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Place dossier plate
SheetCA-HAPPY-CAMP-CA · Happy Camp, CA 580 pop · income 3rd 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 Happy Camp
Lowest/highest poles plus peers nearest Happy Camp on median household income. Full ladder: /browse and /rankings.
median HH income
Onyx · lowest
27,462
Onyx · lowest
27,462 median HH income
25.8% of the leader · rank #1
Happy Camp · this city
32,353
Happy Camp · this city
32,353 median HH income
30.4% of the leader · rank #2
Crescent City · near
32,357
Crescent City · near
32,357 median HH income
30.4% of the leader · rank #3
Burkesville · near
32,361
Burkesville · near
32,361 median HH income
30.4% of the leader · rank #4
Pachuta · near
32,361
Pachuta · near
32,361 median HH income
30.4% of the leader · rank #5
Selmont-West… · near
32,365
Selmont-West… · near
32,365 median HH income
30.4% of the leader · rank #6
Garcon Point · highest
106,463
Garcon Point · highest
106,463 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 Happy Camp 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: 580.
Measured against every US city with at least 1,000 residents, Happy Camp lands in the 3rd percentile for household income. Source: Census ACS.
3rd
percentile, household income
28th
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: Happy Camp, CA
Happy Camp is a small town in California, home to 580 residents per U.S. Census Bureau ACS 2023 estimates. The typical household in Happy Camp brings in $32,353 a year, in the lower quartile of U.S. cities for household income, with a poverty rate of 10.6%. Happy Camp's housing stock carries a median value of $153,900, and the median resident age is 57.8 years. About 22.9% of adults hold a bachelor's degree or higher, while 33.5% of working-age residents are in the labor force.
The city is served by 2 public schools according to NCES Common Core of Data.
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. HUD Fair Market Rent for a typical two-bedroom in this state is $2,053 per month. Monthly utility costs average around $275 across California, per EIA 2023 residential energy estimates. 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 Happy Camp'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 work and mobility to schools and households to housing and income; another city can have a different sequence or fewer supported layers because the source joins are not uniform.
For Happy Camp, city-specific coverage includes commute-mode shares, matched public-school count.
No matched row is reported here for annual population history, FBI reported-crime rates, within-city Census tract profiles, local building permits; the page leaves those layers out instead of substituting a statewide or national value.
1. Comparison shortlist
Which cities make useful reference points for Happy Camp?
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 College (575 residents, $64,130 income); Iron Horse (575 residents, $56,066 income); Onyx (574 residents, $27,462 income). Outside the state, the closest population matches in this dataset are Volcano, HI (580 residents); St. Helena, NC (580 residents); Nicut, OK (580 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.
What does the journey to work look like in Happy Camp?
Driving alone is the largest reported mode at 74.1%. 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.
What does the education layer cover for Happy Camp?
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.
The NCES join finds 2 public schools within the city match. 22.9% 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.
How far does income reach against housing in Happy Camp?
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 4.8 times median household income. The ACS poverty estimate is 10.6%, which keeps the citywide median from describing every household.
Lowest-decile income · poverty 10.6% (Above-median poverty)
Cost of Living Index (state)
110.7 (US=100)
Highest-decile cost · BEA RPP 2024, California average
F
City profile score · Happy Camp, CA
19/100
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 D
22.9%
Adults with a bachelor's degree or higher; ACS.
Poverty rate F
10.6%
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.
Household income F
$32,353
Median household income vs U.S. cities (pop ≥1,000); ACS.
Violent crime N/A
N/A
No FBI UCR violent-crime rate for this place (coverage is incomplete).
Happy Camp profile (scored ACS/FBI dimensions)Read the chart values
Bachelor's+ share: 43/100 (D) · 22.9%
Poverty rate: 37/100 (F) · 10.6%
Cost of living: 6/100 (F) · 110.7 index
Household income: 0/100 (F) · $32,353
How does Happy Camp compare to other US cities?
Happy Camp measured against every US city with 1,000+ residents, computed live from the same Census and FBI data shown throughout this page.
Household income3% higher than other cities
Home value28% 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 Happy Camp 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 Happy Camp near the bottom of California's cities
Among the 1,458 California cities PlainCities tracks with reported median gross rent data, Happy Camp ranks #1 - the 0th percentile within the state. This is a different, narrower cut than the nationwide percentiles above: it compares Happy Camp only against its own state's cities, not the full US field.
Median Household Income
#1,319 of 1,338
1st percentile in California
Median Gross Rent
#1 of 1,458
0th percentile in California
Median Home Value
#1,299 of 1,343
3rd percentile in California
Poverty Rate
#458 of 1,450
68th percentile in California
Bachelor's Degree or Higher
#803 of 1,458
45th 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
3rd percentile nationally for median household income. Source: Census ACS 2023 / FBI UCR 2023.
How Happy Camp's home value compares nationally
Median home value vs. every US city (population 1,000+)
$153,900Among the most affordablemore affordable than 72% 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
Happy Camp's home-value-to-income ratio: 4.8×
ACS median home value divided by median household income.
Band
moderate
3.0–5.0×
National rank
#12,481 of 15,516
More affordable than 20% of tracked cities (pop. 1,000+)
Size class
#9,502 of 11,323
Micro cities (under 10,000)
At 4.8×, Happy Camp sits in the moderate band:
national rank #12,481 of 15,516 and #9,502 of 11,323micro cities (under 10,000).
Income and home value move in the same broad scale; check same-state peers before treating the multiple as an advantage or a warning.
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
$32,353Happy Camp, CA median household income (Census ACS)
Show U.S. national quintile / Lorenz context Happy Camp, 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 Happy Camp, CA.
Key socioeconomic indicators
Bachelor's degree or higher (adults 25+)22.9%
Census ACS S1501, educational attainment
Poverty rate (households below FPL)10.6%
Census ACS S1701, poverty status
Labor force participation (adults 16+)33.5%
Census ACS S2301, share of working-age residents in the labor force
Population
580
Median Income
$32,353
Median Home Value
$153,900
Median Age
57.8
Poverty Rate
10.6%
Labor force participation
33.5%
Bachelor's Degree+
22.9%
Schools
Total Schools
2
Public schools in this city
Commute Patterns
Commute source
How workers travel to work, Census ACS 2023
Drive Alone
74.1%
Carpool
4.3%
Public Transit
1.2%
Walk
14.2%
Work from Home
3.1%
Other
3.1%
Based on 162 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 Happy Camp. 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 Happy Camp 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 Happy Camp sits in; the FEMA hazard score shown here is a statewide average of county NRI inputs, not a parcel-level reading.
How Happy Camp 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, 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.