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Place dossier plate
SheetCA-NORWALK-CA · Norwalk, CA 100,713 pop · income 77th 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 Norwalk
Lowest/highest poles plus peers nearest Norwalk on median household income. Full ladder: /browse and /rankings.
median HH income
New Bedford · lowest
56,025
New Bedford · lowest
56,025 median HH income
36.7% of the leader · rank #1
Lexington · near
98,676
Lexington · near
98,676 median HH income
64.6% of the leader · rank #2
Meridian · near
98,686
Meridian · near
98,686 median HH income
64.6% of the leader · rank #3
Lake Sarasota · near
98,689
Lake Sarasota · near
98,689 median HH income
64.6% of the leader · rank #4
Marshall · near
98,702
Marshall · near
98,702 median HH income
64.7% of the leader · rank #5
Norwalk · this city
98,709
Norwalk · this city
98,709 median HH income
64.7% of the leader · rank #6
San Mateo · highest
152,669
San Mateo · highest
152,669 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 Norwalk 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: 100,713.
Agency-reported UCR totals per 100,000 population, not a neighborhood safety grade or a prediction of personal risk.
Norwalk - the verdict
Norwalk ranks in the 77th percentile for household income and the 25th percentile for safety nationally, out of every US city with at least 1,000 residents. Source: Census ACS + FBI UCR.
77th
percentile, household income
90th
percentile, home value
88th
percentile, median rent
25th
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: Norwalk, CA
100,713 people live in Norwalk, California - a mid-sized U.S. city by U.S. Census Bureau ACS 2023 estimates. Median household income here is $98,709 per year, placing it in the top quartile of U.S. cities for household income, with a poverty rate of 7.3%. Norwalk's housing stock carries a median value of $616,600, and the median resident age is 36.5 years. About 21.3% of adults hold a bachelor's degree or higher, while 60.0% of working-age residents are in the labor force.
The Census Building Permit Survey recorded 1 residential units authorized here in 2024 (Construction Slowdown), down 83% from five years earlier. Crime here tracks close to the national norm: FBI UCR figures show 2332.5 crimes per 100,000 residents, near 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. 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. Commute times here average 27.4 minutes, with 76.8% driving alone and 6.7% working from home, per Census ACS commuting data. 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 Norwalk'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 reported crime to schools and households to housing and income to comparison shortlist; another city can have a different sequence or fewer supported layers because the source joins are not uniform.
For Norwalk, city-specific coverage includes commute-mode shares, matched public-school count, local building permits, annual population history, FBI reported-crime rates.
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 Norwalk?
Driving alone is the largest reported mode at 76.8%. The reported mean trip to work is 27.4 minutes.
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.
Census PEP estimates show the population declined by -5,304 residents from 2020 to 2025, a -5.2% change. Separately, Census BPS recorded 1 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.
What can the FBI record say about safety in Norwalk?
The joined FBI UCR record reports 2332.5 violent and property crimes per 100,000 residents, near the 2280.5 national reference used here. The difference is 2% 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.
Which cities make useful reference points for Norwalk?
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 Hesperia (100,141 residents, $68,971 income); Chico (102,032 residents, $67,929 income); Vacaville (102,085 residents, $108,580 income). Outside the state, the closest population matches in this dataset are New Bedford, MA (100,731 residents); Lynn, MA (100,905 residents); Fishers, IN (100,918 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.
Schools and households
What does the education layer cover for Norwalk?
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 21 public schools within the city match. 21.3% 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.
Poverty estimate
7.3%
Bachelor's degree+
21.3%
Matched public schools
21
NCES Common Core of Data school locations plus Census ACS resident characteristics.
How far does income reach against housing in Norwalk?
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 6.2 times median household income. The ACS poverty estimate is 7.3%, which keeps the citywide median from describing every household.
Value / income
6.2×
Home value
$616,600
Household income
$98,709
City-level Census ACS 2023 medians. The ratio divides two separate medians and is descriptive only.
Highest-decile cost · BEA RPP 2024, California average
D
City profile score · Norwalk, CA
41/100
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 B+
$98,709
Median household income vs U.S. cities (pop ≥1,000); ACS.
Poverty rate C-
7.3%
Share of residents below the poverty line; lower scores better on this axis.
Bachelor's+ share F
21.3%
Adults with a bachelor's degree or higher; ACS.
Violent crime F
374 /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.
