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Place dossier plate
SheetCA-SEAL-BEACH-CA · Seal Beach, CA 24,868 pop · income 65th 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 Seal Beach
Lowest/highest poles plus peers nearest Seal Beach on median household income. Full ladder: /browse and /rankings.
median HH income
Barstow · lowest
51,811
Barstow · lowest
51,811 median HH income
30.2% of the leader · rank #1
Mound Station · near
83,036
Mound Station · near
83,036 median HH income
48.4% of the leader · rank #2
Wilberforce · near
83,036
Wilberforce · near
83,036 median HH income
48.4% of the leader · rank #3
Touchet · near
83,036
Touchet · near
83,036 median HH income
48.4% of the leader · rank #4
Hammonton · near
83,044
Hammonton · near
83,044 median HH income
48.4% of the leader · rank #5
Seal Beach · this city
83,045
Seal Beach · this city
83,045 median HH income
48.4% of the leader · rank #6
Mountain House · highest
171,675
Mountain House · highest
171,675 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 Seal Beach 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: 24,868.
Agency-reported UCR totals per 100,000 population, not a neighborhood safety grade or a prediction of personal risk.
Seal Beach - the verdict
Seal Beach ranks in the 65th percentile for household income and the 13th percentile for safety nationally, out of every US city with at least 1,000 residents. Source: Census ACS + FBI UCR.
65th
percentile, household income
84th
percentile, home value
88th
percentile, median rent
13th
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: Seal Beach, CA
California's Seal Beach is a small city, with 24,868 residents per the latest Census Bureau ACS figures. Households in Seal Beach report a median income of $83,045 per year, above the median for U.S. cities on this measure, with a poverty rate of 4.0%. Seal Beach's housing stock carries a median value of $492,200, and the median resident age is 61.2 years. 51.1% of adults here have a bachelor's degree or higher; 41.7% of working-age residents are in the labor force.
Housing supply pressure shows in Census Building Permit Survey data: 8 residential units were authorized in 2024 (Construction Slowdown), down 33% from five years earlier. Seal Beach's reported crime rate runs above the national norm: per-100,000 total crime stands at 3231.0 in FBI UCR data, above the national average (a voluntary reporting program, read this as reporting activity, not 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. 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 Seal Beach'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 comparison shortlist to reported crime to housing and income to work and mobility to population change to schools and households; another city can have a different sequence or fewer supported layers because the source joins are not uniform.
For Seal Beach, city-specific coverage includes FBI reported-crime rates, local building permits, 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
Which cities make useful reference points for Seal Beach?
Within California, the closest population matches are Riverbank (24,881 residents, $90,216 income); Loma Linda (25,021 residents, $82,824 income); Mountain House (25,108 residents, $171,675 income). Outside the state, the closest population matches in this dataset are Auburn Hills, MI (24,911 residents); Westchase, FL (24,818 residents); Centerville, OH (24,815 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. The nationwide peer panel below adds a fourth FBI UCR reporting-rate lens, not personal risk.
What can the FBI record say about safety in Seal Beach?
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.
The joined FBI UCR record reports 3231.0 violent and property crimes per 100,000 residents, above the 2280.5 national reference used here. The difference is 42% higher in arithmetic terms, but agency participation is voluntary and reporting completeness varies.
How far does income reach against housing in Seal Beach?
The home-value-to-income reference is comparatively stretched: the ACS median home value is 5.9 times median household income. The ACS poverty estimate is 4.0%, 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. 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.
What does the journey to work look like in Seal Beach?
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.
Driving alone is the largest reported mode at 67.8%. A reliable mean commute time is not available for this row, so the mode shares carry the comparison.
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.
Population change
Is Seal Beach growing, shrinking, or holding steady?
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 -1,041 residents from 2020 to 2025, a -4.1% change. Separately, Census BPS recorded 8 housing units authorized in 2024. PEP and ACS are different Census series, so the trend is kept separate from the headline ACS population.
Period change
-4.1%
2025 estimate
24,075
2020 estimate
25,116
Census Population Estimates Program, 2020–2025; permit context uses Census BPS.
What does the education layer cover for Seal Beach?
The NCES join finds 1 public school within the city match. 51.1% 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 matched institution count is small, so district boundaries and schools outside the city line may matter more than the municipal count suggests. Use the number as a coverage cue, then verify attendance zones with the district before making a household decision.
Matched public schools
1
Bachelor's degree+
51.1%
Poverty estimate
4.0%
NCES Common Core of Data school locations plus Census ACS resident characteristics.
Above median income · poverty 4.0% (Below-median poverty)
Cost of Living Index (state)
110.7 (US=100)
Highest-decile cost · BEA RPP 2024, California average
D
City profile score · Seal Beach, CA
47/100
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.
Bachelor's+ share A
51.1%
Adults with a bachelor's degree or higher; ACS.
Poverty rate B
4.0%
Share of residents below the poverty line; lower scores better on this axis.
Household income C+
$83,045
Median household income vs U.S. cities (pop ≥1,000); ACS.
Violent crime F
482 /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.
