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Place dossier plate
SheetCA-TERRA-BELLA-CA · Terra Bella, CA 1,658 pop · income 38th 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 Terra Bella
Lowest/highest poles plus peers nearest Terra Bella on median household income. Full ladder: /browse and /rankings.
median HH income
McClellan Park · lowest
24,866
McClellan Park · lowest
24,866 median HH income
14.6% of the leader · rank #1
Sheffield Lake · near
62,065
Sheffield Lake · near
62,065 median HH income
36.4% of the leader · rank #2
Terra Bella · this city
62,073
Terra Bella · this city
62,073 median HH income
36.4% of the leader · rank #3
Nuiqsut · near
62,083
Nuiqsut · near
62,083 median HH income
36.4% of the leader · rank #4
Shishmaref · near
62,083
Shishmaref · near
62,083 median HH income
36.4% of the leader · rank #5
Congress · near
62,083
Congress · near
62,083 median HH income
36.4% of the leader · rank #6
Middletown · highest
170,605
Middletown · highest
170,605 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 Terra Bella 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: 1,658.
Nationally, Terra Bella sits in the 38th percentile for household income among US cities with a population of 1,000 or more. Source: Census ACS.
38th
percentile, household income
50th
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: Terra Bella, CA
Census ACS 2023 estimates count 1,658 residents in Terra Bella, a small town within California. Households in Terra Bella report a median income of $62,073 per year, below the median for U.S. cities on this measure, with a poverty rate of 19.0%. Home values in Terra Bella run a median of $225,000, and the median resident age is 29.1 years. 3.1% of adults here have a bachelor's degree or higher; 31.0% of working-age residents are in the labor force.
The city is served by 3 public schools according to NCES Common Core of Data.
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. 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 Terra Bella'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 schools and households to comparison shortlist to housing and income; another city can have a different sequence or fewer supported layers because the source joins are not uniform.
For Terra Bella, city-specific coverage includes commute-mode shares, matched public-school count.
No matched row is reported here for annual population history, FBI reported-crime rates, local building permits, within-city Census tract profiles; 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 Terra Bella?
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 65.9%. A reliable mean commute time is not available for this row, so the mode shares carry the comparison.
What does the education layer cover for Terra Bella?
The NCES join finds 3 public schools within the city match. 3.1% 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 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.
Which cities make useful reference points for Terra Bella?
Within California, the closest population matches are Sunnyside-Tahoe (1,658 residents, $121,154 income); Middletown (1,659 residents, $170,605 income); Fairfax (1,654 residents, $50,326 income). Outside the state, the closest population matches in this dataset are Erie, IL (1,658 residents); East Washington, PA (1,658 residents); Río Blanco comunidad, PR (1,658 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.
How far does income reach against housing in Terra Bella?
The home-value-to-income reference sits in a middle range: the ACS median home value is 3.6 times median household income. The ACS poverty estimate is 19.0%, 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. Income and home value move within the same broad scale here. The useful next check is not a generic affordability label, but whether similar-size cities offer a materially different income, housing, or commute trade-off.
Below median income · poverty 19.0% (High poverty)
Cost of Living Index (state)
110.7 (US=100)
Highest-decile cost · BEA RPP 2024, California average
F
City profile score · Terra Bella, CA
17/100
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.
Household income F
$62,073
Median household income vs U.S. cities (pop ≥1,000); ACS.
Poverty rate F
19.0%
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.
Bachelor's+ share F
3.1%
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).
Terra Bella profile (scored ACS/FBI dimensions)Read the chart values
Household income: 38/100 (F) · $62,073
Poverty rate: 15/100 (F) · 19.0%
Cost of living: 6/100 (F) · 110.7 index
Bachelor's+ share: 0/100 (F) · 3.1%
How does Terra Bella compare to other US cities?
Where Terra Bella sits among all US cities (population 1,000+) on each measure, computed live from Census and FBI data.
Household income38% higher than other cities
Home value50% 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 Terra Bella 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 Terra Bella near the bottom of California's cities
Among the 1,458 California cities PlainCities tracks with reported median gross rent data, Terra Bella ranks #1 - the 0th percentile within the state. This is a different, narrower cut than the nationwide percentiles above: it compares Terra Bella only against its own state's cities, not the full US field.
Median Household Income
#1,025 of 1,338
23rd percentile in California
Median Gross Rent
#1 of 1,458
0th percentile in California
Median Home Value
#1,212 of 1,343
9th percentile in California
Poverty Rate
#204 of 1,450
86th percentile in California
Bachelor's Degree or Higher
#1,383 of 1,458
5th 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
38th percentile nationally for median household income. Source: Census ACS 2023 / FBI UCR 2023.
How Terra Bella's home value compares nationally
Median home value vs. every US city (population 1,000+)
$225,000Among the most affordablemore affordable than 50% 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
Terra Bella's home-value-to-income ratio: 3.6×
ACS median home value divided by median household income.
Band
moderate
3.0–5.0×
National rank
#9,449 of 15,516
More affordable than 39% of tracked cities (pop. 1,000+)
Size class
#7,564 of 11,323
Micro cities (under 10,000)
At 3.6×, Terra Bella sits in the moderate band:
national rank #9,449 of 15,516 and #7,564 of 11,323micro cities (under 10,000).
Income and home value move in the same broad scale; check same-state peers before treating the multiple as an advantage or a warning.
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
$62,073Terra Bella, CA median household income (Census ACS)
Show U.S. national quintile / Lorenz context Terra Bella, 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 Terra Bella, CA.
Key socioeconomic indicators
Bachelor's degree or higher (adults 25+)3.1%
Census ACS S1501, educational attainment
Poverty rate (households below FPL)19.0%
Census ACS S1701, poverty status
Labor force participation (adults 16+)31.0%
Census ACS S2301, share of working-age residents in the labor force
Population
1,658
Median Income
$62,073
Median Home Value
$225,000
Median Age
29.1
Poverty Rate
19.0%
Labor force participation
31.0%
Bachelor's Degree+
3.1%
Schools
Total Schools
3
Public schools in this city
Commute Patterns
Commute source
How workers travel to work, Census ACS 2023
Drive Alone
65.9%
Carpool
23.0%
Public Transit
0.0%
Walk
0.0%
Work from Home
11.1%
Based on 370 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 Terra Bella. 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 Terra Bella 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 Terra Bella sits in; the FEMA hazard score shown here is a statewide average of county NRI inputs, not a parcel-level reading.
How Terra Bella 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, NCES CCD, 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.