Norwalk profile (scored ACS/FBI dimensions)Read the chart values
Household income: 76/100 (B+) · $98,709
Poverty rate: 51/100 (C-) · 7.3%
Bachelor's+ share: 38/100 (F) · 21.3%
Violent crime: 24/100 (F) · 374 /100k
Cost of living: 6/100 (F) · 110.7 index
Where Norwalk sits on home value vs crime among peer cities
Norwalk'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 - Norwalk highlighted among 13 peers.Read the chart values
Norwalk, CA (this city): home $616,600, crime 2,333/100k
New Bedford, MA : home $324,400, crime 1,712/100k
Lynn, MA : home $472,600, crime 1,745/100k
Fishers, IN : home $370,200, crime 732/100k
Carmel, IN : home $455,500, crime 879/100k
Davenport, IA : home $162,900, crime 4,122/100k
Albany, NY : home $223,000, crime 3,665/100k
Hesperia, CA : home $366,800, crime 1,946/100k
Chico, CA : home $455,300, crime 2,597/100k
Vacaville, CA : home $596,700, crime 2,033/100k
Daly City, CA : home $1,092,700, crime 2,105/100k
Vista, CA : home $674,400, crime 1,180/100k
San Mateo, CA : home $1,563,200, crime 2,127/100k
How does Norwalk compare to other US cities?
Norwalk measured against every US city with 1,000+ residents, computed live from the same Census and FBI data shown throughout this page.
Household income77% higher than other cities
Home value90% pricier than other cities
Median rent88% pricier than other cities
Safety25% safer than other cities
"Safer than" reflects total crime rate from FBI UCR; the others use Census ACS estimates.
A national percentile can hide a lot of local variation: narrowed to California alone, Norwalk ranks #290 of 441 California cities by lowest crime rate - a different, more locally useful comparison than stacking it against the entire country.
How we calculate these percentiles & ranks
Each percentile compares Norwalk 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 Norwalk near the bottom of California's cities
Among the 1,458 California cities PlainCities tracks with reported median gross rent data, Norwalk ranks #1 - the 0th percentile within the state. This is a different, narrower cut than the nationwide percentiles above: it compares Norwalk only against its own state's cities, not the full US field.
Median Household Income
#525 of 1,338
61st percentile in California
Median Gross Rent
#1 of 1,458
0th percentile in California
Median Home Value
#551 of 1,343
59th percentile in California
Poverty Rate
#659 of 1,450
54th percentile in California
Bachelor's Degree or Higher
#855 of 1,458
41st 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
77th percentile nationally for median household income · 25th percentile for safety (lower crime rate). Source: Census ACS 2023 / FBI UCR 2023.
Norwalk's profile vs. every US city
Income, affordability, and safety percentile
Norwalk'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 Norwalk's home value compares nationally
Median home value vs. every US city (population 1,000+)
$616,60010th percentilemore affordable than 10% 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
Norwalk's home-value-to-income ratio: 6.2×
ACS median home value divided by median household income.
Band
pressured
> 5.0×
National rank
#14,296 of 15,516
More affordable than 8% of tracked cities (pop. 1,000+)
Size class
#600 of 750
Mid-size cities (50,000–199,999)
At 6.2×, Norwalk sits in the pressured band:
national rank #14,296 of 15,516 and #600 of 750mid-size cities (50,000–199,999).
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
$98,709Norwalk, CA median household income (Census ACS)
Show U.S. national quintile / Lorenz context Norwalk, 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 Norwalk, CA.
Key socioeconomic indicators
Bachelor's degree or higher (adults 25+)21.3%
Census ACS S1501, educational attainment
Poverty rate (households below FPL)7.3%
Census ACS S1701, poverty status
Labor force participation (adults 16+)60.0%
Census ACS S2301, share of working-age residents in the labor force
Population
100,713
Median Income
$98,709
Median Home Value
$616,600
Median Age
36.5
Poverty Rate
7.3%
Labor force participation
60.0%
Bachelor's Degree+
21.3%
Safety & Crime
Total Crime Rate
2332.5
per 100,000 residents
Violent Crime
374.4
per 100,000 residents
Property Crime
1958.1
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
21
Public schools in this city
Population Change
PEP vintage
Annual U.S. Census Bureau Population Estimates Program (PEP) estimates, 2020–2025
Norwalk's Census PEP population estimates, 2020–2025.Read the chart as text
Period
Population
2020
102,408 residents
2021
100,438 residents
2022
99,344 residents
2023
98,611 residents
2024
98,088 residents
2025
97,104 residents
Housing Supply
BPS source
Census Bureau Building Permits Survey (BPS) - annual residential permits authorized
📉 Construction Slowdown
Total Permits (2024)
1
housing units authorized
Single-Family
1
detached homes
Multifamily
0
apartments & condos
5-Year Permit Trend (2019–2024)
Year
Total
Single-Family
Multifamily
Est. Value
2019
6
6
0
$1.5M
2020
6
6
0
$1.4M
2021
3
3
0
$0.7M
2022
58
51
7
$8.1M
2023
19
19
0
$3.1M
2024
1
1
0
$0.0M
Permit volume decreased 83% from 2019 to 2024.
Commute Patterns
Commute source
How workers travel to work, Census ACS 2023
Average Commute Time
27.4 minutes
Drive Alone
76.8%
Carpool
10.9%
Public Transit
1.8%
Walk
1.0%
Work from Home
6.7%
Other
2.8%
Based on 47,110 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 Norwalk. 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 Norwalk 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 Norwalk sits in; the FEMA hazard score shown here is a statewide average of county NRI inputs, not a parcel-level reading.
How Norwalk 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.