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Place dossier plate
SheetCA-LUCERNE-VALLEY-CA · Lucerne Valley, CA 5,946 pop · income 20th 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 Lucerne Valley
Lowest/highest poles plus peers nearest Lucerne Valley on median household income. Full ladder: /browse and /rankings.
median HH income
St. Johnsbury · lowest
49,033
St. Johnsbury · lowest
49,033 median HH income
20.4% of the leader · rank #1
McDade · near
50,329
McDade · near
50,329 median HH income
21.0% of the leader · rank #2
Lucerne Valley · this city
50,330
Lucerne Valley · this city
50,330 median HH income
21.0% of the leader · rank #3
Camillus · near
50,333
Camillus · near
50,333 median HH income
21.0% of the leader · rank #4
Big Stone City · near
50,333
Big Stone City · near
50,333 median HH income
21.0% of the leader · rank #5
Bowmans Cross… · near
50,333
Bowmans Cross… · near
50,333 median HH income
21.0% of the leader · rank #6
Fulton · highest
240,219
Fulton · highest
240,219 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 Lucerne Valley 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: 5,946.
Out of every US city with 1,000+ residents, Lucerne Valley places in the 20th percentile for household income. Source: Census ACS.
20th
percentile, household income
53rd
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: Lucerne Valley, CA
Lucerne Valley is a small town in California, home to 5,946 residents per U.S. Census Bureau ACS 2023 estimates. Lucerne Valley households earn a median of $50,330 annually, in the lower quartile of U.S. cities for household income, with a poverty rate of 29.7%. Lucerne Valley's housing stock carries a median value of $240,000, and the median resident age is 40.8 years. Educational attainment runs 15.7% of adults with a bachelor's degree or higher. Separately, 32.1% of working-age residents are in the labor force.
The city is served by 6 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. Statewide, HUD pegs Fair Market Rent for a two-bedroom unit at $2,053 monthly. Statewide, average monthly utility bills in California run around $275, per EIA 2023 residential energy data. 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 Lucerne Valley'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 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 Lucerne Valley, city-specific coverage includes commute-mode shares, matched public-school count.
No matched row is reported here for within-city Census tract profiles, local building permits, FBI reported-crime rates, 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 Lucerne Valley?
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 Eucalyptus Hills (5,976 residents, $137,580 income); Oak View (5,984 residents, $109,856 income); Hidden Valley Lake (5,896 residents, $72,365 income). Outside the state, the closest population matches in this dataset are Fulton, MD (5,946 residents); Montrose-Ghent, OH (5,946 residents); Doney Park, AZ (5,947 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.
How far does income reach against housing in Lucerne Valley?
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 29.7%, which keeps the citywide median from describing every household.
What does the journey to work look like in Lucerne Valley?
Driving alone is the largest reported mode at 76.9%. 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 Lucerne Valley?
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 6 public schools within the city match. 15.7% 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.
Low income · poverty 29.7% (Highest-decile poverty)
Cost of Living Index (state)
110.7 (US=100)
Highest-decile cost · BEA RPP 2024, California average
F
City profile score · Lucerne Valley, CA
12/100
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 F
15.7%
Adults with a bachelor's degree or higher; ACS.
Household income F
$50,330
Median household income vs U.S. cities (pop ≥1,000); 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.
Poverty rate F
29.7%
Share of residents below the poverty line; lower scores better on this axis.
Violent crime N/A
N/A
No FBI UCR violent-crime rate for this place (coverage is incomplete).
Lucerne Valley profile (scored ACS/FBI dimensions)Read the chart values
Bachelor's+ share: 22/100 (F) · 15.7%
Household income: 21/100 (F) · $50,330
Cost of living: 6/100 (F) · 110.7 index
Poverty rate: 0/100 (F) · 29.7%
How does Lucerne Valley compare to other US cities?
Where Lucerne Valley sits among all US cities (population 1,000+) on each measure, computed live from Census and FBI data.
Household income20% higher than other cities
Home value53% 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 Lucerne Valley 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 Lucerne Valley near the bottom of California's cities
Among the 1,458 California cities PlainCities tracks with reported median gross rent data, Lucerne Valley ranks #1 - the 0th percentile within the state. This is a different, narrower cut than the nationwide percentiles above: it compares Lucerne Valley only against its own state's cities, not the full US field.
Median Household Income
#1,182 of 1,338
12th percentile in California
Median Gross Rent
#1 of 1,458
0th percentile in California
Median Home Value
#1,181 of 1,343
12th percentile in California
Poverty Rate
#86 of 1,450
94th percentile in California
Bachelor's Degree or Higher
#1,023 of 1,458
30th 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
20th percentile nationally for median household income. Source: Census ACS 2023 / FBI UCR 2023.
How Lucerne Valley's home value compares nationally
Median home value vs. every US city (population 1,000+)
$240,00047th percentilemore affordable than 47% 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
Lucerne Valley'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
#12,494 of 15,516
More affordable than 19% of tracked cities (pop. 1,000+)
Size class
#9,509 of 11,323
Micro cities (under 10,000)
At 4.8×, Lucerne Valley sits in the moderate band:
national rank #12,494 of 15,516 and #9,509 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
$50,330Lucerne Valley, CA median household income (Census ACS)
Show U.S. national quintile / Lorenz context Lucerne Valley, 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 Lucerne Valley, CA.
Key socioeconomic indicators
Bachelor's degree or higher (adults 25+)15.7%
Census ACS S1501, educational attainment
Poverty rate (households below FPL)29.7%
Census ACS S1701, poverty status
Labor force participation (adults 16+)32.1%
Census ACS S2301, share of working-age residents in the labor force
Population
5,946
Median Income
$50,330
Median Home Value
$240,000
Median Age
40.8
Poverty Rate
29.7%
Labor force participation
32.1%
Bachelor's Degree+
15.7%
Schools
Total Schools
6
Public schools in this city
Commute Patterns
Commute source
How workers travel to work, Census ACS 2023
Drive Alone
76.9%
Carpool
17.7%
Public Transit
0.9%
Walk
0.6%
Work from Home
3.9%
Based on 1,451 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 Lucerne Valley. 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 Lucerne Valley 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 Lucerne Valley sits in; the FEMA hazard score shown here is a statewide average of county NRI inputs, not a parcel-level reading.
How Lucerne Valley 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.