Seal Beach profile (scored ACS/FBI dimensions)Read the chart values
Bachelor's+ share: 85/100 (A) · 51.1%
Poverty rate: 72/100 (B) · 4.0%
Household income: 62/100 (C+) · $83,045
Violent crime: 17/100 (F) · 482 /100k
Cost of living: 6/100 (F) · 110.7 index
Where Seal Beach sits on home value vs crime among peer cities
Seal Beach'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 - Seal Beach highlighted among 11 peers.Read the chart values
Seal Beach, CA (this city): home $492,200, crime 3,231/100k
Auburn Hills, MI : home $233,900, crime 2,279/100k
Centerville, OH : home $262,300, crime 1,046/100k
North Augusta, SC : home $220,500, crime 444/100k
Yukon, OK : home $185,800, crime 1,355/100k
Farmington, UT : home $618,400, crime 1,119/100k
Riverbank, CA : home $442,300, crime 1,689/100k
Loma Linda, CA : home $557,800, crime 1,878/100k
Maywood, CA : home $595,000, crime 1,921/100k
Selma, CA : home $288,700, crime 2,172/100k
Barstow, CA : home $222,600, crime 3,747/100k
How does Seal Beach compare to other US cities?
Seal Beach measured against every US city with 1,000+ residents, computed live from the same Census and FBI data shown throughout this page.
Household income65% higher than other cities
Home value84% pricier than other cities
Median rent88% pricier than other cities
Safety13% safer than other cities
"Safer than" reflects total crime rate from FBI UCR; the others use Census ACS estimates.
Zoom in to just California and the picture shifts: Seal Beach ranks #381 of 441 California cities by lowest crime rate, a different read than the national percentile above.
How we calculate these percentiles & ranks
Each percentile compares Seal Beach 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 Seal Beach near the bottom of California's cities
Among the 1,458 California cities PlainCities tracks with reported median gross rent data, Seal Beach ranks #1 - the 0th percentile within the state. This is a different, narrower cut than the nationwide percentiles above: it compares Seal Beach only against its own state's cities, not the full US field.
Median Household Income
#733 of 1,338
45th percentile in California
Median Gross Rent
#1 of 1,458
0th percentile in California
Median Home Value
#705 of 1,343
48th percentile in California
Poverty Rate
#940 of 1,450
34th percentile in California
Bachelor's Degree or Higher
#262 of 1,458
82nd 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
65th percentile nationally for median household income · 13th percentile for safety (lower crime rate). Source: Census ACS 2023 / FBI UCR 2023.
Seal Beach's profile vs. every US city
Income, affordability, and safety percentile
Seal Beach'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 Seal Beach's home value compares nationally
Median home value vs. every US city (population 1,000+)
$492,20016th percentilemore affordable than 16% 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
Seal Beach's home-value-to-income ratio: 5.9×
ACS median home value divided by median household income.
Band
pressured
> 5.0×
National rank
#14,047 of 15,516
More affordable than 9% of tracked cities (pop. 1,000+)
Size class
#2,951 of 3,317
Small cities (10,000–49,999)
At 5.9×, Seal Beach sits in the pressured band:
national rank #14,047 of 15,516 and #2,951 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
$83,045Seal Beach, CA median household income (Census ACS)
Show U.S. national quintile / Lorenz context Seal Beach, 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 Seal Beach, CA.
Key socioeconomic indicators
Bachelor's degree or higher (adults 25+)51.1%
Census ACS S1501, educational attainment
Poverty rate (households below FPL)4.0%
Census ACS S1701, poverty status
Labor force participation (adults 16+)41.7%
Census ACS S2301, share of working-age residents in the labor force
Population
24,868
Median Income
$83,045
Median Home Value
$492,200
Median Age
61.2
Poverty Rate
4.0%
Labor force participation
41.7%
Bachelor's Degree+
51.1%
Safety & Crime
Total Crime Rate
3231.0
per 100,000 residents
Violent Crime
481.7
per 100,000 residents
Property Crime
2749.3
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
1
Public schools in this city
Population Change
PEP vintage
Annual U.S. Census Bureau Population Estimates Program (PEP) estimates, 2020–2025
Seal Beach's Census PEP population estimates, 2020–2025.Read the chart as text
Period
Population
2020
25,116 residents
2021
24,826 residents
2022
24,610 residents
2023
24,376 residents
2024
24,294 residents
2025
24,075 residents
Housing Supply
BPS source
Census Bureau Building Permits Survey (BPS) - annual residential permits authorized
📉 Construction Slowdown
Total Permits (2024)
8
housing units authorized
Single-Family
8
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
12
12
0
$5.9M
2020
29
29
0
$14.3M
2021
18
18
0
$10.4M
2022
8
8
0
$7.3M
2023
11
11
0
$5.9M
2024
8
8
0
$4.1M
Permit volume decreased 33% from 2019 to 2024.
Commute Patterns
Commute source
How workers travel to work, Census ACS 2023
Drive Alone
67.8%
Carpool
3.9%
Public Transit
0.6%
Walk
2.6%
Work from Home
23.6%
Other
1.5%
Based on 9,138 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 Seal Beach. 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 Seal Beach 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 Seal Beach sits in; the FEMA hazard score shown here is a statewide average of county NRI inputs, not a parcel-level reading.
How Seal Beach 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.