Shasta County, CA

County Profile

181,436 residents. Safety, jobs, income, housing cost, climate and natural-hazard risk for Shasta County, CA.

Several figures AreaProfile publishes are measured by county and nowhere finer — death rates by intent among them. On this page those describe the geography they are printed on, which is not true of the city and ZIP pages that inherit them.

40out of 100
Area Score
Bottom 3% of 1,453 profiles measured

How we calculate this

How this area ranks

Data updated · 14 sources
Opportunity956th of 1,463 counties measured47
SchoolsTop 49% of 1,377 counties measured51
Growth1,341st of 1,453 counties measured23
Housing affordability1,279th of 1,462 counties measured57
Climate1,176th of 1,463 counties measured59
Physical resilience1,375th of 1,463 counties measured16
Access1,443rd of 1,463 counties measured0
Economic stability977th of 1,463 counties measured47
The quick read

Unemployment is 5.3% and median household income $72,636, putting employment conditions in the middle range of counties measured.

In the public schools here, 40% of students met the state standard in mathematics, with 20.4 students for every teacher.

Residential permitting has slowed: 151 units authorized over the past twelve months, 53% below the prior year. That follows a longer stretch moving the other way, through 2025.

These sentences are written by fixed rules from the measurements below — a statement appears because a number crossed a stated threshold, and the values behind it are stored with it. No figure anywhere on this site is invented, estimated or inferred to fill a gap. How this works.

At a glance

Population
181,436
2024 ACS 5-Year
Median household income
$72,636
Top 31% nationally
Density
48/sq mi
3,775.7 sq mi of land
Median age
41.7
2024 ACS 5-Year
County
Shasta County
California
Metro area
Nearest major airport
MFR
120 mi · Rogue Valley Intl/Medford
Median home value
$366,400
2024 ACS 5-Year

Jobs & opportunity

Unemployment of 5.3% — higher than in all but 15% of the 1,467 measured US counties.

Employment fell 0.9% over the past year, to 76,076 employed residents.

MetricValueCompared nationallySource period
Income of new arrivalsfiling years 2022–2023$66,26967th percentileof 1,417filing years 2022–2023
Income of those who leftfiling years 2022–2023$59,21455th percentileof 1,417filing years 2022–2023
Median household income ±$1,9722024 ACS 5-Year$72,636Top 31%of 3,2212024 ACS 5-Year
Per capita income ±$1,3512024 ACS 5-Year$39,574Top 27%of 3,2222024 ACS 5-Year
Per-capita personal income2023$57,160Top 46%of 1,3892023
Poverty rate ±1%2024 ACS 5-Year12.9%Top 50%of 3,2222024 ACS 5-Year
Average commute ±0.6 min2024 ACS 5-Year20.8 minTop 18%of 3,2222024 ACS 5-Year
Bachelor's degree or higher ±1%2024 ACS 5-Year23.8%Top 43%of 3,2222024 ACS 5-Year
Drove alone to work ±1%2024 ACS 5-Year76.9%45th percentileof 3,2222024 ACS 5-Year
EmploymentJuly 202676,076Top 29%of 1,467July 2026
Employment change (3 years)July 2026+2.3%Top 24%of 1,467July 2026
Employment change (year over year)July 2026−0.9%Bottom 44%of 1,467July 2026
Labor forceJuly 202680,31071st percentileof 1,467July 2026
Labor force participation ±1%2024 ACS 5-Year72.5%Bottom 35%of 3,2222024 ACS 5-Year
Public transit to work ±0.3%2024 ACS 5-Year0.5%75th percentileof 3,2222024 ACS 5-Year
Unemployment change (year over year)July 2026−0.3%Top 42%of 1,467July 2026
Unemployment rateJuly 20265.3%Bottom 15%of 1,467July 2026
Worked from home ±0.9%2024 ACS 5-Year9.7%60th percentileof 3,2222024 ACS 5-Year

Unemployment rate

2021/072022/072023/072024/072025/072026/077.04.0
Monthly unemployment rate from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, most recent value 5.3% in July 2026. It has been rising for the last 2 months, over a series running from 2020-01 to 2026-07. A break in the line is a month the Bureau of Labor Statistics did not publish for this area — it is left empty rather than estimated.

