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Place dossier plate
SheetCA-PORTOLA-CA · Portola, CA 2,462 pop · income 10th 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 Portola
Lowest/highest poles plus peers nearest Portola on median household income. Full ladder: /browse and /rankings.
median HH income
Cabool · lowest
30,781
Cabool · lowest
30,781 median HH income
21.3% of the leader · rank #1
Portola · this city
42,385
Portola · this city
42,385 median HH income
29.3% of the leader · rank #2
Borup · near
42,386
Borup · near
42,386 median HH income
29.3% of the leader · rank #3
Sheldon · near
42,386
Sheldon · near
42,386 median HH income
29.3% of the leader · rank #4
Marlinton · near
42,386
Marlinton · near
42,386 median HH income
29.3% of the leader · rank #5
Lake Delton · near
42,386
Lake Delton · near
42,386 median HH income
29.3% of the leader · rank #6
Myersville · highest
144,840
Myersville · highest
144,840 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 Portola 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: 2,462.
Nationally, Portola sits in the 10th percentile for household income among US cities with a population of 1,000 or more. Source: Census ACS.
10th
percentile, household income
51st
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: Portola, CA
Portola is a small town in California, home to 2,462 residents per U.S. Census Bureau ACS 2023 estimates. Median household income here is $42,385 per year, in the lower quartile of U.S. cities for household income, with a poverty rate of 26.1%. Home values in Portola run a median of $232,100, and the median resident age is 36.2 years. About 12.4% of adults hold a bachelor's degree or higher, while 42.3% of working-age residents are in the labor force.
The Census Building Permit Survey recorded 0 residential units authorized here in 2024 (No Permits). NOAA puts Portola's yearly average temperature at 46.7°F with 23.3 inches of precipitation per year and 37.8 inches of snowfall.
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. A typical two-bedroom carries a HUD Fair Market Rent of $2,053 per month statewide. 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 Portola'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 schools and households to comparison shortlist to population change to climate and hazard context to work and mobility to housing and income; another city can have a different sequence or fewer supported layers because the source joins are not uniform.
For Portola, city-specific coverage includes matched public-school count, commute-mode shares, annual population history, local building permits.
No matched row is reported here for within-city Census tract profiles, FBI reported-crime rates; the page leaves those layers out instead of substituting a statewide or national value.
Question 1
What does the education layer cover for Portola?
The NCES join finds 3 public schools within the city match. 12.4% 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.
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.
Which cities make useful reference points for Portola?
Within California, the closest population matches are Janesville (2,447 residents, $70,938 income); Pajaro (2,480 residents, $82,083 income); Rose Hills (2,485 residents, $123,220 income). Outside the state, the closest population matches in this dataset are Jonestown, TX (2,462 residents); Chilhowie, VA (2,462 residents); Woodlawn CDP (Carroll County), VA (2,461 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.
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.
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.
Census PEP estimates show the population declined by -60 residents from 2020 to 2025, a -2.9% change. Separately, Census BPS recorded 0 housing units authorized in 2024. PEP and ACS are different Census series, so the trend is kept separate from the headline ACS population.
NOAA normals put the annual mean temperature at 46.7°F, with 23.3 inches of precipitation and 37.8 inches of annual snowfall. 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.
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.
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 Portola?
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.
Driving alone is the largest reported mode at 70.1%. A reliable mean commute time is not available for this row, so the mode shares carry the comparison.
Public transit
0.0%
Work from home
0.0%
Drive alone
70.1%
City-level Census ACS commuting estimates covering 766 workers age 16+.
How far does income reach against housing in Portola?
The home-value-to-income reference is comparatively stretched: the ACS median home value is 5.5 times median household income. The ACS poverty estimate is 26.1%, which keeps the citywide median from describing every household.
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.
Household income
$42,385
Home value
$232,100
Value / income
5.5×
City-level Census ACS 2023 medians. The ratio divides two separate medians and is descriptive only.
Lowest-decile income · poverty 26.1% (Highest-decile poverty)
Cost of Living Index (state)
110.7 (US=100)
Highest-decile cost · BEA RPP 2024, California average
F
City profile score · Portola, CA
8/100
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
12.4%
Adults with a bachelor's degree or higher; ACS.
