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Place dossier plate
SheetCA-MANHATTAN-BEACH-CA · Manhattan Beach, CA 34,584 pop · income 98th 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 Manhattan Beach
Lowest/highest poles plus peers nearest Manhattan Beach on median household income. Full ladder: /browse and /rankings.
median HH income
Westmont · lowest
47,899
Westmont · lowest
47,899 median HH income
24.6% of the leader · rank #1
Oak Grove · near
193,526
Oak Grove · near
193,526 median HH income
99.5% of the leader · rank #2
South Kensing… · near
193,793
South Kensing… · near
193,793 median HH income
99.6% of the leader · rank #3
Manhattan Bea… · this city
193,904
Manhattan Bea… · this city
193,904 median HH income
99.7% of the leader · rank #4
Barton Creek · near
193,971
Barton Creek · near
193,971 median HH income
99.7% of the leader · rank #5
Independence · near
194,205
Independence · near
194,205 median HH income
99.8% of the leader · rank #6
Lake Norman o… · highest
194,519
Lake Norman o… · highest
194,519 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 Manhattan 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: 34,584.
Agency-reported UCR totals per 100,000 population, not a neighborhood safety grade or a prediction of personal risk.
Manhattan Beach - the verdict
Measured against every US city with at least 1,000 residents, Manhattan Beach lands in the 98th percentile for household income and the 20th percentile for safety. Source: Census ACS + FBI UCR.
98th
percentile, household income
99th
percentile, home value
88th
percentile, median rent
20th
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: Manhattan Beach, CA
California's Manhattan Beach is a small city, with 34,584 residents per the latest Census Bureau ACS figures. The typical household in Manhattan Beach brings in $193,904 a year, placing it in the top quartile of U.S. cities for household income, with a poverty rate of 2.9%. Manhattan 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 43.4 years. About 79.0% of adults hold a bachelor's degree or higher, while 59.7% of working-age residents are in the labor force.
The Census Building Permit Survey recorded 97 residential units authorized here in 2024 (Stable), down 1% from five years earlier. Crime here tracks close to the national norm: FBI UCR reporting places total crime at 2683.0 incidents per 100,000 residents, near the national average (voluntary agency reporting, reflects reporting activity, not a definitive danger score).
California carries a cost-of-living premium: BEA Regional Price Parities 2024 puts California at 110.7 on a 100-equals-national-average scale (Well Above Average). HUD Fair Market Rent for a typical two-bedroom in this state is $2,053 per month. EIA 2023 residential energy data puts California's average monthly utility costs around $275 (state average). 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 Manhattan 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 work and mobility to population change to comparison shortlist to schools and households to reported crime to housing and income; another city can have a different sequence or fewer supported layers because the source joins are not uniform.
For Manhattan Beach, city-specific coverage includes FBI reported-crime rates, matched public-school count, local building permits, 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
What does the journey to work look like in Manhattan Beach?
Driving alone is the largest reported mode at 55.0%. 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.
Is Manhattan Beach growing, shrinking, or holding steady?
Census PEP estimates show the population declined by -2,226 residents from 2020 to 2025, a -6.3% change. Separately, Census BPS recorded 97 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.
Which cities make useful reference points for Manhattan 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 Pleasant Hill (34,335 residents, $144,513 income); Westmont (34,291 residents, $47,899 income); Oildale (34,971 residents, $49,622 income). Outside the state, the closest population matches in this dataset are Canton, GA (34,587 residents); Prosper, TX (34,567 residents); Manitowoc, WI (34,553 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 education layer cover for Manhattan 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 7 public schools within the city match. 79.0% 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.
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.
Reported crime
What can the FBI record say about safety in Manhattan Beach?
The joined FBI UCR record reports 2683.0 violent and property crimes per 100,000 residents, above the 2280.5 national reference used here. The difference is 18% higher 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.
Total reported rate
2683.0
Violent rate
149.7
Property rate
2533.3
FBI Uniform Crime Reporting, incidents per 100,000. Voluntary agency reporting; not a danger score.
How far does income reach against housing in Manhattan 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 10.3 times median household income. The ACS poverty estimate is 2.9%, which keeps the citywide median from describing every household.
Value / income
10.3×
Home value
$2,000,000+
Household income
$193,904
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 · Manhattan Beach, CA
69/100
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 A+
$193,904
Median household income vs U.S. cities (pop ≥1,000); ACS.
Bachelor's+ share A+
79.0%
Adults with a bachelor's degree or higher; ACS.
Poverty rate B+
2.9%
Share of residents below the poverty line; lower scores better on this axis.
Violent crime C
150 /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.