Median household income, successive ACS releases

202120222023202473k62k
Each point is a separate five-year estimate, most recently $72,636 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 — Redding, CA

OccupationPeople employedMedian annual wage
Home Health and Personal Care Aides5,500$34,320
Fast Food and Counter Workers1,930$39,160
Cashiers1,920$34,900
Retail Salespersons1,880$36,450
Registered Nurses1,720$134,350
Office Clerks, General1,370$45,120

Searches the 40 largest occupations here that have a published wage.

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.

40% of students met the state standard in mathematics and 51% in reading, across the schools here that reported results.

There are 20.4 students for every full-time teacher across 81 public schools, more than in most measured places.

Public schools
90
2024-25 school year
Students per teacher
20.4
across 81 of them
Math proficiency
40.2%
Top 31% in California
Reading proficiency
50.9%
Top 45% in California
The 12 largest of 90 public schools, by enrollment.
SchoolDistrictStudentsPer teacherMathReading
Foothill HighShasta Union High1,48723.647%72%
Shasta HighShasta Union High1,26820.542%51%
Enterprise HighShasta Union High1,14821.743%73%
University Preparatory · charterUniversity Preparatory District1,00921.565%75%
Boulder Creek ElementaryEnterprise Elementary83923.346%54%
West Valley Early College HighAnderson Union High73622.327%57%
Turtle BayRedding Elementary69221.643%42%
Mistletoe ElementaryEnterprise Elementary68224.451%67%
Redding School of the Arts · charterRedding School of the Arts District63419.244%57%
Shasta LakeGateway Unified60218.832%35%
Grant ElementaryGrant Elementary60020.065%77%
Central Valley HighGateway Unified58322.442%57%

58.3% of students here are eligible for free or reduced-price lunch. That describes the circumstances families arrive with, not how the schools perform, so it is shown and not scored.

Public schools only, from the NCES Common Core of Data, placed by ZIP code — which schools are in this place, not which one a particular address is zoned for. A dash in a proficiency column is a gap in the federal file, not a bad result. Proficiency is measured against California’s own standard, so it is ranked within state. How to read school figures.

Prices for everything a household buys run about 3% above the national average — the Bureau of Economic Analysis index reads 103.0, against 100 for the nation. Nationally, housing drives most of the spread between places in this index; other goods vary far less.

The Federal Housing Finance Agency’s house price index for the Redding, CA Metro Area is up 20% over five years, and up 0.9% over the last year. It follows repeat sales of the same homes, so it measures price change rather than which homes happened to sell.

Homeowners here who pay a tax bill pay a median of $2,542 a year in real estate taxes, about 0.69% of the median home value.

HUD’s Fair Market Rent for a two-bedroom, set near the 40th percentile of recent new leases, is $1,590, some 21% above the $1,317 tenants already here pay.

At HUD’s Fair Market Rent of $1,590 a month for a two-bedroom, keeping rent to 30% of income takes a household income of about $63,600 a year, about 88% of the median household income here of $72,636.

The typical renter household here spends 32% of its income on rent, above the 30% threshold at which a household is considered cost-burdened. Median gross rent runs $1,317 a month.

A median home at $366,400 costs 4.1 times the median income of its owner-occupied households, $89,786, above the historic benchmark of about 3 times income.

Cost of living
103.0

Prices here run about 3% above the national average. The spread between places is driven mostly by housing — goods vary far less — and this excludes taxes.

Published for the Redding, CA Metro Area as a whole. Prices are regional — people shop, commute and rent across a metropolitan area rather than within a city boundary — so this describes the cost of living around this place better than a figure drawn to its own limits would.

