El Sobrante, California

Area Profile

16,294 residents. Public schools, jobs, income, housing cost, climate and natural-hazard risk for El Sobrante, in Contra Costa 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
Opportunity2450th of 3,904 published cities50
Housing affordability3543rd of 4,223 published cities57
ClimateTop 8% of 4,223 published cities89
Physical resilience3454th of 4,182 published cities23
AccessTop 41% of 4,226 published cities94
Economic stability2403rd of 4,226 published cities57
The quick read

Buying strains local incomes far more than renting does — the median home is 6.6 times median household income, against a historic benchmark near three — while rent takes 23% of it.

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

A major airport is 18 miles away, giving the area unusually direct access to the national air network.

At a glance

Population
16,294
2024 ACS 5-Year
Median household income
$114,853
Top 12% nationally
Density
5,263/sq mi
3.1 sq mi of land
Median age
39.3
2024 ACS 5-Year
County
Contra Costa County
California
Metro area
San Francisco-Oakland-Fremont, CA
Nearest major airport
OAK
18 mi · Oakland San Francisco Bay
Median home value
$758,800
2024 ACS 5-Year

Jobs & opportunity

Unemployment of 4.5% is lower than 43% of the 3,904 measured US cities.

Employment fell 1.8% over the past year, to 544,950 employed residents.

37% of adults hold a four-year degree, higher than 78% of measured US cities.

Household income is higher than at least 88% of measured US cities.

MetricValueCompared with peersSource period
Median household income ±$8,759$114,853Top 12%2024 ACS 5-Year
Per capita income ±$3,196$47,214Top 20%2024 ACS 5-Year
Poverty rate11.4%Top 48%2024 ACS 5-Year
Average commute36.4 minTop 13%2024 ACS 5-Year
Bachelor's degree or higher36.5%Top 22%2024 ACS 5-Year
Employment544,950Top 11%June 2026
Employment change (3 years)-2.0%Bottom 21%June 2026
Employment change (year over year)-1.8%Bottom 24%June 2026
Labor force570,894Top 11%June 2026
Labor force participation64.5%Top 36%2024 ACS 5-Year
Mean annual wage$100,220Top 2%2025 OEWS
Median annual wage$74,260Top 2%2025 OEWS
Unemployment change (year over year)-0.4%Bottom 21%June 2026
Unemployment rate4.5%Top 43%June 2026
Median household income, successive ACS releases
2021202220232024115k102k
Each point is a separate five-year estimate, most recently $114,853 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 Francisco-Oakland-Fremont, CA
OccupationPeople employedMedian annual wage
Home Health and Personal Care Aides119,120$35,950
Software Developers69,030$186,640
Fast Food and Counter Workers49,970$43,870
General and Operations Managers43,520$149,990
Registered Nurses41,750$186,610
Retail Salespersons39,460$43,850

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 Contra Costa County, CA, which contains this city.

Housing & affordability

How it’s calculated →

Median rent of $2,216 takes 23% of median household income, below the 30% threshold at which a household is considered cost-burdened.

A median home costs 6.6 times median household income here, well above the historic benchmark, at a level conventionally described as seriously unaffordable.

Rent as a share of income
23.2%
Below the 30% cost-burdened threshold
Home price to income
6.6×
median home value ÷ median income
Median gross rent
$2,216
2024 ACS 5-Year
Median home value
$758,800
2024 ACS 5-Year
MetricValueCompared with peersSource period
Home price to income6.61Top 6%2024 ACS 5-Year
Homeownership rate67.4%Bottom 33%2024 ACS 5-Year
Housing units ±4476,042Top 10%2024 ACS 5-Year
Median gross rent ±$124$2,216Top 6%2024 ACS 5-Year
Median home value ±$40,297$758,800Top 5%2024 ACS 5-Year
Rent as a share of income23.2%Top 24%2024 ACS 5-Year
Vacancy rate7.5%Bottom 40%2024 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

9 of the twelve months have a normal average temperature between 55°F and 80°F. July averages a high of 88°F and January a low of 41°F.

Normal annual precipitation is 16.1 inches.

30°50°70°90°JFMAMJJASOND
Solid line: normal daily high. Dashed line: normal daily low. 1991-2020 normals from NOAA station CONCORD BUCHANAN FLD, 13.6 miles from this location.
Precipitation
JFMAMJJASOND3.2"
Normal monthly precipitation, in inches.
MetricValueSource period
Annual precipitation16.1"1991-2020 Normals
Average January low41°F1991-2020 Normals
Average July high88°F1991-2020 Normals
Comfortable months91991-2020 Normals
Seasonal temperature swing24°F1991-2020 Normals

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.

Physical risk

23 / 100
Physical resilience

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

EarthquakeHigh
Inland floodingHigh
LandslideModerate
Heat waveModerate
WildfireModerate
DroughtModerate
AvalancheModerate

Low or minimal exposure: lightning, volcanic activity, coastal flooding, tornado, tsunami, strong wind, hail, winter weather.

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.

Contra Costa County records 3.8 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 6.1 per 100,000 — more than the homicide rate, because nationally most firearm deaths are suicides.

Drug overdose deaths run at 16.9 per 100,000 residents in Contra Costa County.

Homicide
3.8
per 100,000 residents · under 10 deaths
Firearm deaths, all intents
6.1
per 100,000 residents · under 10 deaths
Drug overdose
16.9
per 100,000 residents · under 10 deaths
Suicide
9.6
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 Contra Costa 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 El Sobrante rather than El Sobrante 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

6 major airports lie within 100 miles, the nearest 18 miles away.

AirportCodeDistanceLongest runway
Oakland San Francisco BayOAK18 mi10,520 ft
San Francisco IntlSFO25 mi11,870 ft
Norman Y Mineta San Jose IntlSJC47 mi11,000 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 Francisco-Oakland-Fremont, CA

Same metropolitan area, measured the same way
CityCountyPopulationArea ScoreCompare
San FranciscoSan Francisco County830,23559vs El Sobrante
OaklandAlameda County439,41855vs El Sobrante
FremontAlameda County228,29560vs El Sobrante
HaywardAlameda County158,80151vs El Sobrante
ConcordContra Costa County124,03550vs El Sobrante
BerkeleyAlameda County120,25753vs El Sobrante
AntiochContra Costa County116,47749vs El Sobrante
RichmondContra Costa County115,50549vs El Sobrante
San MateoSan Mateo County103,10557vs El Sobrante
Daly CitySan Mateo County101,96459vs El Sobrante
San LeandroAlameda County87,82650vs El Sobrante
San RamonContra Costa County85,99356vs El Sobrante

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.

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
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

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.