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-HIDDEN-VALLEY-LAKE-CA · Hidden Valley Lake, CA 5,896 pop · income 53rd 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 Hidden Valley Lake
Lowest/highest poles plus peers nearest Hidden Valley Lake on median household income. Full ladder: /browse and /rankings.
median HH income
Lucerne Valley · lowest
50,330
Lucerne Valley · lowest
50,330 median HH income
25.3% of the leader · rank #1
Hahnville · near
72,361
Hahnville · near
72,361 median HH income
36.3% of the leader · rank #2
Jeromesville · near
72,361
Jeromesville · near
72,361 median HH income
36.3% of the leader · rank #3
Spring Valley · near
72,364
Spring Valley · near
72,364 median HH income
36.3% of the leader · rank #4
Hidden Valley… · this city
72,365
Hidden Valley… · this city
72,365 median HH income
36.3% of the leader · rank #5
Ravenel · near
72,365
Ravenel · near
72,365 median HH income
36.3% of the leader · rank #6
Old Tappan · highest
199,250
Old Tappan · highest
199,250 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 Hidden Valley Lake 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: 5,896.
Hidden Valley Lake ranks in the 53rd percentile for household income nationally, out of every US city with at least 1,000 residents. Source: Census ACS.
53rd
percentile, household income
77th
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: Hidden Valley Lake, CA
5,896 people live in Hidden Valley Lake, California - a small town by U.S. Census Bureau ACS 2023 estimates. Median household income here is $72,365 per year, above the median for U.S. cities on this measure, with a poverty rate of 8.3%. Typical homes in Hidden Valley Lake are valued around $394,900, and the median resident age is 50.9 years. About 24.9% of adults hold a bachelor's degree or higher, while 43.7% of working-age residents are in the labor force.
The city is served by 1 public schools according to NCES Common Core of Data.
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. A typical two-bedroom carries a HUD Fair Market Rent of $2,053 per month statewide. Statewide, average monthly utility bills in California run around $275, per EIA 2023 residential energy data. 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 Hidden Valley Lake'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 Hidden Valley Lake, city-specific coverage includes matched public-school count, commute-mode shares.
No matched row is reported here for local building permits, FBI reported-crime rates, within-city Census tract profiles, annual population history; the page leaves those layers out instead of substituting a statewide or national value.
1. Comparison shortlist
Which cities make useful reference points for Hidden Valley Lake?
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 Bonadelle Ranchos (5,879 residents, $132,292 income); Lemoore Station (5,847 residents, $65,781 income); Lucerne Valley (5,946 residents, $50,330 income). Outside the state, the closest population matches in this dataset are Old Tappan, NJ (5,896 residents); Krum, TX (5,896 residents); Metropolis, IL (5,898 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 Hidden Valley Lake?
Driving alone is the largest reported mode at 64.6%. 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.
What does the education layer cover for Hidden Valley Lake?
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 1 public school within the city match. 24.9% 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 Hidden Valley Lake?
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 5.5 times median household income. The ACS poverty estimate is 8.3%, which keeps the citywide median from describing every household.
Above median income · poverty 8.3% (Above-median poverty)
Cost of Living Index (state)
110.7 (US=100)
Highest-decile cost · BEA RPP 2024, California average
F
City profile score · Hidden Valley Lake, CA
38/100
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.
Household income C-
$72,365
Median household income vs U.S. cities (pop ≥1,000); ACS.
Bachelor's+ share D
24.9%
Adults with a bachelor's degree or higher; ACS.
Poverty rate D
8.3%
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.
Violent crime N/A
N/A
No FBI UCR violent-crime rate for this place (coverage is incomplete).
Hidden Valley Lake profile (scored ACS/FBI dimensions)Read the chart values
Household income: 52/100 (C-) · $72,365
Bachelor's+ share: 49/100 (D) · 24.9%
Poverty rate: 46/100 (D) · 8.3%
Cost of living: 6/100 (F) · 110.7 index
How does Hidden Valley Lake compare to other US cities?
Hidden Valley Lake measured against every US city with 1,000+ residents, computed live from the same Census and FBI data shown throughout this page.
Household income53% higher than other cities
Home value77% 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 Hidden Valley Lake 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 Hidden Valley Lake near the bottom of California's cities
Among the 1,458 California cities PlainCities tracks with reported median gross rent data, Hidden Valley Lake ranks #1 - the 0th percentile within the state. This is a different, narrower cut than the nationwide percentiles above: it compares Hidden Valley Lake only against its own state's cities, not the full US field.
Median Household Income
#883 of 1,338
34th percentile in California
Median Gross Rent
#1 of 1,458
0th percentile in California
Median Home Value
#873 of 1,343
35th percentile in California
Poverty Rate
#589 of 1,450
59th percentile in California
Bachelor's Degree or Higher
#751 of 1,458
48th 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
53rd percentile nationally for median household income. Source: Census ACS 2023 / FBI UCR 2023.
How Hidden Valley Lake's home value compares nationally
Median home value vs. every US city (population 1,000+)
$394,90023rd percentilemore affordable than 23% 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
Hidden Valley Lake's home-value-to-income ratio: 5.5×
ACS median home value divided by median household income.
Band
pressured
> 5.0×
National rank
#13,517 of 15,516
More affordable than 13% of tracked cities (pop. 1,000+)
Size class
#10,121 of 11,323
Micro cities (under 10,000)
At 5.5×, Hidden Valley Lake sits in the pressured band:
national rank #13,517 of 15,516 and #10,121 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
$72,365Hidden Valley Lake, CA median household income (Census ACS)
Show U.S. national quintile / Lorenz context Hidden Valley Lake, 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 Hidden Valley Lake, CA.
Key socioeconomic indicators
Bachelor's degree or higher (adults 25+)24.9%
Census ACS S1501, educational attainment
Poverty rate (households below FPL)8.3%
Census ACS S1701, poverty status
Labor force participation (adults 16+)43.7%
Census ACS S2301, share of working-age residents in the labor force
Population
5,896
Median Income
$72,365
Median Home Value
$394,900
Median Age
50.9
Poverty Rate
8.3%
Labor force participation
43.7%
Bachelor's Degree+
24.9%
Schools
Total Schools
1
Public schools in this city
Commute Patterns
Commute source
How workers travel to work, Census ACS 2023
Drive Alone
64.6%
Carpool
12.0%
Public Transit
0.0%
Walk
2.1%
Work from Home
18.4%
Other
2.9%
Based on 2,049 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 Hidden Valley Lake. 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 Hidden Valley Lake 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 Hidden Valley Lake sits in; the FEMA hazard score shown here is a statewide average of county NRI inputs, not a parcel-level reading.
How Hidden Valley Lake 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.