Rent as a share of income
31.7%
Above the 30% cost-burdened threshold
Home price to income
4.1×
median home value ÷ owner household income
Market rent, two bedroom
$1,590
what a new lease costs · FY2026
Median gross rent
$1,317
what tenants now pay · 2024 ACS 5-Year
Median home value
$366,400
2024 ACS 5-Year

The figures above are measured against Shasta County’s median household income of $72,636, which describes the place rather than you. Enter your own and the ratio is recomputed against it. It stays in this browser.

MetricValueCompared nationallySource period
Cost of living indexthe Redding, CA Metro Area’s figure2023103.0Bottom 17%of 8872023
Home price change (1 year)the Redding, CA Metro Area’s figure2026 Q2+0.9%11th percentileof 1,4312026 Q2
Home price change (5 years)the Redding, CA Metro Area’s figure2026 Q2+20.3%3rd percentileof 1,4312026 Q2
Home price change (10 years)the Redding, CA Metro Area’s figure2026 Q2+68.6%14th percentileof 1,4312026 Q2
Home price to income ±0.12024 ACS 5-Year4.1Bottom 10%of 3,2172024 ACS 5-Year
Homeownership rate ±1%2024 ACS 5-Year65.6%16th percentileof 3,2212024 ACS 5-Year
Housing units ±912024 ACS 5-Year80,06888th percentileof 3,2212024 ACS 5-Year
Market rent, one bedroomFY2026$1,212Bottom 26%of 1,423FY2026
Market rent, three bedroomFY2026$2,211Bottom 16%of 1,423FY2026
Market rent, two bedroomFY2026$1,590Bottom 21%of 1,423FY2026
Median gross rent ±$392024 ACS 5-Year$1,317Bottom 12%of 3,2152024 ACS 5-Year
Median home value ±$6,3262024 ACS 5-Year$366,40089th percentileof 3,2192024 ACS 5-Year
Median property taxes ±$562024 ACS 5-Year$2,54277th percentileof 3,1722024 ACS 5-Year
Owner household income ±$2,6452024 ACS 5-Year$89,786Top 24%of 3,2182024 ACS 5-Year
Property tax rate ±0.02%2024 ACS 5-Year0.69%40th percentileof 3,1262024 ACS 5-Year
Rent as a share of income ±1%2024 ACS 5-Year31.7%Bottom 16%of 3,2162024 ACS 5-Year
Seasonal and second homes ±3742024 ACS 5-Year2,50687th percentileof 3,2222024 ACS 5-Year
Second homes2024 ACS 5-Year3.1%53rd percentileof 3,2222024 ACS 5-Year
Vacancy rate2024 ACS 5-Year7.9%40th percentileof 3,2212024 ACS 5-Year
Vacant housing units ±6822024 ACS 5-Year8,83689th percentileof 3,2222024 ACS 5-Year

These measures come from the same ACS release as the income they are compared with. They compare housing cost with local earnings only: transport, groceries, healthcare, insurance and taxes are not in them. How to read affordability, the two rent figures and the cost-of-living index.

Development Momentum

23/ 100
Ranks 1,341 of 1,453 published county profiles
Permitting has been rising for the last 2 years of a series running from 2022 to 2025. That is the direction of the recent run. The chart below compares the first year with the last, which can point the other way.

An AreaProfile calculation combining permit volume per resident, its direction over one and three years, population change and employment growth. Permit volume alone is not the measure.

Population has fallen 1% since 2020, to 181,121 in 2024.

New construction is predominantly single-family: of 151 units permitted over the past twelve months, only 9% are in buildings of five or more homes.

Federal tax returns show that people moving in from elsewhere in the US and people moving out roughly balanced across Shasta County in the most recent year. Households that moved in reported an average income of $66,269, above the $59,214 of households that moved out.

At 0.8 permitted units per 1,000 residents, building activity is below the median for measured US counties.

Units permitted
151
12 months ending July 2026
Per 1,000 residents
0.8
Bottom 15% nationally
Year over year
−53%
vs the prior twelve months
Multifamily share
9.3%
units in 5+ unit buildings

Population, annual estimates

20202021202220232024182k181k
Census Population Estimates Program, July 1 of each year. These annual estimates are designed for year-over-year comparison, unlike the ACS five-year figure shown as this profile's population. It has been holding roughly steady, over a series running from 2020 to 2024.

