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Place dossier plate
SheetCA-PACIFICA-CA · Pacifica, CA 37,527 pop · income 95th 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 Pacifica
Lowest/highest poles plus peers nearest Pacifica on median household income. Full ladder: /browse and /rankings.
median HH income
New Albany · lowest
54,152
New Albany · lowest
54,152 median HH income
34.5% of the leader · rank #1
Southport · near
156,750
Southport · near
156,750 median HH income
99.9% of the leader · rank #2
Hoback · near
156,766
Hoback · near
156,766 median HH income
99.9% of the leader · rank #3
Alpine · near
156,786
Alpine · near
156,786 median HH income
99.9% of the leader · rank #4
Pacifica · this city
156,819
Pacifica · this city
156,819 median HH income
99.9% of the leader · rank #5
Mount Vernon · near
156,875
Mount Vernon · near
156,875 median HH income
100.0% of the leader · rank #6
Artondale · highest
156,908
Artondale · highest
156,908 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 Pacifica 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: 37,527.
Agency-reported UCR totals per 100,000 population, not a neighborhood safety grade or a prediction of personal risk.
Pacifica - the verdict
Pacifica ranks in the 95th percentile for household income and the 48th percentile for safety nationally, out of every US city with at least 1,000 residents. Source: Census ACS + FBI UCR.
95th
percentile, household income
98th
percentile, home value
88th
percentile, median rent
48th
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: Pacifica, CA
California's Pacifica is a small city, with 37,527 residents per the latest Census Bureau ACS figures. The typical household in Pacifica brings in $156,819 a year, placing it in the top quartile of U.S. cities for household income, with a poverty rate of 4.2%. Pacifica's housing stock carries a median value of $1,211,700, and the median resident age is 44.3 years. Educational attainment runs 48.5% of adults with a bachelor's degree or higher. Separately, 63.6% of working-age residents are in the labor force.
Housing supply pressure shows in Census Building Permit Survey data: 10 residential units were authorized in 2024 (Building Boom), up 233% from five years earlier. Pacifica reports a comparatively low crime rate: the FBI's Uniform Crime Reporting program logs 1451.4 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). The annual average temperature per NOAA climate normals runs 57.4°F with 31.9 inches of precipitation per year.
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). 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. Commute times here average 22.3 minutes, with 63.8% driving alone and 21.2% working from home, per Census ACS commuting 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 Pacifica'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 schools and households to comparison shortlist to reported crime to housing and income to work and mobility to climate and hazard context; another city can have a different sequence or fewer supported layers because the source joins are not uniform.
For Pacifica, city-specific coverage includes local building permits, FBI reported-crime rates, annual population history, commute-mode shares, matched public-school count.
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
Is Pacifica growing, shrinking, or holding steady?
Census PEP estimates show the population declined by -1,651 residents from 2020 to 2025, a -4.3% change. Separately, Census BPS recorded 10 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.
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 9 public schools within the city match. 48.5% 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 Pacifica?
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 Monrovia (37,553 residents, $97,083 income); La Puente (37,404 residents, $84,811 income); Foothill Farms (37,332 residents, $68,042 income). Outside the state, the closest population matches in this dataset are South Miami Heights, FL (37,525 residents); Carpentersville, IL (37,544 residents); Pleasant Grove, UT (37,544 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 can the FBI record say about safety in Pacifica?
The joined FBI UCR record reports 1451.4 violent and property crimes per 100,000 residents, below the 2280.5 national reference used here. The difference is 36% 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.
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.
Housing and income
How far does income reach against housing in Pacifica?
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 7.7 times median household income. The ACS poverty estimate is 4.2%, which keeps the citywide median from describing every household.
Value / income
7.7×
Home value
$1,211,700
Household income
$156,819
City-level Census ACS 2023 medians. The ratio divides two separate medians and is descriptive only.
What does the journey to work look like in Pacifica?
Driving alone is the largest reported mode at 63.8%. The reported mean trip to work is 22.3 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. 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
63.8%
Work from home
21.2%
Public transit
5.1%
City-level Census ACS commuting estimates covering 19,521 workers age 16+.
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 57.4°F, with 31.9 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.
FEMA risk index (state avg)
88.7
Annual precipitation
31.9 in
Mean temperature
57.4°F
NOAA Climate Normals and FEMA National Risk Index (state-averaged on PlainCities). Hazard context is not address-level.
Top-decile income · poverty 4.2% (Below-median poverty)
Cost of Living Index (state)
110.7 (US=100)
Highest-decile cost · BEA RPP 2024, California average
C+
City profile score · Pacifica, CA
64/100
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+
$156,819
Median household income vs U.S. cities (pop ≥1,000); ACS.
Bachelor's+ share A-
48.5%
Adults with a bachelor's degree or higher; ACS.
Poverty rate B
4.2%
Share of residents below the poverty line; lower scores better on this axis.
Violent crime C+
145 /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.
