Alpine, California

Area Profile

15,180 residents. Public schools, jobs, income, housing cost, climate and natural-hazard risk for Alpine, in San Diego County.

Area Score unavailable

Missing required signal: growth. AreaProfile withholds a score rather than inferring the missing dimensions.

How we calculate this

How this area ranks
OpportunityTop 46% of 3,904 cities measured58
Housing affordability3718th of 4,223 cities measured52
ClimateTop 10% of 4,223 cities measured84
Physical resilience4030th of 4,182 cities measured9
Access3868th of 4,226 cities measured64
Economic stability2936th of 4,226 cities measured49
The quick read

Unemployment is 4.4% and median household income $108,660, putting employment conditions in the middle range of published city profiles.

Buying strains local incomes far more than renting does — the median home is 8.0 times median household income, against a historic benchmark near three — while rent takes 22% of it.

Physical-risk exposure is above the national median, driven mainly by inland flooding, wildfire and earthquake.

At a glance

Population
15,180
2024 ACS 5-Year
Median household income
$108,660
Top 15% nationally
Density
567/sq mi
26.8 sq mi of land
Median age
42.4
2024 ACS 5-Year
County
San Diego County
California
Metro area
San Diego-Chula Vista-Carlsbad, CA
Nearest major airport
TRM
64 mi · Jacqueline Cochran Rgnl
Median home value
$864,000
2024 ACS 5-Year

Jobs & opportunity

Unemployment of 4.4% is lower than 48% of the 3,904 measured US cities.

Employment fell 1.1% over the past year, to 1,567,556 employed residents.

33% of adults hold a four-year degree, higher than 74% of measured US cities.

Household income is higher than at least 85% of measured US cities.

MetricValueCompared nationallySource period
Median household income ±$7,667$108,660Top 15%of 29,5732024 ACS 5-Year
Per capita income ±$5,364$49,644Top 18%of 31,4202024 ACS 5-Year
Poverty rate13.0%Top 42%of 31,9002024 ACS 5-Year
Average commute32.4 minTop 24%of 31,5432024 ACS 5-Year
Bachelor's degree or higher33.0%Top 26%of 31,9192024 ACS 5-Year
Employment1,567,556Top 3%of 3,904June 2026
Employment change (3 years)-0.1%Top 50%of 3,903June 2026
Employment change (year over year)-1.1%Bottom 42%of 3,904June 2026
Labor force1,640,465Top 3%of 3,904June 2026
Labor force participation56.2%Bottom 36%of 31,9332024 ACS 5-Year
Mean annual wage$79,060Top 19%of 3,6582025 OEWS
Median annual wage$58,690Top 26%of 3,6582025 OEWS
Unemployment change (year over year)-0.3%Bottom 30%of 3,904June 2026
Unemployment rate4.4%Top 48%of 3,904June 2026
Median household income, successive ACS releases
2021202220232024112k104k
Each point is a separate five-year estimate, most recently $108,660 in the 2024 ACS 5-Year. Consecutive releases share four years of sample, so AreaProfile shows them as a record of successive estimates and does not compute a year-over-year change from them.
Largest occupations — San Diego-Chula Vista-Carlsbad, CA
OccupationPeople employedMedian annual wage
Home Health and Personal Care Aides57,080$35,300
Fast Food and Counter Workers42,550$42,190
Retail Salespersons34,390$37,810
Cashiers30,420$37,020
Registered Nurses28,680$139,520
Office Clerks, General28,470$49,920

Occupational employment and wages are published for metropolitan areas rather than for individual cities or ZIP areas, so these describe the wider labor market this location sits in. 2025 OEWS, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.

The Bureau of Labor Statistics publishes city-level labor data only for places of 25,000 or more. This is the figure for San Diego County, CA, which contains this city.

There are 22.7 students for every full-time teacher, more than in most measured places.

Public schools
6
2024-25 school year
Students per teacher
22.7
across all schools here
Math proficiency
Reading proficiency
SchoolDistrictStudentsPer teacherMathReading
Joan MacQueen MiddleAlpine Union Elementary40519.3
Shadow Hills ElementaryAlpine Union Elementary37720.9
Boulder Oaks ElementaryAlpine Union Elementary36722.9
The Heights Charter · charterThe Heights Charter District28331.4
Creekside Early Learning CenterAlpine Union Elementary22725.2
Mountain View Learning AcademyAlpine Union Elementary6421.3

32.6% of students here are eligible for free or reduced-price lunch. That describes the circumstances families arrive with rather than how the schools perform, which is why AreaProfile shows it and does not score it.

Public schools only, from the NCES Common Core of Data. Schools are placed by ZIP code, so this is which schools are in this place rather than which one a particular address is zoned for — district boundaries do not follow municipal ones, and enrollment zones change. Fully virtual schools are excluded: they enroll students from across the state while reporting one administrative address, and counting them here would describe a school population this place does not have. The assessment covers grades 3 through 8, so a high school shows no proficiency figure — a dash in those columns means the test was not given at that school, not that it performed badly. Proficiency is measured against California’s own standard, so it compares cleanly within the state and only broadly against other states; AreaProfile therefore ranks it within state. The directory is current, while the proficiency figures are from the last school year with national coverage before the pandemic interrupted testing.