People moving in and out

Net migration
+0.2%
of residents, in a year
Arrivals from another state
34%
of people moving in
Income of arrivals
$66,269
average per tax return
Income of those who left
$59,214
average per tax return

Where newcomers came from

  1. Tehama County, CA 674 people · 10% of arrivals
  2. Sacramento County, CA 368 people · 5.7% of arrivals
  3. Butte County, CA 226 people · 3.5% of arrivals
  4. Humboldt County, CA 207 people · 3.2% of arrivals
  5. Los Angeles County, CA 192 people · 2.9% of arrivals

Where people who left went

  1. Tehama County, CA 639 people · 10% of departures
  2. Butte County, CA 286 people · 4.5% of departures
  3. Sacramento County, CA 239 people · 3.8% of departures
  4. Humboldt County, CA 132 people · 2.1% of departures
  5. San Diego County, CA 129 people · 2.0% of departures

Based on the address on federal tax returns, compared with the same filers a year earlier. It counts people who file, and sees a move only when the address on a return changes. Domestic moves only: people arriving from abroad are left out. IRS Statistics of Income, filing years 2022–2023.

Housing units permitted per year

2022202320242025375209
Annual totals from the Census Building Permits Survey. Permitting in 2025 was lower than 2022 (−32%).

Weather & climate

5 of the twelve months have a normal average temperature between 55°F and 80°F. July averages a high of 100°F and January a low of 38°F.

Normal annual precipitation is 33.5 inches, including 2.6 inches of snow.

Air quality measures a median index of 44, in the Good band, and about 4 days a year pass 100, the threshold at which the air is unhealthy for sensitive groups.

30°50°70°90°110°JFMAMJJASOND
Solid line: normal daily high. Dashed line: normal daily low. 1991-2020 normals from NOAA station REDDING MUNI AP, 21.5 miles from this location.

Precipitation

JFMAMJJASOND6.3"
Normal monthly precipitation, in inches.
MetricValueSource period
90th percentile air quality index2024 calendar year672024 calendar year
Annual precipitation1991-2020 Normals33.5"1991-2020 Normals
Annual snowfall1991-2020 Normals2.6"1991-2020 Normals
Average January low1991-2020 Normals38°F1991-2020 Normals
Average July high1991-2020 Normals100°F1991-2020 Normals
Comfortable months1991-2020 Normals51991-2020 Normals
Days above AQI 1002024 calendar year42024 calendar year
Median air quality index2024 calendar year442024 calendar year
Seasonal temperature swing1991-2020 Normals37°F1991-2020 Normals

Air quality

Median air quality index
44
Good on a typical day
Worst tenth of days
67
90th percentile index
Days above 100
4
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. Air quality is measured by EPA monitors and published by county only where a monitor sits; a county without one shows nothing rather than an estimate, and a county reading is still the county’s. How to read climate and air quality.

Physical risk

16 / 100
Physical resilience

The hazards accounting for most of this area's expected annual loss are inland flooding, wildfire and earthquake, with inland flooding alone responsible for 53% of it.

WildfireHigh
EarthquakeHigh
Inland floodingHigh
Volcanic activityModerate
Heat waveModerate
DroughtModerate
AvalancheModerate

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

Hazard ratings are AreaProfile calculations derived from the FEMA National Risk Index v1.20.0 (December 2025). These are FEMA’s own figures for this county rather than a value derived from surrounding geographies. FEMA does not endorse this presentation. Higher physical resilience means lower exposure.

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

Shasta County has a modeled homicide rate of about 4.0 per 100,000 residents a year, because the CDC suppresses counts this small, near the middle of counties measured. The CDC does not publish this below county level.

Firearm deaths of all intents run at 13.9 per 100,000 — more than the homicide rate, since the figure counts suicides and accidents as well as homicides.

Drug overdose deaths run at 30.5 per 100,000 residents in Shasta County.

