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Place dossier plate
SheetCA-SUNNYVALE-CA · Sunnyvale, CA 153,455 pop · income 97th 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 Sunnyvale
Lowest/highest poles plus peers nearest Sunnyvale on median household income. Full ladder: /browse and /rankings.
median HH income
Springfield · lowest
51,339
Springfield · lowest
51,339 median HH income
28.2% of the leader · rank #1
Woodbury · near
181,667
Woodbury · near
181,667 median HH income
99.8% of the leader · rank #2
Union Hill-No… · near
181,820
Union Hill-No… · near
181,820 median HH income
99.9% of the leader · rank #3
Sunnyvale · this city
181,862
Sunnyvale · this city
181,862 median HH income
99.9% of the leader · rank #4
Orono · near
181,875
Orono · near
181,875 median HH income
99.9% of the leader · rank #5
Village of Gr… · near
182,000
Village of Gr… · near
182,000 median HH income
100.0% of the leader · rank #6
Briarcliffe A… · highest
182,083
Briarcliffe A… · highest
182,083 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, and FBI crime rate
Out-of-state nearest neighbors for Sunnyvale 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: 153,455.
Agency-reported UCR totals per 100,000 population, not a neighborhood safety grade or a prediction of personal risk.
Sunnyvale - the verdict
Sunnyvale ranks in the 97th percentile for household income and the 29th percentile for safety nationally, out of every US city with at least 1,000 residents. Source: Census ACS + FBI UCR.
97th
percentile, household income
99th
percentile, home value
88th
percentile, median rent
29th
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: Sunnyvale, CA
153,455 people live in Sunnyvale, California - a mid-sized U.S. city by U.S. Census Bureau ACS 2023 estimates. Sunnyvale households earn a median of $181,862 annually, placing it in the top quartile of U.S. cities for household income, with a poverty rate of 3.4%. Home values in Sunnyvale run a median of $1,816,600, and the median resident age is 35.1 years. About 69.2% of adults hold a bachelor's degree or higher, while 69.3% of working-age residents are in the labor force.
Housing supply pressure shows in Census Building Permit Survey data: 209 residential units were authorized in 2024 (Construction Slowdown), down 69% from five years earlier. Crime here tracks close to the national norm: FBI UCR figures show 2153.8 crimes per 100,000 residents, near 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: 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). Commute times here average 16.9 minutes, with 55.4% driving alone and 27.0% working from home, per Census ACS commuting data. 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 Sunnyvale'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 reported crime to population change to work and mobility to schools and households 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 Sunnyvale, city-specific coverage includes local building permits, FBI reported-crime rates, matched public-school count, commute-mode shares, annual population history.
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. Reported crime
What can the FBI record say about safety in Sunnyvale?
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 2153.8 violent and property crimes per 100,000 residents, near the 2280.5 national reference used here. The difference is 6% lower in arithmetic terms, but agency participation is voluntary and reporting completeness varies.
Is Sunnyvale growing, shrinking, or holding steady?
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.
Census PEP estimates show the population grew by +1,337 residents from 2020 to 2025, a +0.9% change. Separately, Census BPS recorded 209 housing units authorized in 2024. PEP and ACS are different Census series, so the trend is kept separate from the headline ACS population.
What does the journey to work look like in Sunnyvale?
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 55.4%. The reported mean trip to work is 16.9 minutes.
Which cities make useful reference points for Sunnyvale?
Within California, the closest population matches are Roseville (152,438 residents, $117,354 income); Escondido (149,913 residents, $84,477 income); Pomona (148,391 residents, $78,869 income). Outside the state, the closest population matches in this dataset are Hollywood, FL (152,935 residents); Springfield, MA (154,751 residents); Kansas City, KS (154,776 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.
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.
Schools and households
What does the education layer cover for Sunnyvale?
The NCES join finds 20 public schools within the city match. 69.2% 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.
Matched public schools
20
Bachelor's degree+
69.2%
Poverty estimate
3.4%
NCES Common Core of Data school locations plus Census ACS resident characteristics.
How far does income reach against housing in Sunnyvale?
The home-value-to-income reference is comparatively stretched: the ACS median home value is 10.0 times median household income. The ACS poverty estimate is 3.4%, 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
$181,862
Home value
$1,816,600
Value / income
10.0×
City-level Census ACS 2023 medians. The ratio divides two separate medians and is descriptive only.
Highest-decile cost · BEA RPP 2024, California average
C+
City profile score · Sunnyvale, CA
64/100
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+
$181,862
Median household income vs U.S. cities (pop ≥1,000); ACS.
Bachelor's+ share A+
69.2%
Adults with a bachelor's degree or higher; ACS.
Poverty rate B+
3.4%
Share of residents below the poverty line; lower scores better on this axis.
Violent crime D
245 /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.
