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Place dossier plate
SheetCA-FAIRHAVEN-CA · Fairhaven, CA 314 pop · income 61st 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 Fairhaven
Lowest/highest poles plus peers nearest Fairhaven on median household income. Full ladder: /browse and /rankings.
median HH income
Bombay Beach · lowest
25,968
Bombay Beach · lowest
25,968 median HH income
10.4% of the leader · rank #1
Pumpkin Hollow · near
79,432
Pumpkin Hollow · near
79,432 median HH income
31.8% of the leader · rank #2
Central Bridge · near
79,444
Central Bridge · near
79,444 median HH income
31.8% of the leader · rank #3
Fairhaven · this city
79,453
Fairhaven · this city
79,453 median HH income
31.8% of the leader · rank #4
Chickasaw Poi… · near
79,464
Chickasaw Poi… · near
79,464 median HH income
31.8% of the leader · rank #5
Staples · near
79,464
Staples · near
79,464 median HH income
31.8% of the leader · rank #6
Loma Mar · highest
250,001
Loma Mar · 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 Fairhaven 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: 314.
Fairhaven ranks in the 61st percentile for household income nationally, out of every US city with at least 1,000 residents. Source: Census ACS.
61st
percentile, household income
79th
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: Fairhaven, CA
Census ACS 2023 estimates count 314 residents in Fairhaven, a small town within California. Median household income here is $79,453 per year, above the median for U.S. cities on this measure, with a poverty rate of 0.0%. Typical homes in Fairhaven are valued around $421,900, and the median resident age is 54.4 years. 20.9% of adults here have a bachelor's degree or higher; 64.5% of working-age residents are in the labor force.
California carries a cost-of-living premium: BEA Regional Price Parities 2024 puts California at 110.7 on a 100-equals-national-average scale (Well Above Average). Statewide, HUD pegs Fair Market Rent for a two-bedroom unit at $2,053 monthly. EIA 2023 residential energy data puts California's average monthly utility costs around $275 (state average). 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 Fairhaven'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 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 Fairhaven, city-specific coverage includes commute-mode shares.
No matched row is reported here for matched public-school count, FBI reported-crime rates, annual population history, local building permits, within-city Census tract profiles; the page leaves those layers out instead of substituting a statewide or national value.
1. Housing and income
How far does income reach against housing in Fairhaven?
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 5.3 times median household income. The ACS poverty estimate is 0.0%, which keeps the citywide median from describing every household.
What does the journey to work look like in Fairhaven?
Driving alone is the largest reported mode at 59.3%. 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. 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.
Which cities make useful reference points for Fairhaven?
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.
Within California, the closest population matches are Bombay Beach (313 residents, $25,968 income); Mesa Vista (315 residents, $114,063 income); Mountain Ranch (310 residents, $160,837 income). Outside the state, the closest population matches in this dataset are Wilburn, AR (314 residents); Yeehaw Junction, FL (314 residents); Templeton, IA (314 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.
Above median income · poverty 0.0% (Very low poverty)
Cost of Living Index (state)
110.7 (US=100)
Highest-decile cost · BEA RPP 2024, California average
C-
City profile score · Fairhaven, CA
52/100
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.
Poverty rate A+
0.0%
Share of residents below the poverty line; lower scores better on this axis.
Household income C
$79,453
Median household income vs U.S. cities (pop ≥1,000); ACS.
Bachelor's+ share F
20.9%
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 N/A
N/A
No FBI UCR violent-crime rate for this place (coverage is incomplete).
Fairhaven profile (scored ACS/FBI dimensions)Read the chart values
Poverty rate: 100/100 (A+) · 0.0%
Household income: 59/100 (C) · $79,453
Bachelor's+ share: 37/100 (F) · 20.9%
Cost of living: 6/100 (F) · 110.7 index
How does Fairhaven compare to other US cities?
Where Fairhaven sits among all US cities (population 1,000+) on each measure, computed live from Census and FBI data.
Household income61% higher than other cities
Home value79% 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 Fairhaven 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 Fairhaven near the bottom of California's cities
Among the 1,458 California cities PlainCities tracks with reported median gross rent data, Fairhaven ranks #1 - the 0th percentile within the state. This is a different, narrower cut than the nationwide percentiles above: it compares Fairhaven only against its own state's cities, not the full US field.
Median Household Income
#784 of 1,338
41st percentile in California
Median Gross Rent
#1 of 1,458
0th percentile in California
Median Home Value
#832 of 1,343
38th percentile in California
Poverty Rate
#1,194 of 1,450
0th percentile in California
Bachelor's Degree or Higher
#874 of 1,458
40th 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
61st percentile nationally for median household income. Source: Census ACS 2023 / FBI UCR 2023.
How Fairhaven's home value compares nationally
Median home value vs. every US city (population 1,000+)
$421,90021st percentilemore affordable than 21% 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
Fairhaven's home-value-to-income ratio: 5.3×
ACS median home value divided by median household income.
Band
pressured
> 5.0×
National rank
#13,335 of 15,516
More affordable than 14% of tracked cities (pop. 1,000+)
Size class
#10,014 of 11,323
Micro cities (under 10,000)
At 5.3×, Fairhaven sits in the pressured band:
national rank #13,335 of 15,516 and #10,014 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
$79,453Fairhaven, CA median household income (Census ACS)
Show U.S. national quintile / Lorenz context Fairhaven, 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 Fairhaven, CA.
Key socioeconomic indicators
Bachelor's degree or higher (adults 25+)20.9%
Census ACS S1501, educational attainment
Poverty rate (households below FPL)0.0%
Census ACS S1701, poverty status
Labor force participation (adults 16+)64.5%
Census ACS S2301, share of working-age residents in the labor force
Population
314
Median Income
$79,453
Median Home Value
$421,900
Median Age
54.4
Poverty Rate
0.0%
Labor force participation
64.5%
Bachelor's Degree+
20.9%
Commute Patterns
Commute source
How workers travel to work, Census ACS 2023
Drive Alone
59.3%
Carpool
8.8%
Public Transit
0.5%
Walk
0.0%
Work from Home
30.9%
Based on 194 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 Fairhaven. 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 Fairhaven 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 Fairhaven sits in; the FEMA hazard score shown here is a statewide average of county NRI inputs, not a parcel-level reading.
How Fairhaven 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, 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.