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Place dossier plate
SheetCA-RIDGECREST-HEIGHTS-CA · Ridgecrest Heights, CA 355 pop · income 27th 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 Ridgecrest Heights
Lowest/highest poles plus peers nearest Ridgecrest Heights on median household income. Full ladder: /browse and /rankings.
median HH income
McHenry · lowest
39,583
McHenry · lowest
39,583 median HH income
25.9% of the leader · rank #1
Ridgecrest He… · this city
55,000
Ridgecrest He… · this city
55,000 median HH income
35.9% of the leader · rank #2
Gurley · near
55,000
Gurley · near
55,000 median HH income
35.9% of the leader · rank #3
Brevig Mission · near
55,000
Brevig Mission · near
55,000 median HH income
35.9% of the leader · rank #4
Nikolaevsk · near
55,000
Nikolaevsk · near
55,000 median HH income
35.9% of the leader · rank #5
Perrytown · near
55,000
Perrytown · near
55,000 median HH income
35.9% of the leader · rank #6
Del Dios · highest
153,083
Del Dios · highest
153,083 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 Ridgecrest Heights 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: 355.
Out of every US city with 1,000+ residents, Ridgecrest Heights places in the 27th percentile for household income. Source: Census ACS.
27th
percentile, household income
11th
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: Ridgecrest Heights, CA
Ridgecrest Heights is a small town in California, home to 355 residents per U.S. Census Bureau ACS 2023 estimates. Median household income here is $55,000 per year, below the median for U.S. cities on this measure, with a poverty rate of 0.0%. Typical homes in Ridgecrest Heights are valued around $104,400, and the median resident age is 53.3 years. Educational attainment runs 6.8% of adults with a bachelor's degree or higher. Separately, 40.0% of working-age residents are in the labor force.
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. The average commute for Ridgecrest Heights workers runs 15.1 minutes, with 100.0% driving alone and 0.0% working from home. 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 Ridgecrest Heights'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 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 Ridgecrest Heights, city-specific coverage includes commute-mode shares.
No matched row is reported here for within-city Census tract profiles, matched public-school count, FBI reported-crime rates, local building permits, annual population history; the page leaves those layers out instead of substituting a statewide or national value.
1. Work and mobility
What does the journey to work look like in Ridgecrest Heights?
Mode share answers how workers usually travel; it does not measure congestion, reliability, distance to a particular job, or the quality of transit service. The profile is strongly car-oriented, so a relocation comparison should put trip distance, vehicle access, and household fuel costs ahead of a citywide commute average. The same-state peer links offer a more relevant benchmark than a national label.
Driving alone is the largest reported mode at 100.0%. The reported mean trip to work is 15.1 minutes.
How far does income reach against housing in Ridgecrest Heights?
The home-value-to-income reference is relatively compact: the ACS median home value is 1.9 times median household income. The ACS poverty estimate is 0.0%, 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. The ratio makes housing the clearest place to start this profile, but a low multiple can coexist with slow demand, older stock, or household-level hardship. Compare the home-value distribution and same-state peer table before treating it as an advantage.
Which cities make useful reference points for Ridgecrest Heights?
Within California, the closest population matches are Shaver Lake (355 residents, $131,875 income); Del Dios (357 residents, $153,083 income); Terminous (357 residents, $72,838 income). Outside the state, the closest population matches in this dataset are Eldorado Springs, CO (355 residents); Twelve Mile, IN (355 residents); Menlo, IA (355 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.
Below median income · poverty 0.0% (Very low poverty)
Cost of Living Index (state)
110.7 (US=100)
Highest-decile cost · BEA RPP 2024, California average
F
City profile score · Ridgecrest Heights, CA
35/100
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.
Poverty rate A+
0.0%
Share of residents below the poverty line; lower scores better on this axis.
Household income F
$55,000
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.
Bachelor's+ share F
6.8%
Adults with a bachelor's degree or higher; ACS.
Violent crime N/A
N/A
No FBI UCR violent-crime rate for this place (coverage is incomplete).
Ridgecrest Heights profile (scored ACS/FBI dimensions)Read the chart values
Poverty rate: 100/100 (A+) · 0.0%
Household income: 27/100 (F) · $55,000
Cost of living: 6/100 (F) · 110.7 index
Bachelor's+ share: 0/100 (F) · 6.8%
How does Ridgecrest Heights compare to other US cities?
Here's how Ridgecrest Heights stacks up against the full field of US cities (population 1,000+), computed live from Census and FBI data.
Household income27% higher than other cities
Home value11% 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 Ridgecrest Heights 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 Ridgecrest Heights near the bottom of California's cities
Among the 1,458 California cities PlainCities tracks with reported median gross rent data, Ridgecrest Heights ranks #1 - the 0th percentile within the state. This is a different, narrower cut than the nationwide percentiles above: it compares Ridgecrest Heights only against its own state's cities, not the full US field.
Median Household Income
#1,124 of 1,338
16th percentile in California
Median Gross Rent
#1 of 1,458
0th percentile in California
Median Home Value
#1,327 of 1,343
1st percentile in California
Poverty Rate
#1,194 of 1,450
0th percentile in California
Bachelor's Degree or Higher
#1,293 of 1,458
11th 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
27th percentile nationally for median household income. Source: Census ACS 2023 / FBI UCR 2023.
How Ridgecrest Heights's home value compares nationally
Median home value vs. every US city (population 1,000+)
$104,400Among the most affordablemore affordable than 89% 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
affordable
< 3.0×
National rank
#1,300 of 15,516
More affordable than 92% of tracked cities (pop. 1,000+)
Size class
#1,254 of 11,323
Micro cities (under 10,000)
At 1.9×, Ridgecrest Heights sits in the affordable band:
national rank #1,300 of 15,516 and #1,254 of 11,323micro cities (under 10,000).
The multiple is comparatively compact among tracked cities, but a low ratio can still coexist with slow demand or household-level hardship.
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
$55,000Ridgecrest Heights, CA median household income (Census ACS)
Show U.S. national quintile / Lorenz context Ridgecrest Heights, 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 Ridgecrest Heights, CA.
Key socioeconomic indicators
Bachelor's degree or higher (adults 25+)6.8%
Census ACS S1501, educational attainment
Poverty rate (households below FPL)0.0%
Census ACS S1701, poverty status
Labor force participation (adults 16+)40.0%
Census ACS S2301, share of working-age residents in the labor force
Population
355
Median Income
$55,000
Median Home Value
$104,400
Median Age
53.3
Poverty Rate
0.0%
Labor force participation
40.0%
Bachelor's Degree+
6.8%
Commute Patterns
Commute source
How workers travel to work, Census ACS 2023
Average Commute Time
15.1 minutes
Drive Alone
100.0%
Carpool
0.0%
Public Transit
0.0%
Walk
0.0%
Work from Home
0.0%
Based on 102 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 Ridgecrest Heights. 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 Ridgecrest Heights 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 Ridgecrest Heights sits in; the FEMA hazard score shown here is a statewide average of county NRI inputs, not a parcel-level reading.
How Ridgecrest Heights 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, 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.