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-LAGUNA-BEACH-CA · Laguna Beach, CA 22,777 pop · income 92nd 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 Laguna Beach
Lowest/highest poles plus peers nearest Laguna Beach on median household income. Full ladder: /browse and /rankings.
median HH income
Cataño zona u… · lowest
24,307
Cataño zona u… · lowest
24,307 median HH income
15.4% of the leader · rank #1
Cooper Landing · near
140,500
Cooper Landing · near
140,500 median HH income
89.0% of the leader · rank #2
Crossgate · near
140,500
Crossgate · near
140,500 median HH income
89.0% of the leader · rank #3
Weston · near
140,501
Weston · near
140,501 median HH income
89.0% of the leader · rank #4
Laguna Beach · this city
140,508
Laguna Beach · this city
140,508 median HH income
89.0% of the leader · rank #5
Buccaneer Bay · near
140,517
Buccaneer Bay · near
140,517 median HH income
89.0% of the leader · rank #6
Calabasas · highest
157,938
Calabasas · highest
157,938 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 Laguna Beach 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: 22,777.
Agency-reported UCR totals per 100,000 population, not a neighborhood safety grade or a prediction of personal risk.
Laguna Beach - the verdict
Out of every US city with 1,000+ residents, Laguna Beach places in the 92nd percentile for household income and the 59th percentile for safety. Source: Census ACS + FBI UCR.
92nd
percentile, household income
99th
percentile, home value
88th
percentile, median rent
59th
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: Laguna Beach, CA
California's Laguna Beach is a small city, with 22,777 residents per the latest Census Bureau ACS figures. The typical household in Laguna Beach brings in $140,508 a year, placing it in the top quartile of U.S. cities for household income, with a poverty rate of 2.1%. Laguna Beach's published median home value is $2,000,000+, the Census ACS ceiling for owner-occupied units rather than a precise appraisal, and the median resident age is 52.3 years. Educational attainment runs 67.1% of adults with a bachelor's degree or higher. Separately, 58.8% of working-age residents are in the labor force.
In 2024, 51 residential building permits were authorized in Laguna Beach (Building Boom), up 132% from five years earlier, per Census BPS data. Laguna Beach reports a comparatively low crime rate: the FBI's Uniform Crime Reporting program logs 1116.9 total incidents per 100,000 residents here, below the national average (agency reporting is voluntary, so this measures reporting activity, not a definitive danger score). NOAA climate normals record an annual average temperature of 63.1°F with 12.7 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. Statewide, HUD pegs Fair Market Rent for a two-bedroom unit at $2,053 monthly. 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 Laguna Beach'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 reported crime to climate and hazard context to schools and households to comparison shortlist to work and mobility to population change to housing and income; another city can have a different sequence or fewer supported layers because the source joins are not uniform.
For Laguna Beach, city-specific coverage includes commute-mode shares, matched public-school count, annual population history, FBI reported-crime rates, local building permits.
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
What can the FBI record say about safety in Laguna Beach?
The joined FBI UCR record reports 1116.9 violent and property crimes per 100,000 residents, below the 2280.5 national reference used here. The difference is 51% lower in arithmetic terms, but agency participation is voluntary and reporting completeness varies.
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.
What physical conditions frame life in Laguna Beach?
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.
NOAA normals put the annual mean temperature at 63.1°F, with 12.7 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.
What does the education layer cover for Laguna Beach?
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.
The NCES join finds 4 public schools within the city match. 67.1% 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.
Which cities make useful reference points for Laguna Beach?
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.
Within California, the closest population matches are Ashland (22,784 residents, $81,604 income); Ramona (22,829 residents, $101,023 income); Calabasas (22,869 residents, $157,938 income). Outside the state, the closest population matches in this dataset are Bonney Lake, WA (22,776 residents); Cataño zona urbana, PR (22,768 residents); Rotterdam, NY (22,798 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.
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 Laguna Beach?
Driving alone is the largest reported mode at 56.7%. 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.
Drive alone
56.7%
Work from home
33.0%
Public transit
0.8%
City-level Census ACS commuting estimates covering 11,284 workers age 16+.
Is Laguna Beach growing, shrinking, or holding steady?