Pacifica profile (scored ACS/FBI dimensions)Read the chart values
Household income: 98/100 (A+) · $156,819
Bachelor's+ share: 83/100 (A-) · 48.5%
Poverty rate: 71/100 (B) · 4.2%
Violent crime: 60/100 (C+) · 145 /100k
Cost of living: 6/100 (F) · 110.7 index
Where Pacifica sits on home value vs crime among peer cities
Pacifica'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 - Pacifica highlighted among 11 peers.Read the chart values
Pacifica, CA (this city): home $1,211,700, crime 1,451/100k
Carpentersville, IL : home $225,200, crime 891/100k
Pleasant Grove, UT : home $454,300, crime 913/100k
Bartlesville, OK : home $154,900, crime 2,492/100k
Oregon City, OR : home $531,400, crime 1,556/100k
New Albany, IN : home $169,600, crime 2,687/100k
Monrovia, CA : home $891,700, crime 2,612/100k
La Puente, CA : home $593,200, crime 1,700/100k
Montclair, CA : home $549,600, crime 4,290/100k
Adelanto, CA : home $318,300, crime 1,560/100k
Wildomar, CA : home $511,900, crime 1,123/100k
How does Pacifica compare to other US cities?
Here's how Pacifica stacks up against the full field of US cities (population 1,000+), computed live from Census and FBI data.
Household income95% higher than other cities
Home value98% pricier than other cities
Median rent88% pricier than other cities
Safety48% 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, Pacifica ranks #132 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 Pacifica 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 Pacifica near the bottom of California's cities
Among the 1,458 California cities PlainCities tracks with reported median gross rent data, Pacifica ranks #1 - the 0th percentile within the state. This is a different, narrower cut than the nationwide percentiles above: it compares Pacifica only against its own state's cities, not the full US field.
Median Household Income
#154 of 1,338
88th percentile in California
Median Gross Rent
#1 of 1,458
0th percentile in California
Median Home Value
#148 of 1,343
89th percentile in California
Poverty Rate
#928 of 1,450
36th percentile in California
Bachelor's Degree or Higher
#291 of 1,458
80th 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
95th percentile nationally for median household income · 48th percentile for safety (lower crime rate). Source: Census ACS 2023 / FBI UCR 2023.
Pacifica's profile vs. every US city
Income, affordability, and safety percentile
Pacifica'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 Pacifica's home value compares nationally
Median home value vs. every US city (population 1,000+)
$1,211,7002nd 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
Pacifica's home-value-to-income ratio: 7.7×
ACS median home value divided by median household income.
Band
pressured
> 5.0×
National rank
#14,943 of 15,516
More affordable than 4% of tracked cities (pop. 1,000+)
Size class
#3,183 of 3,317
Small cities (10,000–49,999)
At 7.7×, Pacifica sits in the pressured band:
national rank #14,943 of 15,516 and #3,183 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
$156,819Pacifica, CA median household income (Census ACS)
Show U.S. national quintile / Lorenz context Pacifica, 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 Pacifica, CA.
Key socioeconomic indicators
Bachelor's degree or higher (adults 25+)48.5%
Census ACS S1501, educational attainment
Poverty rate (households below FPL)4.2%
Census ACS S1701, poverty status
Labor force participation (adults 16+)63.6%
Census ACS S2301, share of working-age residents in the labor force
Population
37,527
Median Income
$156,819
Median Home Value
$1,211,700
Median Age
44.3
Poverty Rate
4.2%
Labor force participation
63.6%
Bachelor's Degree+
48.5%
Safety & Crime
Total Crime Rate
1451.4
per 100,000 residents
Violent Crime
145.4
per 100,000 residents
Property Crime
1306.0
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
57.4°F
Annual Precipitation
31.9"
Annual Snowfall
0.0"
Schools
Total Schools
9
Public schools in this city
Population Change
PEP vintage
Annual U.S. Census Bureau Population Estimates Program (PEP) estimates, 2020–2025
Pacifica's Census PEP population estimates, 2020–2025.Read the chart as text
Period
Population
2020
38,541 residents
2021
37,177 residents
2022
36,721 residents
2023
36,742 residents
2024
36,917 residents
2025
36,890 residents
Housing Supply
BPS source
Census Bureau Building Permits Survey (BPS) - annual residential permits authorized
📈 Building Boom
Total Permits (2024)
10
housing units authorized
Single-Family
10
detached homes
Multifamily
0
apartments & condos
Supply Intensity
0.3
permits per 1,000 residents
5-Year Permit Trend (2019–2024)
Year
Total
Single-Family
Multifamily
Est. Value
2019
3
3
0
$4.8M
2020
1
1
0
$0.6M
2021
42
34
8
$11.7M
2022
17
12
5
$4.1M
2023
11
11
0
$2.5M
2024
10
10
0
$4.7M
Permit volume increased 233% from 2019 to 2024.
Commute Patterns
Commute source
How workers travel to work, Census ACS 2023
Average Commute Time
22.3 minutes
Drive Alone
63.8%
Carpool
7.0%
Public Transit
5.1%
Walk
1.0%
Work from Home
21.2%
Other
1.9%
Based on 19,521 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 Pacifica. 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 Pacifica 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 Pacifica sits in; the FEMA hazard score shown here is a statewide average of county NRI inputs, not a parcel-level reading.
How Pacifica 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.