Side-by-side metrics and state or size-class ranks use the same Census and FBI fields shown on this profile. Results stay in the URL so you can bookmark or share them.
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.
Compare beyond this state
Nationwide peers by population, income
Out-of-state nearest neighbors for Vallecito 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: 535.
California's Vallecito counts 535 residents. Source: Census ACS.
90th
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: Vallecito, CA
535 people live in Vallecito, California - a small town by U.S. Census Bureau ACS 2023 estimates. Typical homes in Vallecito are valued around $613,600, and the median resident age is 58.0 years. Educational attainment runs 20.6% of adults with a bachelor's degree or higher. Separately, 41.9% 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. Statewide, average monthly utility bills in California run around $275, per EIA 2023 residential energy data. Commute times here average 30.8 minutes, with 82.7% driving alone and 17.3% working from home, per Census ACS commuting data. Natural-hazard exposure scores 88.7 out of 100 on FEMA's National Risk Index (Very High).
A decision-led reading path
Useful questions to ask of Vallecito'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 comparison shortlist; another city can have a different sequence or fewer supported layers because the source joins are not uniform.
For Vallecito, city-specific coverage includes commute-mode shares.
No matched row is reported here for within-city Census tract profiles, annual population history, matched public-school count, FBI reported-crime rates, local building permits; 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 Vallecito?
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 82.7%. The reported mean trip to work is 30.8 minutes.
Which cities make useful reference points for Vallecito?
Within California, the closest population matches are Oak Run (534 residents, $24,160 income); Bend (537 residents); Davenport (537 residents, $72,083 income). Outside the state, the closest population matches in this dataset are Wiscon, FL (535 residents); Lyerly, GA (535 residents); Etna Green, IN (535 residents). 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.
Highest-decile cost · BEA RPP 2024, California average
F
City profile score · Vallecito, CA
28/100
3 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.
Poverty rate D
9.2%
Share of residents below the poverty line; lower scores better on this axis.
Bachelor's+ share F
20.6%
Adults with a bachelor's degree or higher; ACS.
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 N/A
N/A
No ACS median household income on file for this place.
Violent crime N/A
N/A
No FBI UCR violent-crime rate for this place (coverage is incomplete).
Vallecito profile (scored ACS/FBI dimensions)Read the chart values
Poverty rate: 43/100 (D) · 9.2%
Bachelor's+ share: 36/100 (F) · 20.6%
Cost of living: 6/100 (F) · 110.7 index
How does Vallecito compare to other US cities?
Where Vallecito sits among all US cities (population 1,000+) on each measure, computed live from Census and FBI data.
Home value90% 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 Vallecito 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 Vallecito near the bottom of California's cities
Among the 1,458 California cities PlainCities tracks with reported median gross rent data, Vallecito ranks #1 - the 0th percentile within the state. This is a different, narrower cut than the nationwide percentiles above: it compares Vallecito only against its own state's cities, not the full US field.
Median Gross Rent
#1 of 1,458
0th percentile in California
Median Home Value
#553 of 1,343
59th percentile in California
Poverty Rate
#543 of 1,450
62nd percentile in California
Bachelor's Degree or Higher
#883 of 1,458
39th 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.
How Vallecito's home value compares nationally
Median home value vs. every US city (population 1,000+)
$613,60010th percentilemore affordable than 10% 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
Income distribution context
Median household income is not available for Vallecito in the current Census ACS release (common for very small places).
Key socioeconomic indicators
Bachelor's degree or higher (adults 25+)20.6%
Census ACS S1501, educational attainment
Poverty rate (households below FPL)9.2%
Census ACS S1701, poverty status
Labor force participation (adults 16+)41.9%
Census ACS S2301, share of working-age residents in the labor force
Population
535
Median Income
N/A
Median Home Value
$613,600
Median Age
58.0
Poverty Rate
9.2%
Labor force participation
41.9%
Bachelor's Degree+
20.6%
Commute Patterns
Commute source
How workers travel to work, Census ACS 2023
Average Commute Time
30.8 minutes
Drive Alone
82.7%
Carpool
0.0%
Public Transit
0.0%
Walk
0.0%
Work from Home
17.3%
Based on 191 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 Vallecito. 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 Vallecito 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 Vallecito sits in; the FEMA hazard score shown here is a statewide average of county NRI inputs, not a parcel-level reading.
How Vallecito 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.