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Place dossier plate
SheetCA-HESPERIA-CA · Hesperia, CA 100,141 pop · income 48th 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 Hesperia
Lowest/highest poles plus peers nearest Hesperia on median household income. Full ladder: /browse and /rankings.
median HH income
New Bedford · lowest
56,025
New Bedford · lowest
56,025 median HH income
36.7% of the leader · rank #1
Alamo · near
68,967
Alamo · near
68,967 median HH income
45.2% of the leader · rank #2
Hesperia · this city
68,971
Hesperia · this city
68,971 median HH income
45.2% of the leader · rank #3
Whiting · near
68,977
Whiting · near
68,977 median HH income
45.2% of the leader · rank #4
New Haven · near
68,977
New Haven · near
68,977 median HH income
45.2% of the leader · rank #5
New Auburn · near
68,977
New Auburn · near
68,977 median HH income
45.2% 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 Hesperia 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: 100,141.
Agency-reported UCR totals per 100,000 population, not a neighborhood safety grade or a prediction of personal risk.
Hesperia - the verdict
Nationally, Hesperia sits in the 48th percentile for household income and the 34th percentile for safety among US cities with a population of 1,000 or more. Source: Census ACS + FBI UCR.
48th
percentile, household income
74th
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: Hesperia, CA
100,141 people live in Hesperia, California - a mid-sized U.S. city by U.S. Census Bureau ACS 2023 estimates. Median household income here is $68,971 per year, below the median for U.S. cities on this measure, with a poverty rate of 14.3%. Hesperia's housing stock carries a median value of $366,800, and the median resident age is 32.9 years. About 12.3% of adults hold a bachelor's degree or higher, while 52.4% of working-age residents are in the labor force.
Housing supply pressure shows in Census Building Permit Survey data: 320 residential units were authorized in 2024 (Slowing), down 18% from five years earlier. Crime here tracks close to the national norm: FBI UCR figures show 1945.5 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). NOAA puts Hesperia's yearly average temperature at 63.6°F with 7.8 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. The average commute for Hesperia workers runs 38.0 minutes, with 77.5% driving alone and 8.7% working from home. 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 Hesperia'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 housing and income to reported crime to schools and households to climate and hazard context to work and mobility to population change; another city can have a different sequence or fewer supported layers because the source joins are not uniform.
For Hesperia, city-specific coverage includes local building permits, matched public-school count, FBI reported-crime rates, annual population history, commute-mode shares.
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.
Question 1
Which cities make useful reference points for Hesperia?
Within California, the closest population matches are Norwalk (100,713 residents, $98,709 income); Vista (98,646 residents, $91,854 income); Chico (102,032 residents, $67,929 income). Outside the state, the closest population matches in this dataset are Albany, NY (100,081 residents); Buckeye, AZ (99,844 residents); Carmel, IN (100,501 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 Hesperia?
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 14.3%, 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.
What can the FBI record say about safety in Hesperia?
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 1945.5 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.
The NCES join finds 30 public schools within the city match. 12.3% 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 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.
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 Hesperia?
NOAA normals put the annual mean temperature at 63.6°F, with 7.8 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
63.6°F
Annual precipitation
7.8 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.
What does the journey to work look like in Hesperia?
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 77.5%. The reported mean trip to work is 38.0 minutes.
Public transit
0.2%
Work from home
8.7%
Drive alone
77.5%
City-level Census ACS commuting estimates covering 37,689 workers age 16+.
Is Hesperia growing, shrinking, or holding steady?
Recent estimates point upward. Growth can increase housing demand and service needs, but the permit record must move in the same direction before calling it a supply response; the two series measure different things.
Census PEP estimates show the population grew by +2,669 residents from 2020 to 2025, a +2.7% change. Separately, Census BPS recorded 320 housing units authorized in 2024. PEP and ACS are different Census series, so the trend is kept separate from the headline ACS population.
Period change
+2.7%
2025 estimate
102,605
2020 estimate
99,936
Census Population Estimates Program, 2020–2025; permit context uses Census BPS.
Below median income · poverty 14.3% (High poverty)
Cost of Living Index (state)
110.7 (US=100)
Highest-decile cost · BEA RPP 2024, California average
F
City profile score · Hesperia, CA
23/100
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
$68,971
Median household income vs U.S. cities (pop ≥1,000); ACS.
Poverty rate F
14.3%
Share of residents below the poverty line; lower scores better on this axis.
Violent crime F
520 /100k
FBI UCR violent offenses per 100,000 residents; lower is stronger on this axis.
Bachelor's+ share F
12.3%
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.