Sunnyvale profile (scored ACS/FBI dimensions)Read the chart values
Household income: 100/100 (A+) · $181,862
Bachelor's+ share: 97/100 (A+) · 69.2%
Poverty rate: 76/100 (B+) · 3.4%
Violent crime: 41/100 (D) · 245 /100k
Cost of living: 6/100 (F) · 110.7 index
Where Sunnyvale sits on home value vs crime among peer cities
Sunnyvale'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 - Sunnyvale highlighted among 12 peers.Read the chart values
Sunnyvale, CA (this city): home $1,816,600, crime 2,154/100k
Springfield, MA : home $222,700, crime 3,727/100k
Kansas City, KS : home $147,100, crime 4,654/100k
Charleston, SC : home $469,100, crime 2,379/100k
Bellevue, WA : home $1,203,100, crime 3,478/100k
Killeen, TX : home $196,000, crime 1,910/100k
Roseville, CA : home $630,600, crime 1,640/100k
Escondido, CA : home $663,500, crime 1,919/100k
Pomona, CA : home $569,600, crime 3,469/100k
Corona, CA : home $656,500, crime 1,973/100k
Hayward, CA : home $820,700, crime 4,134/100k
Salinas, CA : home $610,900, crime 2,200/100k
How does Sunnyvale compare to other US cities?
Sunnyvale measured against every US city with 1,000+ residents, computed live from the same Census and FBI data shown throughout this page.
Household income97% higher than other cities
Home value99% pricier than other cities
Median rent88% pricier than other cities
Safety29% 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: Sunnyvale ranks #266 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 Sunnyvale 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 Sunnyvale near the bottom of California's cities
Among the 1,458 California cities PlainCities tracks with reported median gross rent data, Sunnyvale ranks #1 - the 0th percentile within the state. This is a different, narrower cut than the nationwide percentiles above: it compares Sunnyvale only against its own state's cities, not the full US field.
Median Household Income
#99 of 1,338
93rd percentile in California
Median Gross Rent
#1 of 1,458
0th percentile in California
Median Home Value
#74 of 1,343
94th percentile in California
Poverty Rate
#997 of 1,450
30th percentile in California
Bachelor's Degree or Higher
#110 of 1,458
92nd 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
97th percentile nationally for median household income · 29th percentile for safety (lower crime rate). Source: Census ACS 2023 / FBI UCR 2023.
Sunnyvale's profile vs. every US city
Income, affordability, and safety percentile
Sunnyvale'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 Sunnyvale's home value compares nationally
Median home value vs. every US city (population 1,000+)
$1,816,6001st percentilemore affordable than 1% 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
Sunnyvale's home-value-to-income ratio: 10.0×
ACS median home value divided by median household income.
Band
pressured
> 5.0×
National rank
#15,354 of 15,516
More affordable than 1% of tracked cities (pop. 1,000+)
Size class
#732 of 750
Mid-size cities (50,000–199,999)
At 10.0×, Sunnyvale sits in the pressured band:
national rank #15,354 of 15,516 and #732 of 750mid-size cities (50,000–199,999).
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
$181,862Sunnyvale, CA median household income (Census ACS)
Show U.S. national quintile / Lorenz context Sunnyvale, 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 Sunnyvale, CA.
Key socioeconomic indicators
Bachelor's degree or higher (adults 25+)69.2%
Census ACS S1501, educational attainment
Poverty rate (households below FPL)3.4%
Census ACS S1701, poverty status
Labor force participation (adults 16+)69.3%
Census ACS S2301, share of working-age residents in the labor force
Population
153,455
Median Income
$181,862
Median Home Value
$1,816,600
Median Age
35.1
Poverty Rate
3.4%
Labor force participation
69.3%
Bachelor's Degree+
69.2%
Safety & Crime
Total Crime Rate
2153.8
per 100,000 residents
Violent Crime
244.5
per 100,000 residents
Property Crime
1909.3
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
20
Public schools in this city
Population Change
PEP vintage
Annual U.S. Census Bureau Population Estimates Program (PEP) estimates, 2020–2025
Sunnyvale's Census PEP population estimates, 2020–2025.Read the chart as text
Period
Population
2020
155,240 residents
2021
152,475 residents
2022
152,308 residents
2023
153,473 residents
2024
155,422 residents
2025
156,577 residents
Housing Supply
BPS source
Census Bureau Building Permits Survey (BPS) - annual residential permits authorized
📉 Construction Slowdown
Total Permits (2024)
209
housing units authorized
Single-Family
42
detached homes
Multifamily
167
apartments & condos
Supply Intensity
1.4
permits per 1,000 residents
5-Year Permit Trend (2019–2024)
Year
Total
Single-Family
Multifamily
Est. Value
2019
677
147
530
$116.0M
2020
430
169
261
$71.9M
2021
1,400
191
1,209
$221.8M
2022
925
149
776
$157.0M
2023
558
31
527
$128.2M
2024
209
42
167
$69.2M
Permit volume decreased 69% from 2019 to 2024.
Commute Patterns
Commute source
How workers travel to work, Census ACS 2023
Average Commute Time
16.9 minutes
Drive Alone
55.4%
Carpool
8.7%
Public Transit
4.3%
Walk
1.4%
Work from Home
27.0%
Other
3.2%
Based on 85,430 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 Sunnyvale. 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 Sunnyvale 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 Sunnyvale sits in; the FEMA hazard score shown here is a statewide average of county NRI inputs, not a parcel-level reading.
How Sunnyvale 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.