Census PEP estimates show the population declined by -613 residents from 2020 to 2025, a -2.7% change. Separately, Census BPS recorded 51 housing units authorized in 2024. PEP and ACS are different Census series, so the trend is kept separate from the headline ACS population.
Recent estimates point downward. A falling count can reflect migration, household size, annexation boundaries, or estimation noise, so it is a prompt to inspect the full series rather than a claim about local economic health.
2020 estimate
23,004
2025 estimate
22,391
Period change
-2.7%
Census Population Estimates Program, 2020–2025; permit context uses Census BPS.
How far does income reach against housing in Laguna Beach?
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 14.2 times median household income. The ACS poverty estimate is 2.1%, which keeps the citywide median from describing every household.
Value / income
14.2×
Home value
$2,000,000+
Household income
$140,508
City-level Census ACS 2023 medians. The ratio divides two separate medians and is descriptive only.
Highest-decile cost · BEA RPP 2024, California average
Note: Census ACS censors the tails of median household income ($250,000+ / under $2,500) and median home value ($2,000,000+ / under $10,000).
Home value is shown as $2,000,000+ for the same reason.
B-
City profile score · Laguna Beach, CA
67/100
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+
67.1%
Adults with a bachelor's degree or higher; ACS.
Household income A+
$140,508
Median household income vs U.S. cities (pop ≥1,000); ACS.
Poverty rate A
2.1%
Share of residents below the poverty line; lower scores better on this axis.
Violent crime C-
167 /100k
FBI UCR violent offenses per 100,000 residents; lower is stronger 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.
Laguna Beach profile (scored ACS/FBI dimensions)Read the chart values
Bachelor's+ share: 96/100 (A+) · 67.1%
Household income: 93/100 (A+) · $140,508
Poverty rate: 85/100 (A) · 2.1%
Violent crime: 54/100 (C-) · 167 /100k
Cost of living: 6/100 (F) · 110.7 index
Where Laguna Beach sits on home value vs crime among peer cities
Laguna Beach'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 - Laguna Beach highlighted among 26 peers.Read the chart values
Laguna Beach, CA (this city): home $2,000,000+, crime 1,117/100k
Bonney Lake, WA : home $558,900, crime 1,887/100k
Machesney Park, IL : home $162,500, crime 1,855/100k
Christiansburg, VA : home $242,900, crime 2,821/100k
Calabasas, CA : home $1,453,900, crime 1,466/100k
Corcoran, CA : home $220,500, crime 1,539/100k
New York, NY : home $751,700, crime 3,039/100k
Los Angeles, CA : home $879,500, crime 2,212/100k
Chicago, IL : home $315,200, crime 4,012/100k
Houston, TX : home $253,400, crime 5,442/100k
Phoenix, AZ : home $381,900, crime 3,125/100k
Philadelphia, PA : home $232,400, crime 5,457/100k
San Antonio, TX : home $219,700, crime 5,218/100k
San Diego, CA : home $848,500, crime 2,082/100k
Dallas, TX : home $295,300, crime 4,010/100k
San Jose, CA : home $1,187,800, crime 3,195/100k
Austin, TX : home $512,700, crime 3,709/100k
Fort Worth, TX : home $277,300, crime 3,158/100k
Columbus, OH : home $234,500, crime 3,088/100k
Indianapolis, IN : home $207,000, crime 4,214/100k
San Francisco, CA : home $1,380,500, crime 4,526/100k
Seattle, WA : home $912,100, crime 5,783/100k
Denver, CO : home $586,700, crime 5,755/100k
Oklahoma City, OK : home $215,100, crime 3,570/100k
El Paso, TX : home $171,700, crime 1,772/100k
Washington, DC : home $724,600, crime 4,514/100k
How does Laguna Beach compare to other US cities?
Here's how Laguna Beach stacks up against the full field of US cities (population 1,000+), computed live from Census and FBI data.
Household income92% higher than other cities
Home value99% pricier than other cities
Median rent88% pricier than other cities
Safety59% safer than other cities
"Safer than" reflects total crime rate from FBI UCR; the others use Census ACS estimates.
