 (F) · 110.7 index
Where El Centro sits on home value vs crime among peer cities
El Centro'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 Centro highlighted among 11 peers.Read the chart values
El Centro, CA (this city): home $291,100, crime 1,596/100k
Wilkes-Barre, PA : home $108,000, crime 1,989/100k
Concord, NH : home $323,700, crime 1,410/100k
Salem, MA : home $497,400, crime 1,706/100k
Saratoga Springs, UT : home $567,200, crime 666/100k
Oakley, CA : home $632,800, crime 1,113/100k
Rohnert Park, CA : home $634,900, crime 1,521/100k
Lompoc, CA : home $433,800, crime 1,957/100k
Danville, CA : home $1,583,300, crime 647/100k
Palm Springs, CA : home $567,300, crime 3,817/100k
Morgan Hill, CA : home $1,127,600, crime 1,704/100k
How does El Centro compare to other US cities?
Where El Centro sits among all US cities (population 1,000+) on each measure, computed live from Census and FBI data.
Household income29% higher than other cities
Home value64% pricier than other cities
Median rent88% pricier than other cities
Safety43% 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: El Centro ranks #164 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 El Centro 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 Centro near the bottom of California's cities
Among the 1,458 California cities PlainCities tracks with reported median gross rent data, El Centro ranks #1 - the 0th percentile within the state. This is a different, narrower cut than the nationwide percentiles above: it compares El Centro only against its own state's cities, not the full US field.
Median Household Income
#1,102 of 1,338
18th percentile in California
Median Gross Rent
#1 of 1,458
0th percentile in California
Median Home Value
#1,071 of 1,343
20th percentile in California
Poverty Rate
#245 of 1,450
83rd percentile in California
Bachelor's Degree or Higher
#1,017 of 1,458
30th 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
29th percentile nationally for median household income · 43rd percentile for safety (lower crime rate). Source: Census ACS 2023 / FBI UCR 2023.
El Centro's profile vs. every US city
Income, affordability, and safety percentile
El Centro'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 Centro's home value compares nationally
Median home value vs. every US city (population 1,000+)
$291,10036th percentilemore affordable than 36% 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 Centro's home-value-to-income ratio: 5.2×
ACS median home value divided by median household income.
Band
pressured
> 5.0×
National rank
#13,168 of 15,516
More affordable than 15% of tracked cities (pop. 1,000+)
Size class
#2,704 of 3,317
Small cities (10,000–49,999)
At 5.2×, El Centro sits in the pressured band:
national rank #13,168 of 15,516 and #2,704 of 3,317small cities (10,000–49,999).
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
$56,093El Centro, CA median household income (Census ACS)
Show U.S. national quintile / Lorenz context El Centro, 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 Centro, CA.
Key socioeconomic indicators
Bachelor's degree or higher (adults 25+)15.8%
Census ACS S1501, educational attainment
Poverty rate (households below FPL)17.2%
Census ACS S1701, poverty status
Labor force participation (adults 16+)53.8%
Census ACS S2301, share of working-age residents in the labor force
Population
44,186
Median Income
$56,093
Median Home Value
$291,100
Median Age
31.6
Poverty Rate
17.2%
Labor force participation
53.8%
Bachelor's Degree+
15.8%
Safety & Crime
Total Crime Rate
1595.9
per 100,000 residents
Violent Crime
328.4
per 100,000 residents
Property Crime
1267.5
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
74.3°F
Annual Precipitation
2.5"
Annual Snowfall
0.0"
Schools
Total Schools
24
Public schools in this city
Population Change
PEP vintage
Annual U.S. Census Bureau Population Estimates Program (PEP) estimates, 2020–2025
El Centro's Census PEP population estimates, 2020–2025.Read the chart as text
Period
Population
2020
44,420 residents
2021
44,209 residents
2022
44,088 residents
2023
44,185 residents
2024
44,552 residents
2025
44,382 residents
Housing Supply
BPS source
Census Bureau Building Permits Survey (BPS) - annual residential permits authorized
🏗️ Slowing
Total Permits (2024)
70
housing units authorized
Single-Family
10
detached homes
Multifamily
60
apartments & condos
Supply Intensity
1.6
permits per 1,000 residents
5-Year Permit Trend (2019–2024)
Year
Total
Single-Family
Multifamily
Est. Value
2019
86
14
72
$8.2M
2020
118
28
90
$16.7M
2021
74
18
56
$11.8M
2022
63
3
60
$4.8M
2023
2
0
2
$0.1M
2024
70
10
60
$8.4M
Permit volume decreased 19% from 2019 to 2024.
Commute Patterns
Commute source
How workers travel to work, Census ACS 2023
Average Commute Time
21.8 minutes
Drive Alone
78.0%
Carpool
14.0%
Public Transit
0.0%
Walk
1.6%
Work from Home
4.6%
Other
1.8%
Based on 16,938 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 Centro. 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 Centro 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 Centro sits in; the FEMA hazard score shown here is a statewide average of county NRI inputs, not a parcel-level reading.
How El Centro 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.