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-IRVINE-CA · Irvine, CA 308,160 pop · income 90th 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 Irvine
Lowest/highest poles plus peers nearest Irvine on median household income. Full ladder: /browse and /rankings.
median HH income
Newark · lowest
48,416
Newark · lowest
48,416 median HH income
37.3% of the leader · rank #1
Irvine · this city
129,647
Irvine · this city
129,647 median HH income
100.0% of the leader · rank #2
Northwest Har… · near
129,653
Northwest Har… · near
129,653 median HH income
100.0% of the leader · rank #3
Maplewood · near
129,659
Maplewood · near
129,659 median HH income
100.0% of the leader · rank #4
Newark · near
129,688
Newark · near
129,688 median HH income
100.0% of the leader · rank #5
Shorewood Hil… · near
129,688
Shorewood Hil… · near
129,688 median HH income
100.0% of the leader · rank #6
Carlisle Barr… · highest
129,706
Carlisle Barr… · highest
129,706 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 Irvine 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: 308,160.
Agency-reported UCR totals per 100,000 population, not a neighborhood safety grade or a prediction of personal risk.
Irvine - the verdict
Measured against every US city with at least 1,000 residents, Irvine lands in the 90th percentile for household income and the 47th percentile for safety. Source: Census ACS + FBI UCR.
90th
percentile, household income
98th
percentile, home value
88th
percentile, median rent
47th
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: Irvine, CA
308,160 people live in Irvine, California - a mid-sized U.S. city by U.S. Census Bureau ACS 2023 estimates. The typical household in Irvine brings in $129,647 a year, placing it in the top quartile of U.S. cities for household income, with a poverty rate of 8.6%. Home values in Irvine run a median of $1,115,400, and the median resident age is 33.9 years. 70.6% of adults here have a bachelor's degree or higher; 62.8% of working-age residents are in the labor force.
The Census Building Permit Survey recorded 3,730 residential units authorized here in 2024 (Rapid Growth), up 49% from five years earlier. Irvine reports a comparatively low crime rate: FBI UCR figures show 1473.7 crimes per 100,000 residents, below the national average (reporting is voluntary across agencies, so treat this as reporting activity rather than a definitive danger score).
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. The average commute for Irvine workers runs 18.0 minutes, with 60.8% driving alone and 25.9% working from home. 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 Irvine'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 reported crime to comparison shortlist to housing and income to work and mobility to schools and households; another city can have a different sequence or fewer supported layers because the source joins are not uniform.
For Irvine, city-specific coverage includes matched public-school count, annual population history, local building permits, FBI reported-crime rates, 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.
1. Population change
Is Irvine 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 +10,396 residents from 2020 to 2025, a +3.4% change. Separately, Census BPS recorded 3,730 housing units authorized in 2024. PEP and ACS are different Census series, so the trend is kept separate from the headline ACS population.
What can the FBI record say about safety in Irvine?
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 1473.7 violent and property crimes per 100,000 residents, below the 2280.5 national reference used here. The difference is 35% lower in arithmetic terms, but agency participation is voluntary and reporting completeness varies.
Which cities make useful reference points for Irvine?
Within California, the closest population matches are Santa Ana (311,639 residents, $88,354 income); Riverside (316,241 residents, $88,575 income); Stockton (320,470 residents, $76,851 income). Outside the state, the closest population matches in this dataset are St. Paul, MN (307,762 residents); Newark, NJ (307,188 residents); Cincinnati, OH (309,595 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 Irvine?
The home-value-to-income reference is comparatively stretched: the ACS median home value is 8.6 times median household income. The ACS poverty estimate is 8.6%, 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.
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.
Work and mobility
What does the journey to work look like in Irvine?
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.
Driving alone is the largest reported mode at 60.8%. The reported mean trip to work is 18.0 minutes.
Public transit
0.9%
Work from home
25.9%
Drive alone
60.8%
City-level Census ACS commuting estimates covering 152,733 workers age 16+.
The NCES join finds 52 public schools within the city match. 70.6% 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
52
Bachelor's degree+
70.6%
Poverty estimate
8.6%
NCES Common Core of Data school locations plus Census ACS resident characteristics.
Top-decile income · poverty 8.6% (Above-median poverty)
Cost of Living Index (state)
110.7 (US=100)
Highest-decile cost · BEA RPP 2024, California average
C+
City profile score · Irvine, CA
62/100
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.
Bachelor's+ share A+
70.6%
Adults with a bachelor's degree or higher; ACS.
Household income A+
$129,647
Median household income vs U.S. cities (pop ≥1,000); ACS.
Violent crime B+
84 /100k
FBI UCR violent offenses per 100,000 residents; lower is stronger on this axis.
Poverty rate D
8.6%
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.
