92386Big Bear City, California

Area Profile

Income, jobs, climate, physical risk and development data for ZIP code 92386.

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
Opportunity5143rd of 6,210 ZIP areas measured38
Housing affordability6676th of 6,685 ZIP areas measured0
Climate5352nd of 6,789 ZIP areas measured62
Physical resilience6522nd of 6,709 ZIP areas measured7
Access4088th of 6,791 ZIP areas measured90
Economic stability6680th of 6,742 ZIP areas measured14
The quick read

Employment conditions sit below most comparable published ZIP profiles: unemployment is 5.2% and the Opportunity signal places 92386 in the bottom 17%.

Housing costs more relative to local incomes than in most published city profiles: rent takes 45% of median household income and the median home is 9.0 times it.

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

At a glance

Population
2,042
2024 ACS 5-Year
Median household income
$50,694
Bottom 16% nationally
Density
889/sq mi
2.3 sq mi of land
Median age
51.4
2024 ACS 5-Year
City
Big Bear City
California
Metro area
Riverside-San Bernardino-Ontario, CA
Nearest major airport
SBD
25 mi · San Bernardino Intl
Median home value
$458,600
2024 ACS 5-Year

Jobs & opportunity

Unemployment of 5.2% is lower than 22% of the 6,544 measured US ZIP areas.

Employment fell 1.4% over the past year, to 963,069 employed residents.

38% of adults hold a four-year degree, higher than 77% of measured US ZIP areas.

Median household income of $50,694 is below 84% of measured US ZIP areas.

MetricValueCompared nationallySource period
Median household income ±$16,155$50,694Bottom 16%of 31,2952024 ACS 5-Year
Per capita income ±$9,317$32,752Bottom 36%of 32,8222024 ACS 5-Year
Poverty rate24.6%Top 12%of 32,9702024 ACS 5-Year
Average commute25.5 minBottom 38%of 32,8872024 ACS 5-Year
Bachelor's degree or higher37.5%Top 23%of 33,1932024 ACS 5-Year
Employment963,069Top 5%of 6,544June 2026
Employment change (3 years)0.8%Top 38%of 6,542June 2026
Employment change (year over year)-1.4%Bottom 36%of 6,544June 2026
Labor force1,015,868Top 5%of 6,544June 2026
Labor force participation52.7%Bottom 25%of 33,2522024 ACS 5-Year
Mean annual wage$65,160Bottom 36%of 6,0722025 OEWS
Median annual wage$48,400Bottom 29%of 6,0722025 OEWS
Unemployment change (year over year)-0.5%Bottom 18%of 6,544June 2026
Unemployment rate5.2%Top 22%of 6,544June 2026
Median household income, successive ACS releases
202120222023202451k41k
Each point is a separate five-year estimate, most recently $50,694 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 — Riverside-San Bernardino-Ontario, CA
OccupationPeople employedMedian annual wage
Home Health and Personal Care Aides102,760$34,320
Stockers and Order Fillers77,160$43,200
Laborers and Freight, Stock, and Material Movers, Hand69,820$46,060
Fast Food and Counter Workers51,310$42,280
Retail Salespersons41,270$36,720
Heavy and Tractor-Trailer Truck Drivers40,230$60,580

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 does not publish labor-force data for ZIP areas. This is the figure for Big Bear City, CA, the city containing this ZIP code.

Housing & affordability

How it’s calculated →

Prices for everything a household buys run about 7% above the national average, on the Bureau of Economic Analysis index. Housing drives most of that difference.

Median rent of $1,917 takes 45% of median household income, above the 30% threshold at which a household is considered cost-burdened.

A median home costs 9.0 times median household income here, well above the historic benchmark, at a level conventionally described as seriously unaffordable.

Cost of living
107.3

Prices here run about 7% above the national average. The spread between places is driven mostly by housing — goods vary far less — and this excludes taxes.

Rent as a share of income
45.4%
Above the 30% cost-burdened threshold
Home price to income
9.0×
median home value ÷ median income
Median gross rent
$1,917
2024 ACS 5-Year
Median home value
$458,600
2024 ACS 5-Year
MetricValueCompared nationallySource period
Cost of living index107.3Top 25%of 6,0712023
Home price to income9.05Top 3%of 30,4042024 ACS 5-Year
Homeownership rate63.3%Bottom 19%of 32,9102024 ACS 5-Year
Housing units ±2563,133Top 35%of 33,7722024 ACS 5-Year
Median gross rent ±$413$1,917Top 10%of 26,6182024 ACS 5-Year
Median home value ±$23,257$458,600Top 15%of 30,9412024 ACS 5-Year
Rent as a share of income45.4%Top 1%of 26,4702024 ACS 5-Year
Vacancy rate68.7%Top 2%of 33,0282024 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

4 of the twelve months have a normal average temperature between 55°F and 80°F. July averages a high of 80°F and January a low of 24°F.

