93635Los Banos, California

Area Profile

Income, jobs, climate, physical risk and development data for ZIP code 93635.

45out of 100
Area Score
Bottom 6% of 5,298 published profiles

How we calculate this

How this area ranks
Opportunity5083rd of 6,210 published ZIP areas38
GrowthTop 21% of 5,428 published ZIP areas66
Housing affordability5984th of 6,685 published ZIP areas47
ClimateTop 41% of 6,789 published ZIP areas72
Physical resilience6222nd of 6,709 published ZIP areas11
Access6181st of 6,791 published ZIP areas66
Economic stability5144th of 6,742 published ZIP areas43
The quick read

Employment conditions sit below most comparable published ZIP profiles: unemployment is 11.6% and the Opportunity signal places 93635 in the bottom 18%.

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 27% of it.

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

At a glance

Population
50,149
2024 ACS 5-Year
Median household income
$67,129
Bottom 43% nationally
Density
128/sq mi
390.7 sq mi of land
Median age
30.8
2024 ACS 5-Year
City
Los Banos
California
Metro area
Merced, CA
Nearest major airport
SJC
62 mi · Norman Y Mineta San Jose Intl
Median home value
$444,900
2024 ACS 5-Year

Jobs & opportunity

Unemployment of 11.6% is lower than 0% of the 6,544 measured US ZIP areas.

Employment grew 0.4% over the past year, to 17,637 employed residents.

MetricValueCompared with peersSource period
Median household income ±$6,418$67,129Bottom 43%2024 ACS 5-Year
Per capita income ±$1,944$26,279Bottom 16%2024 ACS 5-Year
Poverty rate17.5%Top 24%2024 ACS 5-Year
Average commute50.7 minTop 2%2024 ACS 5-Year
Bachelor's degree or higher12.5%Bottom 18%2024 ACS 5-Year
Employment17,637Bottom 15%June 2026
Employment change (3 years)1.9%Top 25%June 2026
Employment change (year over year)0.4%Top 21%June 2026
Labor force19,947Bottom 17%June 2026
Labor force participation58.2%Bottom 41%2024 ACS 5-Year
Mean annual wage$61,520Bottom 25%2025 OEWS
Median annual wage$47,220Bottom 21%2025 OEWS
Unemployment change (year over year)-1.1%Bottom 6%June 2026
Unemployment rate11.6%Top 1%June 2026
Median household income, successive ACS releases
202120222023202476k67k
Each point is a separate five-year estimate, most recently $67,129 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 — Merced, CA
OccupationPeople employedMedian annual wage
Home Health and Personal Care Aides4,990$34,320
Farmworkers and Laborers, Crop, Nursery, and Greenhouse3,820$36,350
Fast Food and Counter Workers2,500$38,200
Cashiers2,250$35,340
Teaching Assistants, Except Postsecondary1,950$44,680
Heavy and Tractor-Trailer Truck Drivers1,710$55,630

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 Los Banos, CA, the city containing this ZIP code.

There are 23.3 students for every full-time teacher, more than in most measured places.

Public schools
16
2024-25 school year
Students per teacher
23.3
across all schools here
Math proficiency
Reading proficiency
SchoolDistrictStudentsPer teacherMathReading
Pacheco HighLos Banos Unified1,72520.5
Los Banos HighLos Banos Unified1,54321.4
Los Banos Junior HighLos Banos Unified93821.8
Grasslands ElementaryLos Banos Unified88430.5
Creekside Junior HighLos Banos Unified81219.8
R. M. Miano ElementaryLos Banos Unified77825.9
Henry Miller ElementaryLos Banos Unified67626.0
Lorena Falasco ElementaryLos Banos Unified66925.7
Los Banos ElementaryLos Banos Unified62224.9
Mercey Springs ElementaryLos Banos Unified60827.6
Westside Union ElementaryLos Banos Unified57323.9
Volta ElementaryLos Banos Unified38724.2