Irvine profile (scored ACS/FBI dimensions)Read the chart values
Bachelor's+ share: 98/100 (A+) · 70.6%
Household income: 90/100 (A+) · $129,647
Violent crime: 75/100 (B+) · 84 /100k
Poverty rate: 45/100 (D) · 8.6%
Cost of living: 6/100 (F) · 110.7 index
Where Irvine sits on home value vs crime among peer cities
Irvine'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 - Irvine highlighted among 12 peers.Read the chart values
Irvine, CA (this city): home $1,115,400, crime 1,474/100k
St. Paul, MN : home $280,300, crime 3,452/100k
Newark, NJ : home $337,800, crime 2,539/100k
Cincinnati, OH : home $215,300, crime 4,675/100k
Pittsburgh, PA : home $193,200, crime 2,707/100k
Corpus Christi, TX : home $197,100, crime 3,875/100k
Santa Ana, CA : home $657,800, crime 2,195/100k
Riverside, CA : home $542,100, crime 3,422/100k
Stockton, CA : home $412,900, crime 3,785/100k
Chula Vista, CA : home $697,400, crime 1,508/100k
Anaheim, CA : home $771,700, crime 2,728/100k
Santa Clarita, CA : home $721,000, crime 1,342/100k
How does Irvine compare to other US cities?
Where Irvine sits among all US cities (population 1,000+) on each measure, computed live from Census and FBI data.
Household income90% higher than other cities
Home value98% pricier than other cities
Median rent88% pricier than other cities
Safety47% 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, Irvine ranks #136 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 Irvine 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 Irvine near the bottom of California's cities
Among the 1,458 California cities PlainCities tracks with reported median gross rent data, Irvine ranks #1 - the 0th percentile within the state. This is a different, narrower cut than the nationwide percentiles above: it compares Irvine only against its own state's cities, not the full US field.
Median Household Income
#263 of 1,338
80th percentile in California
Median Gross Rent
#1 of 1,458
0th percentile in California
Median Home Value
#188 of 1,343
86th percentile in California
Poverty Rate
#577 of 1,450
60th percentile in California
Bachelor's Degree or Higher
#96 of 1,458
93rd 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
90th percentile nationally for median household income · 47th percentile for safety (lower crime rate). Source: Census ACS 2023 / FBI UCR 2023.
Irvine's profile vs. every US city
Income, affordability, and safety percentile
Irvine'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 Irvine's home value compares nationally
Median home value vs. every US city (population 1,000+)
$1,115,4002nd percentilemore affordable than 2% 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
Irvine's home-value-to-income ratio: 8.6×
ACS median home value divided by median household income.
Band
pressured
> 5.0×
National rank
#15,183 of 15,516
More affordable than 2% of tracked cities (pop. 1,000+)
Size class
#113 of 117
Large cities (200,000–999,999)
At 8.6×, Irvine sits in the pressured band:
national rank #15,183 of 15,516 and #113 of 117large cities (200,000–999,999).
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
$129,647Irvine, CA median household income (Census ACS)
Show U.S. national quintile / Lorenz context Irvine, 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 Irvine, CA.
Key socioeconomic indicators
Bachelor's degree or higher (adults 25+)70.6%
Census ACS S1501, educational attainment
Poverty rate (households below FPL)8.6%
Census ACS S1701, poverty status
Labor force participation (adults 16+)62.8%
Census ACS S2301, share of working-age residents in the labor force
Population
308,160
Median Income
$129,647
Median Home Value
$1,115,400
Median Age
33.9
Poverty Rate
8.6%
Labor force participation
62.8%
Bachelor's Degree+
70.6%
Safety & Crime
Total Crime Rate
1473.7
per 100,000 residents
Violent Crime
84.0
per 100,000 residents
Property Crime
1389.7
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.
Schools
Total Schools
52
Public schools in this city
Population Change
PEP vintage
Annual U.S. Census Bureau Population Estimates Program (PEP) estimates, 2020–2025
Irvine's Census PEP population estimates, 2020–2025.Read the chart as text
Period
Population
2020
308,368 residents
2021
303,444 residents
2022
312,627 residents
2023
314,442 residents
2024
317,865 residents
2025
318,764 residents
Housing Supply
BPS source
Census Bureau Building Permits Survey (BPS) - annual residential permits authorized
📈 Rapid Growth
Total Permits (2024)
3,730
housing units authorized
Single-Family
959
detached homes
Multifamily
2,771
apartments & condos
Supply Intensity
12.1
permits per 1,000 residents
5-Year Permit Trend (2019–2024)
Year
Total
Single-Family
Multifamily
Est. Value
2019
2,509
918
1,591
$522.3M
2020
2,040
1,036
1,004
$465.8M
2021
2,362
1,129
1,233
$605.6M
2022
1,492
594
898
$353.8M
2023
1,029
391
638
$293.9M
2024
3,730
959
2,771
$812.8M
Permit volume increased 49% from 2019 to 2024.
Commute Patterns
Commute source
How workers travel to work, Census ACS 2023
Average Commute Time
18.0 minutes
Drive Alone
60.8%
Carpool
6.0%
Public Transit
0.9%
Walk
3.7%
Work from Home
25.9%
Other
2.7%
Based on 152,733 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 Irvine. 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 Irvine 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 Irvine sits in; the FEMA hazard score shown here is a statewide average of county NRI inputs, not a parcel-level reading.
How Irvine 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, 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.