Hesperia profile (scored ACS/FBI dimensions)Read the chart values
Household income: 48/100 (D) · $68,971
Poverty rate: 24/100 (F) · 14.3%
Violent crime: 15/100 (F) · 520 /100k
Bachelor's+ share: 13/100 (F) · 12.3%
Cost of living: 6/100 (F) · 110.7 index
Where Hesperia sits on home value vs crime among peer cities
Hesperia'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 - Hesperia highlighted among 13 peers.Read the chart values
Hesperia, CA (this city): home $366,800, crime 1,946/100k
Albany, NY : home $223,000, crime 3,665/100k
Buckeye, AZ : home $384,100, crime 938/100k
Carmel, IN : home $455,500, crime 879/100k
New Bedford, MA : home $324,400, crime 1,712/100k
San Angelo, TX : home $179,300, crime 2,704/100k
Lynn, MA : home $472,600, crime 1,745/100k
Norwalk, CA : home $616,600, crime 2,333/100k
Vista, CA : home $674,400, crime 1,180/100k
Chico, CA : home $455,300, crime 2,597/100k
Vacaville, CA : home $596,700, crime 2,033/100k
Daly City, CA : home $1,092,700, crime 2,105/100k
San Mateo, CA : home $1,563,200, crime 2,127/100k
How does Hesperia compare to other US cities?
Hesperia measured against every US city with 1,000+ residents, computed live from the same Census and FBI data shown throughout this page.
Household income48% higher than other cities
Home value74% 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, Hesperia ranks #229 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 Hesperia 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 Hesperia near the bottom of California's cities
Among the 1,458 California cities PlainCities tracks with reported median gross rent data, Hesperia ranks #1 - the 0th percentile within the state. This is a different, narrower cut than the nationwide percentiles above: it compares Hesperia only against its own state's cities, not the full US field.
Median Household Income
#933 of 1,338
30th percentile in California
Median Gross Rent
#1 of 1,458
0th percentile in California
Median Home Value
#918 of 1,343
32nd percentile in California
Poverty Rate
#311 of 1,450
78th percentile in California
Bachelor's Degree or Higher
#1,140 of 1,458
21st 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
48th percentile nationally for median household income · 34th percentile for safety (lower crime rate). Source: Census ACS 2023 / FBI UCR 2023.
Hesperia's profile vs. every US city
Income, affordability, and safety percentile
Hesperia'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 Hesperia's home value compares nationally
Median home value vs. every US city (population 1,000+)
$366,80026th percentilemore affordable than 26% 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
Hesperia's home-value-to-income ratio: 5.3×
ACS median home value divided by median household income.
Band
pressured
> 5.0×
National rank
#13,346 of 15,516
More affordable than 14% of tracked cities (pop. 1,000+)
Size class
#492 of 750
Mid-size cities (50,000–199,999)
At 5.3×, Hesperia sits in the pressured band:
national rank #13,346 of 15,516 and #492 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
$68,971Hesperia, CA median household income (Census ACS)
Show U.S. national quintile / Lorenz context Hesperia, 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 Hesperia, CA.
Key socioeconomic indicators
Bachelor's degree or higher (adults 25+)12.3%
Census ACS S1501, educational attainment
Poverty rate (households below FPL)14.3%
Census ACS S1701, poverty status
Labor force participation (adults 16+)52.4%
Census ACS S2301, share of working-age residents in the labor force
Population
100,141
Median Income
$68,971
Median Home Value
$366,800
Median Age
32.9
Poverty Rate
14.3%
Labor force participation
52.4%
Bachelor's Degree+
12.3%
Safety & Crime
Total Crime Rate
1945.5
per 100,000 residents
Violent Crime
519.6
per 100,000 residents
Property Crime
1425.9
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
63.6°F
Annual Precipitation
7.8"
Annual Snowfall
N/A
Schools
Total Schools
30
Public schools in this city
Population Change
PEP vintage
Annual U.S. Census Bureau Population Estimates Program (PEP) estimates, 2020–2025
Hesperia's Census PEP population estimates, 2020–2025.Read the chart as text
Period
Population
2020
99,936 residents
2021
100,417 residents
2022
100,680 residents
2023
101,291 residents
2024
102,166 residents
2025
102,605 residents
Housing Supply
BPS source
Census Bureau Building Permits Survey (BPS) - annual residential permits authorized
🏗️ Slowing
Total Permits (2024)
320
housing units authorized
Single-Family
320
detached homes
Multifamily
0
apartments & condos
Supply Intensity
3.2
permits per 1,000 residents
5-Year Permit Trend (2019–2024)
Year
Total
Single-Family
Multifamily
Est. Value
2019
391
200
191
$59.9M
2020
396
172
224
$61.7M
2021
253
245
8
$38.6M
2022
372
276
96
$68.8M
2023
175
167
8
$36.5M
2024
320
320
0
$69.9M
Permit volume decreased 18% from 2019 to 2024.
Commute Patterns
Commute source
How workers travel to work, Census ACS 2023
Average Commute Time
38.0 minutes
Drive Alone
77.5%
Carpool
10.8%
Public Transit
0.2%
Walk
1.1%
Work from Home
8.7%
Other
1.7%
Based on 37,689 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 Hesperia. 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 Hesperia 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 Hesperia sits in; the FEMA hazard score shown here is a statewide average of county NRI inputs, not a parcel-level reading.
How Hesperia 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.