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Place dossier plate
SheetCA-SIERRA-BROOKS-CA · Sierra Brooks, CA 538 pop · income 5th 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 Sierra Brooks
Lowest/highest poles plus peers nearest Sierra Brooks on median household income. Full ladder: /browse and /rankings.
median HH income
Jefferson · lowest
35,227
Jefferson · lowest
35,227 median HH income
21.5% of the leader · rank #1
Hoxie · near
35,234
Hoxie · near
35,234 median HH income
21.5% of the leader · rank #2
Rocky Fork Po… · near
35,234
Rocky Fork Po… · near
35,234 median HH income
21.5% of the leader · rank #3
Sierra Brooks · this city
35,236
Sierra Brooks · this city
35,236 median HH income
21.6% of the leader · rank #4
Dongola · near
35,250
Dongola · near
35,250 median HH income
21.6% of the leader · rank #5
Ballico · highest
163,500
Ballico · highest
163,500 median HH income
100.0% of the leader · rank #6
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 Sierra Brooks 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: 538.
Out of every US city with 1,000+ residents, Sierra Brooks places in the 5th percentile for household income. Source: Census ACS.
5th
percentile, household income
65th
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: Sierra Brooks, CA
Sierra Brooks is a small town in California, home to 538 residents per U.S. Census Bureau ACS 2023 estimates. Households in Sierra Brooks report a median income of $35,236 per year, in the lower quartile of U.S. cities for household income, with a poverty rate of 24.6%. Home values in Sierra Brooks run a median of $297,200, and the median resident age is 66.6 years. About 20.0% of adults hold a bachelor's degree or higher, while 20.8% of working-age residents are in the labor force.
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). Statewide, HUD pegs Fair Market Rent for a two-bedroom unit at $2,053 monthly. EIA 2023 residential energy data puts California's average monthly utility costs around $275 (state average). FEMA's National Risk Index rates natural-hazard exposure at 88.7 out of 100 (Very High).
A decision-led reading path
Useful questions to ask of Sierra Brooks'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 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 Sierra Brooks, city-specific coverage includes commute-mode shares.
No matched row is reported here for within-city Census tract profiles, annual population history, local building permits, matched public-school count, FBI reported-crime rates; the page leaves those layers out instead of substituting a statewide or national value.
Question 1
Which cities make useful reference points for Sierra Brooks?
Within California, the closest population matches are Ballico (538 residents, $163,500 income); La Vina (538 residents); Bend (537 residents). Outside the state, the closest population matches in this dataset are Cadwell, GA (538 residents); Godley, IL (538 residents); Hopewell, IL (538 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.
What does the journey to work look like in Sierra Brooks?
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 76.8%. A reliable mean commute time is not available for this row, so the mode shares carry the comparison.
How far does income reach against housing in Sierra Brooks?
The home-value-to-income reference is comparatively stretched: the ACS median home value is 8.4 times median household income. The ACS poverty estimate is 24.6%, 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.
Lowest-decile income · poverty 24.6% (Highest-decile poverty)
Cost of Living Index (state)
110.7 (US=100)
Highest-decile cost · BEA RPP 2024, California average
F
City profile score · Sierra Brooks, CA
10/100
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
20.0%
Adults with a bachelor's degree or higher; ACS.
Poverty rate F
24.6%
Share of residents below the poverty line; lower scores better 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.
Household income F
$35,236
Median household income vs U.S. cities (pop ≥1,000); ACS.
Violent crime N/A
N/A
No FBI UCR violent-crime rate for this place (coverage is incomplete).
Sierra Brooks profile (scored ACS/FBI dimensions)Read the chart values
Bachelor's+ share: 34/100 (F) · 20.0%
Poverty rate: 7/100 (F) · 24.6%
Cost of living: 6/100 (F) · 110.7 index
Household income: 0/100 (F) · $35,236
How does Sierra Brooks compare to other US cities?
Sierra Brooks measured against every US city with 1,000+ residents, computed live from the same Census and FBI data shown throughout this page.
Household income5% higher than other cities
Home value65% 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 Sierra Brooks 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 Sierra Brooks near the bottom of California's cities
Among the 1,458 California cities PlainCities tracks with reported median gross rent data, Sierra Brooks ranks #1 - the 0th percentile within the state. This is a different, narrower cut than the nationwide percentiles above: it compares Sierra Brooks only against its own state's cities, not the full US field.
Median Household Income
#1,310 of 1,338
2nd percentile in California
Median Gross Rent
#1 of 1,458
0th percentile in California
Median Home Value
#1,063 of 1,343
21st percentile in California
Poverty Rate
#137 of 1,450
91st percentile in California
Bachelor's Degree or Higher
#902 of 1,458
38th 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
5th percentile nationally for median household income. Source: Census ACS 2023 / FBI UCR 2023.
How Sierra Brooks's home value compares nationally
Median home value vs. every US city (population 1,000+)
$297,20035th percentilemore affordable than 35% 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
Sierra Brooks's home-value-to-income ratio: 8.4×
ACS median home value divided by median household income.
Band
pressured
> 5.0×
National rank
#15,144 of 15,516
More affordable than 2% of tracked cities (pop. 1,000+)
Size class
#11,102 of 11,323
Micro cities (under 10,000)
At 8.4×, Sierra Brooks sits in the pressured band:
national rank #15,144 of 15,516 and #11,102 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
$35,236Sierra Brooks, CA median household income (Census ACS)
Show U.S. national quintile / Lorenz context Sierra Brooks, 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 Sierra Brooks, CA.
Key socioeconomic indicators
Bachelor's degree or higher (adults 25+)20.0%
Census ACS S1501, educational attainment
Poverty rate (households below FPL)24.6%
Census ACS S1701, poverty status
Labor force participation (adults 16+)20.8%
Census ACS S2301, share of working-age residents in the labor force
Population
538
Median Income
$35,236
Median Home Value
$297,200
Median Age
66.6
Poverty Rate
24.6%
Labor force participation
20.8%
Bachelor's Degree+
20.0%
Commute Patterns
Commute source
How workers travel to work, Census ACS 2023
Drive Alone
76.8%
Carpool
23.2%
Public Transit
0.0%
Walk
0.0%
Work from Home
0.0%
Based on 112 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 Sierra Brooks. 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 Sierra Brooks 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 Sierra Brooks sits in; the FEMA hazard score shown here is a statewide average of county NRI inputs, not a parcel-level reading.
How Sierra Brooks 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.