Manhattan Beach profile (scored ACS/FBI dimensions)Read the chart values
Household income: 100/100 (A+) · $193,904
Bachelor's+ share: 100/100 (A+) · 79.0%
Poverty rate: 79/100 (B+) · 2.9%
Violent crime: 58/100 (C) · 150 /100k
Cost of living: 6/100 (F) · 110.7 index
Where Manhattan Beach sits on home value vs crime among peer cities
Manhattan 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 - Manhattan Beach highlighted among 11 peers.Read the chart values
Manhattan Beach, CA (this city): home $2,000,000+, crime 2,683/100k
Canton, GA : home $369,700, crime 930/100k
Prosper, TX : home $694,600, crime 1,053/100k
Manitowoc, WI : home $143,900, crime 1,178/100k
Del Rio, TX : home $143,200, crime 1,454/100k
Northbrook, IL : home $644,100, crime 1,226/100k
University City, MO : home $285,100, crime 1,873/100k
Pleasant Hill, CA : home $1,040,600, crime 4,261/100k
San Juan Capistrano, CA : home $929,700, crime 1,242/100k
San Dimas, CA : home $756,200, crime 2,565/100k
West Hollywood, CA : home $969,900, crime 6,375/100k
How does Manhattan Beach compare to other US cities?
Here's how Manhattan Beach stacks up against the full field of US cities (population 1,000+), computed live from Census and FBI data.
Household income98% higher than other cities
Home value99% pricier than other cities
Median rent88% pricier than other cities
Safety20% 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, Manhattan Beach ranks #335 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 Manhattan 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 Manhattan Beach near the bottom of California's cities
Among the 1,458 California cities PlainCities tracks with reported median gross rent data, Manhattan Beach ranks #1 - the 0th percentile within the state. This is a different, narrower cut than the nationwide percentiles above: it compares Manhattan Beach only against its own state's cities, not the full US field.
Median Household Income
#82 of 1,338
94th 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
#1,042 of 1,450
28th percentile in California
Bachelor's Degree or Higher
#39 of 1,458
97th 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
98th percentile nationally for median household income · 20th percentile for safety (lower crime rate). Source: Census ACS 2023 / FBI UCR 2023.
Manhattan Beach's profile vs. every US city
Income, affordability, and safety percentile
Manhattan 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 Manhattan 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
ACS median home value divided by median household income.
Band
pressured
> 5.0×
National rank
#15,380 of 15,516
More affordable than 1% of tracked cities (pop. 1,000+)
Size class
#3,290 of 3,317
Small cities (10,000–49,999)
At 10.3×, Manhattan Beach sits in the pressured band:
national rank #15,380 of 15,516 and #3,290 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
$193,904Manhattan Beach, CA median household income (Census ACS)
Show U.S. national quintile / Lorenz context Manhattan 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 Manhattan Beach, CA.
Key socioeconomic indicators
Bachelor's degree or higher (adults 25+)79.0%
Census ACS S1501, educational attainment
Poverty rate (households below FPL)2.9%
Census ACS S1701, poverty status
Labor force participation (adults 16+)59.7%
Census ACS S2301, share of working-age residents in the labor force
Population
34,584
Median Income
$193,904
Median Home Value
$2,000,000+
Median Age
43.4
Poverty Rate
2.9%
Labor force participation
59.7%
Bachelor's Degree+
79.0%
Safety & Crime
Total Crime Rate
2683.0
per 100,000 residents
Violent Crime
149.7
per 100,000 residents
Property Crime
2533.3
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
7
Public schools in this city
Population Change
PEP vintage
Annual U.S. Census Bureau Population Estimates Program (PEP) estimates, 2020–2025
Manhattan Beach's Census PEP population estimates, 2020–2025.Read the chart as text
Period
Population
2020
35,348 residents
2021
34,558 residents
2022
33,967 residents
2023
33,604 residents
2024
33,416 residents
2025
33,122 residents
Housing Supply
BPS source
Census Bureau Building Permits Survey (BPS) - annual residential permits authorized
🏗️ Stable
Total Permits (2024)
97
housing units authorized
Single-Family
97
detached homes
Multifamily
0
apartments & condos
Supply Intensity
2.8
permits per 1,000 residents
5-Year Permit Trend (2019–2024)
Year
Total
Single-Family
Multifamily
Est. Value
2019
98
96
2
$68.3M
2020
61
58
3
$36.4M
2021
71
67
4
$19.1M
2022
102
95
7
$28.0M
2023
85
83
2
$24.6M
2024
97
97
0
$29.4M
Permit volume decreased 1% from 2019 to 2024.
Commute Patterns
Commute source
How workers travel to work, Census ACS 2023
Drive Alone
55.0%
Carpool
4.2%
Public Transit
0.6%
Walk
4.4%
Work from Home
34.1%
Other
1.7%
Based on 15,618 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 Manhattan 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 Manhattan 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 Manhattan Beach sits in; the FEMA hazard score shown here is a statewide average of county NRI inputs, not a parcel-level reading.
How Manhattan 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, 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.