Housing & affordability

How it’s calculated →

Median rent of $1,973 takes 22% of median household income, below the 30% threshold at which a household is considered cost-burdened.

A median home costs 8.0 times median household income here, well above the historic benchmark, at a level conventionally described as seriously unaffordable.

Rent as a share of income
21.8%
Below the 30% cost-burdened threshold
Home price to income
8.0×
median home value ÷ median income
Median gross rent
$1,973
2024 ACS 5-Year
Median home value
$864,000
2024 ACS 5-Year
MetricValueCompared nationallySource period
Home price to income7.95Top 4%of 28,4732024 ACS 5-Year
Homeownership rate73.9%Bottom 46%of 31,8432024 ACS 5-Year
Housing units ±3865,612Top 10%of 32,3302024 ACS 5-Year
Median gross rent ±$200$1,973Top 9%of 23,4322024 ACS 5-Year
Median home value ±$32,463$864,000Top 4%of 29,3422024 ACS 5-Year
Rent as a share of income21.8%Top 31%of 23,2012024 ACS 5-Year
Vacancy rate3.5%Bottom 22%of 32,0012024 ACS 5-Year

Both affordability measures come from the same ACS release as the income they are compared with, so the comparison is like for like. They describe housing cost against local earnings and are not a cost-of-living index — transport, groceries, healthcare, insurance and taxes are not included, and a place can look affordable here and still be expensive to live in for reasons this does not capture.

Growth & development

How it’s calculated →

No building-permit activity is published for this location by the Census Building Permits Survey.

Weather & climate

8 of the twelve months have a normal average temperature between 55°F and 80°F. July averages a high of 89°F and January a low of 37°F.

Normal annual precipitation is 14.6 inches.

Air quality measures a median index of 71, in the Moderate band, and about 52 days a year pass 100, the threshold at which the air is unhealthy for sensitive groups.

20°40°60°80°100°JFMAMJJASOND
Solid line: normal daily high. Dashed line: normal daily low. 1991-2020 normals from NOAA station RAMONA AP, 16.4 miles from this location.
Precipitation
JFMAMJJASOND3.7"
Normal monthly precipitation, in inches.
MetricValueSource period
90th percentile air quality index105.02024 calendar year
Annual precipitation14.6"1991-2020 Normals
Average January low37°F1991-2020 Normals
Average July high89°F1991-2020 Normals
Comfortable months81991-2020 Normals
Days above AQI 100522024 calendar year
Median air quality index71.02024 calendar year
Seasonal temperature swing24°F1991-2020 Normals
Air quality
Median air quality index
71
Moderate on a typical day
Worst tenth of days
105
90th percentile index
Days above 100
52
unhealthy for sensitive groups

A comfortable median and a bad tail are different problems. Wildfire smoke and summer ozone show up in the worst tenth of days, not in the middle of the year.

Climate figures are thirty-year normals, not current conditions. They describe what a typical year looks like rather than what the weather is doing today. Air quality is measured rather than modelled, by EPA monitors, and published by county only where a monitor sits — roughly half the counties AreaProfile publishes have one, and the rest show nothing rather than an estimate. Air masses are regional, so a county reading describes the air over a place reasonably well, but it is still the county reading.

Physical risk

9 / 100
Physical resilience

The hazards accounting for most of this area's expected annual loss are inland flooding, wildfire and earthquake.

WildfireHigh
Inland floodingModerate
EarthquakeHigh
Heat waveModerate
AvalancheModerate

Low or minimal exposure: landslide, lightning, hail, coastal flooding, tornado, drought, tsunami, strong wind, winter weather, volcanic activity, hurricane, cold wave.

Hazard ratings are AreaProfile calculations derived from the FEMA National Risk Index v1.20.0 (December 2025). FEMA publishes at county level. City values are the population-weighted mean of the counties the city overlaps, using AreaProfile place-to-county land-area weights. FEMA does not endorse this presentation. Higher physical resilience means lower exposure.

These are deaths, not offences. AreaProfile does not publish reported crime, and this is not a substitute for it — it says nothing about burglary, theft or assault.

San Diego County records 2.1 homicide deaths per 100,000 residents a year, lower than most counties measured. The CDC does not publish this below county level.

Firearm deaths of all intents run at 5.8 per 100,000 — more than the homicide rate, because nationally most firearm deaths are suicides.

Drug overdose deaths run at 18.5 per 100,000 residents in San Diego County.