Homicide
4.0
per 100,000 residents · modeled, not measured
Firearm deaths, all intents
13.9
per 100,000 residents
Drug overdose
30.5
per 100,000 residents
Suicide
18.9
per 100,000 residents

Firearm deaths count every intent together, and nationally the majority are suicides rather than homicides, so the firearm figure and the homicide figure above it count some of the same deaths twice over. They overlap and should not be added together.

Death rates are crude rates — deaths divided by population, not adjusted for age — except where a count was too small for the CDC to publish and it modeled the rate, which the card marks. They come from provisional death certificate records, published by the CDC by county and not below it. So they describe Shasta County as a whole. They are shown and not scored. How to read death rates.

What this profile does not cover

Each of these is absent for a reason, not by oversight. The Area Score is calculated without them; the weighting is on the methodology page.

Reported crime
Offenses reported to police are published by department rather than by town, so AreaProfile shows a rate only on city profiles, and only where that city’s department submitted every month of a year. City profiles inside this area carry their own figure where their department reported a full year. A partial year is never scaled up to look complete, and arrest counts or news volume are never substituted for it.
Taxes
Income and sales taxes are not published: no source covers them nationally with a method open enough to check. Property taxes are shown in the housing section but are not part of the score. The cost-of-living index above is a price level for all consumption, not a household budget, and it excludes taxes. Nothing here is individualized tax advice.
Anything about a specific address
Every figure describes an area, not a street or a house.

Access

No airport meeting the AreaProfile major-airport definition lies within 100 miles; the nearest is 120 miles away.

MetricValueCompared nationallySource period
Broadband access ±0.9%2024 ACS 5-Year91.3%Top 18%of 3,2212024 ACS 5-Year
Distance to major airportNASR current cycle120 miBottom 1%of 1,463NASR current cycle
Major airports within 100 milesNASR current cycle0Bottom 1%of 1,463NASR current cycle
No internet access ±0.7%2024 ACS 5-Year6.4%Top 19%of 3,2212024 ACS 5-Year
AirportCodeDistanceLongest runway
Rogue Valley Intl/MedfordMFR120 mi8,800 ft
Reno/SteadRTS137 mi9,000 ft
Sacramento IntlSMF145 mi8,605 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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40
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Data & methodology

Used forSourceSource period
AccessFederal Aviation Administration
Airports (NASR) — Aeronautical Data Delivery Service
NASR current cycle
Physical riskFederal Emergency Management Agency
National Risk Index
National Risk Index December 2025 (v1.20.0)
Demographics, IncomeInternal Revenue Service, Statistics of Income Division
U.S. Population Migration Data (county to county)
filing years 2022–2023
ClimateNOAA National Centers for Environmental Information
U.S. Climate Normals 1991–2020 (Monthly)
1991-2020 Normals
Housing, IncomeU.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis
Regional price parities and county personal income
2023
JobsU.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics
Local Area Unemployment Statistics
July 2026
Access, Demographics, Housing, Income, JobsU.S. Census Bureau
American Community Survey 5-Year Estimates (Table-Based Summary File)
2024 ACS 5-Year
DevelopmentU.S. Census Bureau
Building Permits Survey
12 months ending July 2026
DemographicsU.S. Census Bureau
Population Estimates Program
July 1, 2024 estimate
SafetyU.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, National Center for Health Statistics
Provisional county-level mortality by intent
March 2025 to February 2026; May 2025 to April 2026
SchoolsU.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics
Common Core of Data and EDFacts assessments
2018-19 school year; 2024-25 school year
HousingU.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, Office of Policy Development and Research
Fair Market Rents
FY2026
ClimateU.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Air Quality System
Daily Air Quality Index by county
2024 calendar year
HousingU.S. Federal Housing Finance Agency
House Price Index (traditional, all-transactions)
2026 Q2
Current conditionsNOAA National Weather Service
National Weather Service current conditions
Live observation, read when the page opens

Profile recalculated October 8, 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 every source with how often each updates.