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Place dossier plate
SheetCA-SAN-JUAN-CAPISTRANO-CA · San Juan Capistrano, CA 34,998 pop · income 90th 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 San Juan Capistrano
Lowest/highest poles plus peers nearest San Juan Capistrano on median household income. Full ladder: /browse and /rankings.
median HH income
Westmont · lowest
47,899
Westmont · lowest
47,899 median HH income
24.7% of the leader · rank #1
Mapleton · near
127,860
Mapleton · near
127,860 median HH income
65.9% of the leader · rank #2
Blairstown · near
127,891
Blairstown · near
127,891 median HH income
66.0% of the leader · rank #3
San Juan Capi… · this city
127,893
San Juan Capi… · this city
127,893 median HH income
66.0% of the leader · rank #4
Mont Belvieu · near
127,902
Mont Belvieu · near
127,902 median HH income
66.0% of the leader · rank #5
Bridgetown · near
127,917
Bridgetown · near
127,917 median HH income
66.0% of the leader · rank #6
Manhattan Bea… · highest
193,904
Manhattan Bea… · highest
193,904 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 San Juan Capistrano 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: 34,998.
Agency-reported UCR totals per 100,000 population, not a neighborhood safety grade or a prediction of personal risk.
San Juan Capistrano - the verdict
San Juan Capistrano ranks in the 90th percentile for household income and the 54th percentile for safety nationally, out of every US city with at least 1,000 residents. Source: Census ACS + FBI UCR.
90th
percentile, household income
97th
percentile, home value
88th
percentile, median rent
54th
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: San Juan Capistrano, CA
34,998 people live in San Juan Capistrano, California - a small city by U.S. Census Bureau ACS 2023 estimates. San Juan Capistrano households earn a median of $127,893 annually, placing it in the top quartile of U.S. cities for household income, with a poverty rate of 4.8%. Typical homes in San Juan Capistrano are valued around $929,700, and the median resident age is 44.8 years. About 42.3% of adults hold a bachelor's degree or higher, while 62.0% of working-age residents are in the labor force.
In 2024, 18 residential building permits were authorized in San Juan Capistrano (Construction Slowdown), down 82% from five years earlier, per Census BPS data. San Juan Capistrano reports a comparatively low crime rate: FBI UCR figures show 1242.1 crimes per 100,000 residents, below 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: 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. Monthly utility costs average around $275 across California, per EIA 2023 residential energy estimates. 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 San Juan Capistrano'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 work and mobility to comparison shortlist to reported crime to housing and income to population change; another city can have a different sequence or fewer supported layers because the source joins are not uniform.
For San Juan Capistrano, city-specific coverage includes commute-mode shares, FBI reported-crime rates, local building permits, annual population history, 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.
1. Schools and households
What does the education layer cover for San Juan Capistrano?
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 13 public schools within the city match. 42.3% 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.
What does the journey to work look like in San Juan Capistrano?
Driving alone is the largest reported mode at 68.2%. 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.
Which cities make useful reference points for San Juan Capistrano?
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 Oildale (34,971 residents, $49,622 income); West Hollywood (35,090 residents, $94,844 income); Orangevale (35,219 residents, $98,158 income). Outside the state, the closest population matches in this dataset are Pueblo West, CO (34,992 residents); Prairieville, LA (35,010 residents); Sahuarita, AZ (35,012 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 San Juan Capistrano?
The joined FBI UCR record reports 1242.1 violent and property crimes per 100,000 residents, below the 2280.5 national reference used here. The difference is 46% 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 San Juan Capistrano?
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 7.3 times median household income. The ACS poverty estimate is 4.8%, which keeps the citywide median from describing every household.
Value / income
7.3×
Home value
$929,700
Household income
$127,893
City-level Census ACS 2023 medians. The ratio divides two separate medians and is descriptive only.
Is San Juan Capistrano growing, shrinking, or holding steady?
Census PEP estimates show the population declined by -15 residents from 2020 to 2025, a -0.0% change. Separately, Census BPS recorded 18 housing units authorized in 2024. PEP and ACS are different Census series, so the trend is kept separate from the headline ACS population.
The recent population line is broadly flat. That makes the composition of change more important than the headline count: housing turnover, household size, and age structure can shift even when the total barely moves.
2020 estimate
35,134
2025 estimate
35,119
Period change
-0.0%
Census Population Estimates Program, 2020–2025; permit context uses Census BPS.
Highest-decile cost · BEA RPP 2024, California average
C
City profile score · San Juan Capistrano, CA
59/100
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
$127,893
Median household income vs U.S. cities (pop ≥1,000); ACS.
Bachelor's+ share B+
42.3%
Adults with a bachelor's degree or higher; ACS.
Poverty rate B-
4.8%
Share of residents below the poverty line; lower scores better on this axis.
Violent crime C
165 /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.