Homicide
2.1
per 100,000 residents · under 10 deaths
Firearm deaths, all intents
5.8
per 100,000 residents · under 10 deaths
Drug overdose
18.5
per 100,000 residents · under 10 deaths
Suicide
10.2
per 100,000 residents · under 10 deaths

Firearm deaths count every intent together, and nationally the majority are suicides rather than homicides. The two columns overlap and should not be added.

Age-adjusted rates from provisional death certificate records, published by the CDC for San Diego County as a whole — these rates are not published below county level. A county can hold both a dense city centre and a suburb whose experience of it is nothing alike, so this describes the county around Alpine rather than Alpine itself. That is why AreaProfile shows these figures and does not put them in the Area Score. Where fewer than ten deaths were recorded the count is suppressed at source, and a rate built on single figures moves sharply between releases. What this measure has that reported crime does not: a death certificate is filed whether or not the local police agency submitted a return that year, so the figures stay comparable between places and over time.

What this profile does not cover

Three things people look for are missing from every AreaProfile page, and each is missing for a reason rather than by oversight. The Area Score is calculated without them and the weighting is documented on the methodology page.

Reported crime
The FBI’s Crime Data Explorer is the only source for reported offences with national coverage and a published method, and it requires an API key AreaProfile does not hold. Arrest counts, news volume and commercial “safety scores” are not substituted in the meantime. What is published above under Safety is a different measurement — deaths rather than offences, from death certificates rather than police returns — and it covers no property crime at all.
Taxes
No tax dataset has met the source admission test for coverage, transparent methodology and update cadence. Nothing here is individualized tax advice.
Full cost of living
No public source publishes one with national coverage and a documented method. Housing affordability above is computed from published rent, price and income, and excludes transport, groceries, healthcare, insurance and taxes — commuting cost in particular tends to offset suburban housing savings.

Access

4 major airports lie within 100 miles, the nearest 64 miles away.

AirportCodeDistanceLongest runway
Jacqueline Cochran RgnlTRM64 mi8,500 ft
Palm Springs IntlPSP70 mi10,000 ft
San Bernardino IntlSBD91 mi10,000 ft

Airport identity, position and runway data come from the FAA. “Major airport” is an AreaProfile classification — a public-use civil airport with a paved runway of at least 8,000 feet — not an FAA hub designation. Distances are straight-line, not driving distance.

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Other cities in San Diego-Chula Vista-Carlsbad, CA

Same metropolitan area, measured the same way
CityCountyPopulationArea ScoreCompare
San DiegoSan Diego County1,389,52653vs Alpine
Chula VistaSan Diego County276,37553vs Alpine
OceansideSan Diego County172,24247vs Alpine
EscondidoSan Diego County149,66847vs Alpine
CarlsbadSan Diego County114,37352vs Alpine
El CajonSan Diego County104,44943vs Alpine
VistaSan Diego County99,11448vs Alpine
San MarcosSan Diego County94,88254vs Alpine
EncinitasSan Diego County61,48057vs Alpine
La MesaSan Diego County60,79750vs Alpine
SanteeSan Diego County59,33250vs Alpine
National CitySan Diego County58,89337vs Alpine

Every city here is measured on the same scale from the same source releases, so the comparison is like for like. A higher Area Score reflects AreaProfile’s standardized weighting rather than a judgment about which is the better place to live.

Compare

Put Alpine side by side with a similar place.

Alpine vs RamonaAlpine vs Valley CenterAlpine vs PrunedaleAlpine vs Kaiminani

Data & methodology

Used forSourceSource periodUpdated
AccessFederal Aviation Administration
Airports (NASR) — Aeronautical Data Delivery Service
NASR current cycle28-day NASR cycle
Physical riskFederal Emergency Management Agency
National Risk Index
National Risk Index December 2025 (v1.20.0)Periodic dataset versions (v1.20.0 current)
ClimateNOAA National Centers for Environmental Information
U.S. Climate Normals 1991–2020 (Monthly)
1991-2020 NormalsEvery ten years (next release follows the 2001–2030 period)
JobsU.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics
Local Area Unemployment Statistics
June 2026Monthly
JobsU.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics
Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics
2025 OEWSAnnual (spring release)
Demographics, Housing, Income, JobsU.S. Census Bureau
American Community Survey 5-Year Estimates (Table-Based Summary File)
2024 ACS 5-YearAnnual (5-year estimates released each December)
safetyU.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, National Center for Health Statistics
Provisional county-level mortality by intent
April, 2025 to March, 2026Quarterly, with a rolling twelve-month window alongside complete calendar years
schoolsU.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics
Common Core of Data and EDFacts assessments
2024-25 school yearDirectory annually; assessment results as EDFacts releases them
ClimateU.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Air Quality System
Daily Air Quality Index by county
2024 calendar yearAnnually, once a calendar year is complete

Profile recalculated August 30, 2026. Recalculation is not the same as new source data — each figure above shows the period its source actually covers. Read the full methodology or browse every source.

ZIP codes in Alpine

1 published ZIP profiles
ZIPPopulationMedian household incomeArea Score
9190118,197$114,167