80.7% 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 $1,524 takes 27% 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
27.2%
Below the 30% cost-burdened threshold
Home price to income
6.6×
median home value ÷ median income
Median gross rent
$1,524
2024 ACS 5-Year
Median home value
$444,900
2024 ACS 5-Year
MetricValueCompared with peersSource period
Home price to income6.63Top 7%2024 ACS 5-Year
Homeownership rate58.7%Bottom 15%2024 ACS 5-Year
Housing units ±71715,003Top 8%2024 ACS 5-Year
Median gross rent ±$96$1,524Top 21%2024 ACS 5-Year
Median home value ±$8,065$444,900Top 16%2024 ACS 5-Year
Rent as a share of income27.2%Top 9%2024 ACS 5-Year
Vacancy rate4.9%Bottom 22%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 →
Development Momentum
66/ 100
Top 21% of 5,428 published city profiles

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.

New construction is predominantly single-family: only 0% of permitted units are in buildings of five or more homes.

At 2.9 permitted units per 1,000 residents, building activity is above the median for measured US ZIP areas.

Units permitted
137
12 months ending July 2026
Per 1,000 residents
2.9
Top 50% nationally
Year over year
+13%
vs the prior twelve months
Multifamily share
0.0%
units in 5+ unit buildings

The Building Permits Survey is not published for ZIP areas. This is the figure for Los Banos, CA, the city containing this ZIP code.

Weather & climate

7 of the twelve months have a normal average temperature between 55°F and 80°F. July averages a high of 96°F and January a low of 36°F.

Normal annual precipitation is 10.4 inches.

Air quality measures a median index of 52, in the Moderate band, and about 35 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 MERCED 23 WSW, 15.1 miles from this location.
Precipitation
JFMAMJJASOND2.4"
Normal monthly precipitation, in inches.
MetricValueSource period
90th percentile air quality index100.02024 calendar year
Annual precipitation10.4"1991-2020 Normals
Average January low36°F1991-2020 Normals
Average July high96°F1991-2020 Normals
Comfortable months71991-2020 Normals
Days above AQI 100352024 calendar year
Median air quality index52.02024 calendar year
Seasonal temperature swing30°F1991-2020 Normals
Air quality
Median air quality index
52
Moderate on a typical day
Worst tenth of days
100
90th percentile index
Days above 100
35
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

11 / 100
Physical resilience

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

DroughtHigh
EarthquakeHigh
Heat waveElevated
Inland floodingModerate

Low or minimal exposure: wildfire, lightning, hail, landslide, volcanic activity, tornado, strong wind, winter weather, avalanche.

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

Merced County records 7.2 homicide deaths per 100,000 residents a year, higher than most counties measured. The CDC does not publish this below county level.

Firearm deaths of all intents run at 10.6 per 100,000 — more than the homicide rate, because nationally most firearm deaths are suicides.

Drug overdose deaths run at 19.9 per 100,000 residents in Merced County.

Homicide
7.2
per 100,000 residents · under 10 deaths
Firearm deaths, all intents
10.6
per 100,000 residents · under 10 deaths
Drug overdose
19.9
per 100,000 residents · under 10 deaths
Suicide
10.3
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 Merced 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 93635 rather than 93635 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

5 major airports lie within 100 miles, the nearest 62 miles away.

AirportCodeDistanceLongest runway
Norman Y Mineta San Jose IntlSJC62 mi11,000 ft
Stockton MetroSCK63 mi10,245 ft
Fresno Yosemite IntlFAT66 mi9,539 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)
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)
DemographicsU.S. Census Bureau
Population Estimates Program
July 1, 2024 estimateAnnual (vintage released each spring)
DevelopmentU.S. Census Bureau
Building Permits Survey
12 months ending July 2026Monthly, roughly three weeks after the reference month
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.

93635 vs Los Banos

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

93635
Los Banos
Median household income
$67,129
vs
$68,171
Per capita income
$26,279
vs
$25,963
Population density
128/sq mi
vs
4,761/sq mi
Median home value
$444,900
vs
$440,900
Median gross rent
$1,524
vs
$1,557
Homeownership rate
58.7%
vs
59.8%
Bachelor's degree or higher
12.5%
vs
12.5%
Poverty rate
17.5%
vs
17.4%
Median age
30.8
vs
30.3

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.