San Juan Capistrano profile (scored ACS/FBI dimensions)Read the chart values
Household income: 89/100 (A) · $127,893
Bachelor's+ share: 77/100 (B+) · 42.3%
Poverty rate: 67/100 (B-) · 4.8%
Violent crime: 55/100 (C) · 165 /100k
Cost of living: 6/100 (F) · 110.7 index
Where San Juan Capistrano sits on home value vs crime among peer cities
San Juan Capistrano'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 - San Juan Capistrano highlighted among 25 peers.Read the chart values
San Juan Capistrano, CA (this city): home $929,700, crime 1,242/100k
Sahuarita, AZ : home $341,800, crime 1,069/100k
West Hollywood, CA : home $969,900, crime 6,375/100k
Manhattan Beach, CA : home $2,000,000+, crime 2,683/100k
Pleasant Hill, CA : home $1,040,600, crime 4,261/100k
New York, NY : home $751,700, crime 3,039/100k
Los Angeles, CA : home $879,500, crime 2,212/100k
Chicago, IL : home $315,200, crime 4,012/100k
Houston, TX : home $253,400, crime 5,442/100k
Phoenix, AZ : home $381,900, crime 3,125/100k
Philadelphia, PA : home $232,400, crime 5,457/100k
San Antonio, TX : home $219,700, crime 5,218/100k
San Diego, CA : home $848,500, crime 2,082/100k
Dallas, TX : home $295,300, crime 4,010/100k
San Jose, CA : home $1,187,800, crime 3,195/100k
Austin, TX : home $512,700, crime 3,709/100k
Fort Worth, TX : home $277,300, crime 3,158/100k
Columbus, OH : home $234,500, crime 3,088/100k
Indianapolis, IN : home $207,000, crime 4,214/100k
San Francisco, CA : home $1,380,500, crime 4,526/100k
Seattle, WA : home $912,100, crime 5,783/100k
Denver, CO : home $586,700, crime 5,755/100k
Oklahoma City, OK : home $215,100, crime 3,570/100k
El Paso, TX : home $171,700, crime 1,772/100k
Washington, DC : home $724,600, crime 4,514/100k
How does San Juan Capistrano compare to other US cities?
San Juan Capistrano measured against every US city with 1,000+ residents, computed live from the same Census and FBI data shown throughout this page.
Household income90% higher than other cities
Home value97% pricier than other cities
Median rent88% pricier than other cities
Safety54% 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, San Juan Capistrano ranks #106 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 San Juan Capistrano 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 San Juan Capistrano near the bottom of California's cities
Among the 1,458 California cities PlainCities tracks with reported median gross rent data, San Juan Capistrano ranks #1 - the 0th percentile within the state. This is a different, narrower cut than the nationwide percentiles above: it compares San Juan Capistrano only against its own state's cities, not the full US field.
Median Household Income
#275 of 1,338
79th percentile in California
Median Gross Rent
#1 of 1,458
0th percentile in California
Median Home Value
#274 of 1,343
80th percentile in California
Poverty Rate
#862 of 1,450
40th percentile in California
Bachelor's Degree or Higher
#382 of 1,458
74th 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
90th percentile nationally for median household income · 54th percentile for safety (lower crime rate). Source: Census ACS 2023 / FBI UCR 2023.
San Juan Capistrano's profile vs. every US city
Income, affordability, and safety percentile
San Juan Capistrano'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 San Juan Capistrano's home value compares nationally
Median home value vs. every US city (population 1,000+)
$929,7003rd percentilemore affordable than 3% 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
San Juan Capistrano's home-value-to-income ratio: 7.3×
ACS median home value divided by median household income.
Band
pressured
> 5.0×
National rank
#14,801 of 15,516
More affordable than 5% of tracked cities (pop. 1,000+)
Size class
#3,154 of 3,317
Small cities (10,000–49,999)
At 7.3×, San Juan Capistrano sits in the pressured band:
national rank #14,801 of 15,516 and #3,154 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
$127,893San Juan Capistrano, CA median household income (Census ACS)
Show U.S. national quintile / Lorenz context San Juan Capistrano, 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 San Juan Capistrano, CA.
Key socioeconomic indicators
Bachelor's degree or higher (adults 25+)42.3%
Census ACS S1501, educational attainment
Poverty rate (households below FPL)4.8%
Census ACS S1701, poverty status
Labor force participation (adults 16+)62.0%
Census ACS S2301, share of working-age residents in the labor force
Population
34,998
Median Income
$127,893
Median Home Value
$929,700
Median Age
44.8
Poverty Rate
4.8%
Labor force participation
62.0%
Bachelor's Degree+
42.3%
Safety & Crime
Total Crime Rate
1242.1
per 100,000 residents
Violent Crime
164.6
per 100,000 residents
Property Crime
1077.4
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
13
Public schools in this city
Population Change
PEP vintage
Annual U.S. Census Bureau Population Estimates Program (PEP) estimates, 2020–2025
San Juan Capistrano's Census PEP population estimates, 2020–2025.Read the chart as text
Period
Population
2020
35,134 residents
2021
34,903 residents
2022
34,821 residents
2023
34,938 residents
2024
35,182 residents
2025
35,119 residents
Housing Supply
BPS source
Census Bureau Building Permits Survey (BPS) - annual residential permits authorized
📉 Construction Slowdown
Total Permits (2024)
18
housing units authorized
Single-Family
14
detached homes
Multifamily
4
apartments & condos
Supply Intensity
0.5
permits per 1,000 residents
5-Year Permit Trend (2019–2024)
Year
Total
Single-Family
Multifamily
Est. Value
2019
99
87
12
$41.3M
2020
155
80
75
$44.9M
2021
16
16
0
$5.1M
2022
173
173
0
$56.1M
2023
201
95
106
$50.3M
2024
18
14
4
$3.0M
Permit volume decreased 82% from 2019 to 2024.
Commute Patterns
Commute source
How workers travel to work, Census ACS 2023
Drive Alone
68.2%
Carpool
8.7%
Public Transit
0.8%
Walk
3.7%
Work from Home
15.8%
Other
2.8%
Based on 17,524 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 San Juan Capistrano. 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 San Juan Capistrano 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 San Juan Capistrano sits in; the FEMA hazard score shown here is a statewide average of county NRI inputs, not a parcel-level reading.
How San Juan Capistrano 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.