Normal annual precipitation is 20.0 inches, including 58.6 inches of snow.

Air quality measures a median index of 87, in the Moderate band, and about 144 days a year pass 100, the threshold at which the air is unhealthy for sensitive groups.

10°30°50°70°90°JFMAMJJASOND
Solid line: normal daily high. Dashed line: normal daily low. 1991-2020 normals from NOAA station BIG BEAR LAKE, 5.2 miles from this location.
Precipitation
JFMAMJJASOND4.5"
Normal monthly precipitation, in inches.
MetricValueSource period
90th percentile air quality index185.02024 calendar year
Annual precipitation20.0"1991-2020 Normals
Annual snowfall58.6"1991-2020 Normals
Average January low24°F1991-2020 Normals
Average July high80°F1991-2020 Normals
Comfortable months41991-2020 Normals
Days above AQI 1001442024 calendar year
Median air quality index87.02024 calendar year
Seasonal temperature swing30°F1991-2020 Normals
Air quality
Median air quality index
87
Moderate on a typical day
Worst tenth of days
185
90th percentile index
Days above 100
144
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

7 / 100
Physical resilience

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

WildfireHigh
EarthquakeHigh
Inland floodingHigh
AvalancheModerate

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

Hazard ratings are AreaProfile calculations derived from the FEMA National Risk Index v1.20.0 (December 2025). FEMA publishes at county level. ZIP values are the land-area-weighted mean of the counties the ZIP Code Tabulation Area intersects. Expected annual loss is not allocated below county level. FEMA does not endorse this presentation. Higher physical resilience means lower exposure.

These are deaths, not offences — they say nothing about burglary, theft or assault.

San Bernardino County records 4.3 homicide deaths per 100,000 residents a year, near the middle of counties measured. The CDC does not publish this below county level.

Firearm deaths of all intents run at 7.6 per 100,000 — more than the homicide rate, because nationally most firearm deaths are suicides.

Drug overdose deaths run at 19.8 per 100,000 residents in San Bernardino County.

Homicide
4.3
per 100,000 residents · under 10 deaths
Firearm deaths, all intents
7.6
per 100,000 residents · under 10 deaths
Drug overdose
19.8
per 100,000 residents · under 10 deaths
Suicide
9.3
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 Bernardino 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 92386 rather than 92386 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
Offences reported to police are published by department rather than by town, and only where a department reported every month of the year. No municipal department reports for this place — many smaller communities are policed by the county — so there is no figure to show. A partial year is never scaled up to look complete, and arrest counts or news volume are never substituted for it.
Taxes
Taxes are not published: no source covers them nationally with a method open enough to check. Cost of living now is — the index above is the Bureau of Economic Analysis price parity for this area — but it is a price level for all consumption rather than a budget for a household, its spread is driven mostly by housing, and it excludes taxes. Housing affordability is computed separately from rent, price and income, because that answers a narrower and more actionable question. Nothing here is individualised tax advice.
Anything about a specific address
Every figure describes an area, not a street or a house. School attendance zones, insurance pricing and the character of a neighbourhood all vary within the places measured here.

Access

8 major airports lie within 100 miles, the nearest 25 miles away.

AirportCodeDistanceLongest runway
San Bernardino IntlSBD25 mi10,000 ft
Palm Springs IntlPSP34 mi10,000 ft
Ontario IntlONT46 mi12,197 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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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)
HousingU.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis
Regional price parities and county personal income
2023Annually, each December
JobsU.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics
Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics
2025 OEWSAnnual (spring release)
JobsU.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics
Local Area Unemployment Statistics
June 2026Monthly
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
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.

92386 vs Big Bear City

How this ZIP area compares with Big Bear City as a whole. Both figures come from the same ACS release, so the comparison is like for like.

92386
Big Bear City
Median household income
$50,694
vs
$71,511
Per capita income
$32,752
vs
$40,765
Population density
889/sq mi
vs
357/sq mi
Median home value
$458,600
vs
$463,500
Median gross rent
$1,917
vs
$1,854
Homeownership rate
63.3%
vs
70.8%
Bachelor's degree or higher
37.5%
vs
30.7%
Poverty rate
24.6%
vs
16.1%
Median age
51.4
vs
47.2

Some demographic statistics use Census ZIP Code Tabulation Areas, which approximate but do not exactly match USPS ZIP delivery geography. See the methodology for how AreaProfile maps between them.