Household income F
$42,385
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
26.1%
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).
Portola profile (scored ACS/FBI dimensions)Read the chart values
Bachelor's+ share: 13/100 (F) · 12.4%
Household income: 10/100 (F) · $42,385
Cost of living: 6/100 (F) · 110.7 index
Poverty rate: 5/100 (F) · 26.1%
How does Portola compare to other US cities?
Here's how Portola stacks up against the full field of US cities (population 1,000+), computed live from Census and FBI data.
Household income10% higher than other cities
Home value51% 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 Portola 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 Portola near the bottom of California's cities
Among the 1,458 California cities PlainCities tracks with reported median gross rent data, Portola ranks #1 - the 0th percentile within the state. This is a different, narrower cut than the nationwide percentiles above: it compares Portola only against its own state's cities, not the full US field.
Median Household Income
#1,262 of 1,338
6th percentile in California
Median Gross Rent
#1 of 1,458
0th percentile in California
Median Home Value
#1,203 of 1,343
10th percentile in California
Poverty Rate
#114 of 1,450
92nd percentile in California
Bachelor's Degree or Higher
#1,135 of 1,458
22nd 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
10th percentile nationally for median household income. Source: Census ACS 2023 / FBI UCR 2023.
How Portola's home value compares nationally
Median home value vs. every US city (population 1,000+)
$232,10049th percentilemore affordable than 49% 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
Portola's home-value-to-income ratio: 5.5×
ACS median home value divided by median household income.
Band
pressured
> 5.0×
National rank
#13,540 of 15,516
More affordable than 13% of tracked cities (pop. 1,000+)
Size class
#10,133 of 11,323
Micro cities (under 10,000)
At 5.5×, Portola sits in the pressured band:
national rank #13,540 of 15,516 and #10,133 of 11,323micro cities (under 10,000).
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
$42,385Portola, CA median household income (Census ACS)
Show U.S. national quintile / Lorenz context Portola, 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 Portola, CA.
Key socioeconomic indicators
Bachelor's degree or higher (adults 25+)12.4%
Census ACS S1501, educational attainment
Poverty rate (households below FPL)26.1%
Census ACS S1701, poverty status
Labor force participation (adults 16+)42.3%
Census ACS S2301, share of working-age residents in the labor force
Population
2,462
Median Income
$42,385
Median Home Value
$232,100
Median Age
36.2
Poverty Rate
26.1%
Labor force participation
42.3%
Bachelor's Degree+
12.4%
Climate
Avg Temperature
46.7°F
Annual Precipitation
23.3"
Annual Snowfall
37.8"
Schools
Total Schools
3
Public schools in this city
Population Change
PEP vintage
Annual U.S. Census Bureau Population Estimates Program (PEP) estimates, 2020–2025
Portola's Census PEP population estimates, 2020–2025.Read the chart as text
Period
Population
2020
2,084 residents
2021
2,140 residents
2022
2,145 residents
2023
2,102 residents
2024
2,062 residents
2025
2,024 residents
Housing Supply
BPS source
Census Bureau Building Permits Survey (BPS) - annual residential permits authorized
Total Permits (2024)
0
housing units authorized
Single-Family
0
detached homes
Multifamily
0
apartments & condos
5-Year Permit Trend (2019–2024)
Year
Total
Single-Family
Multifamily
Est. Value
2019
0
0
0
-
2020
2
2
0
$0.6M
2021
0
0
0
-
2022
1
1
0
$0.3M
2023
0
0
0
-
2024
0
0
0
-
Commute Patterns
Commute source
How workers travel to work, Census ACS 2023
Drive Alone
70.1%
Carpool
8.6%
Public Transit
0.0%
Walk
17.0%
Work from Home
0.0%
Other
4.3%
Based on 766 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 Portola. 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 Portola 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 Portola sits in; the FEMA hazard score shown here is a statewide average of county NRI inputs, not a parcel-level reading.
How Portola 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, 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.