Zoom in to just California and the picture shifts: Laguna Beach ranks #80 of 441 California cities by lowest crime rate, a different read than the national percentile above.
How we calculate these percentiles & ranks
Each percentile compares Laguna Beach 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 Laguna Beach near the bottom of California's cities
Among the 1,458 California cities PlainCities tracks with reported median gross rent data, Laguna Beach ranks #1 - the 0th percentile within the state. This is a different, narrower cut than the nationwide percentiles above: it compares Laguna Beach only against its own state's cities, not the full US field.
Median Household Income
#212 of 1,338
84th percentile in California
Median Gross Rent
#1 of 1,458
0th percentile in California
Median Home Value
#1 of 1,343
95th percentile in California
Poverty Rate
#1,108 of 1,450
23rd percentile in California
Bachelor's Degree or Higher
#123 of 1,458
91st 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
92nd percentile nationally for median household income · 59th percentile for safety (lower crime rate). Source: Census ACS 2023 / FBI UCR 2023.
Laguna Beach's profile vs. every US city
Income, affordability, and safety percentile
Laguna Beach'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 Laguna Beach's home value compares nationally
Median home value vs. every US city (population 1,000+)
$2,000,000+1st percentilemore affordable than 1% 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
Laguna Beach's home-value-to-income ratio: 14.2×
ACS median home value divided by median household income.
Band
pressured
> 5.0×
National rank
#15,485 of 15,516
More affordable than 0% of tracked cities (pop. 1,000+)
Size class
#3,311 of 3,317
Small cities (10,000–49,999)
At 14.2×, Laguna Beach sits in the pressured band:
national rank #15,485 of 15,516 and #3,311 of 3,317small cities (10,000–49,999).
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
$140,508Laguna Beach, CA median household income (Census ACS)
Show U.S. national quintile / Lorenz context Laguna Beach, 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 Laguna Beach, CA.
Key socioeconomic indicators
Bachelor's degree or higher (adults 25+)67.1%
Census ACS S1501, educational attainment
Poverty rate (households below FPL)2.1%
Census ACS S1701, poverty status
Labor force participation (adults 16+)58.8%
Census ACS S2301, share of working-age residents in the labor force
Population
22,777
Median Income
$140,508
Median Home Value
$2,000,000+
Median Age
52.3
Poverty Rate
2.1%
Labor force participation
58.8%
Bachelor's Degree+
67.1%
Safety & Crime
Total Crime Rate
1116.9
per 100,000 residents
Violent Crime
167.3
per 100,000 residents
Property Crime
949.6
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
63.1°F
Annual Precipitation
12.7"
Annual Snowfall
0.0"
Schools
Total Schools
4
Public schools in this city
Population Change
PEP vintage
Annual U.S. Census Bureau Population Estimates Program (PEP) estimates, 2020–2025
Laguna Beach's Census PEP population estimates, 2020–2025.Read the chart as text
Period
Population
2020
23,004 residents
2021
22,797 residents
2022
22,599 residents
2023
22,463 residents
2024
22,480 residents
2025
22,391 residents
Housing Supply
BPS source
Census Bureau Building Permits Survey (BPS) - annual residential permits authorized
📈 Building Boom
Total Permits (2024)
51
housing units authorized
Single-Family
51
detached homes
Multifamily
0
apartments & condos
Supply Intensity
2.2
permits per 1,000 residents
5-Year Permit Trend (2019–2024)
Year
Total
Single-Family
Multifamily
Est. Value
2019
22
22
0
$14.4M
2020
51
23
28
$13.4M
2021
60
60
0
$26.9M
2022
78
78
0
$32.0M
2023
87
87
0
$29.4M
2024
51
51
0
$23.9M
Permit volume increased 132% from 2019 to 2024.
Commute Patterns
Commute source
How workers travel to work, Census ACS 2023
Drive Alone
56.7%
Carpool
4.5%
Public Transit
0.8%
Walk
3.1%
Work from Home
33.0%
Other
1.9%
Based on 11,284 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 Laguna Beach. 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 Laguna Beach 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 Laguna Beach sits in; the FEMA hazard score shown here is a statewide average of county NRI inputs, not a parcel-level reading.
How Laguna Beach 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.