90265Malibu, California

Area Profile

Income, jobs, climate, physical risk and development data for ZIP code 90265.

52out of 100
Area Score
Bottom 23% of 5,298 profiles measured

How we calculate this

How this area ranks
Opportunity3923rd of 6,210 ZIP areas measured49
GrowthTop 32% of 5,428 ZIP areas measured61
Housing affordability5980th of 6,685 ZIP areas measured47
ClimateTop 4% of 6,789 ZIP areas measured100
Physical resilience6134th of 6,709 ZIP areas measured11
Access3687th of 6,791 ZIP areas measured92
Economic stability5955th of 6,742 ZIP areas measured33
The quick read

Development activity is both elevated and accelerating — 94 housing units permitted over the past twelve months, up 292% on the prior year.

Buying strains local incomes far more than renting does — the median home is 10.2 times median household income, against a historic benchmark near three — while rent takes 21% of it.

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

At a glance

Population
15,918
2024 ACS 5-Year
Median household income
$196,742
Top 1% nationally
Density
143/sq mi
111.0 sq mi of land
Median age
52.0
2024 ACS 5-Year
City
Malibu
California
Metro area
Los Angeles-Long Beach-Anaheim, CA
Nearest major airport
VNY
23 mi · Van Nuys
Median home value
$2,000,001
2024 ACS 5-Year

Jobs & opportunity

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

Employment fell 1.8% over the past year, to 4,679,684 employed residents.

69% of adults hold a four-year degree, higher than 96% of measured US ZIP areas.

Household income is higher than at least 99% of measured US ZIP areas.

MetricValueCompared nationallySource period
Median household income ±$22,274$196,742Top 1%of 31,2952024 ACS 5-Year
Per capita income ±$17,498$127,242Top 1%of 32,8222024 ACS 5-Year
Poverty rate10.6%Top 50%of 32,9702024 ACS 5-Year
Average commute34.4 minTop 19%of 32,8872024 ACS 5-Year
Bachelor's degree or higher68.9%Top 4%of 33,1932024 ACS 5-Year
Employment4,679,684Top 1%of 6,544July 2026
Employment change (3 years)-2.1%Bottom 18%of 6,542July 2026
Employment change (year over year)-1.8%Bottom 25%of 6,544July 2026
Labor force4,937,408Top 1%of 6,544July 2026
Labor force participation53.1%Bottom 26%of 33,2522024 ACS 5-Year
Mean annual wage$77,270Top 21%of 6,0722025 OEWS
Median annual wage$55,850Top 28%of 6,0722025 OEWS
Unemployment change (year over year)-1.0%Bottom 7%of 6,544July 2026
Unemployment rate5.2%Top 22%of 6,544July 2026
Median household income, successive ACS releases
2021202220232024197k176k
Each point is a separate five-year estimate, most recently $196,742 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 — Los Angeles-Long Beach-Anaheim, CA
OccupationPeople employedMedian annual wage
Home Health and Personal Care Aides385,530$34,320
Fast Food and Counter Workers160,270$42,110
Retail Salespersons130,650$37,700
Laborers and Freight, Stock, and Material Movers, Hand120,720$42,390
Office Clerks, General112,270$48,100
Cashiers109,940$36,980

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 Malibu, CA, the city containing this ZIP code.

There are 15.6 students for every full-time teacher, fewer than in most measured places.

Public schools
4
2024-25 school year
Students per teacher
15.6
across all schools here
Math proficiency
Reading proficiency
SchoolDistrictStudentsPer teacherMathReading
Malibu HighSanta Monica-Malibu Unified38714.9
Malibu MiddleSanta Monica-Malibu Unified25614.2
Malibu ElementarySanta Monica-Malibu Unified24220.2
Webster ElementarySanta Monica-Malibu Unified17814.8

18.1% 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 $3,501 takes 21% of median household income, below the 30% threshold at which a household is considered cost-burdened.

A median home costs 10.2 times median household income here, well above the historic benchmark, at a level conventionally described as seriously unaffordable.

Rent as a share of income
21.4%
Below the 30% cost-burdened threshold
Home price to income
10.2×
median home value ÷ median income
Median gross rent
$3,501
2024 ACS 5-Year
Median home value
$2,000,001
2024 ACS 5-Year
MetricValueCompared nationallySource period
Home price to income10.17Top 2%of 30,4042024 ACS 5-Year
Homeownership rate78.5%Bottom 49%of 32,9102024 ACS 5-Year
Housing units ±5768,629Top 19%of 33,7722024 ACS 5-Year
Median gross rent$3,501Top 1%of 26,6182024 ACS 5-Year
Median home value$2,000,001Top 1%of 30,9412024 ACS 5-Year
Rent as a share of income21.4%Top 28%of 26,4702024 ACS 5-Year
Vacancy rate27.4%Top 16%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 →
Development Momentum
61/ 100
Top 32% 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 9.0 permitted units per 1,000 residents, building activity is above the median for measured US ZIP areas.

Units permitted
94
12 months ending July 2026
Per 1,000 residents
9.0
Top 14% nationally
Year over year
+292%
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 Malibu, CA, the city containing this ZIP code.

Weather & climate

12 of the twelve months have a normal average temperature between 55°F and 80°F. July averages a high of 73°F and January a low of 46°F.

Normal annual precipitation is 12.5 inches.

Air quality measures a median index of 80, in the Moderate band, and about 133 days a year pass 100, the threshold at which the air is unhealthy for sensitive groups.

30°50°70°JFMAMJJASOND
Solid line: normal daily high. Dashed line: normal daily low. 1991-2020 normals from NOAA station POINT MUGU NF, 15.5 miles from this location.
Precipitation
JFMAMJJASOND3.9"
Normal monthly precipitation, in inches.
MetricValueSource period
90th percentile air quality index164.02024 calendar year
Annual precipitation12.5"1991-2020 Normals
Average January low46°F1991-2020 Normals
Average July high73°F1991-2020 Normals
Comfortable months121991-2020 Normals
Days above AQI 1001332024 calendar year
Median air quality index80.02024 calendar year
Seasonal temperature swing11°F1991-2020 Normals
Air quality
Median air quality index
80
Moderate on a typical day
Worst tenth of days
164
90th percentile index
Days above 100
133
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 earthquake, inland flooding and wildfire.

EarthquakeHigh
WildfireModerate
Inland floodingHigh

Low or minimal exposure: landslide, heat wave, lightning, coastal flooding, tornado, hail, avalanche, strong wind, tsunami, drought, winter weather, 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. AreaProfile does not publish reported crime, and this is not a substitute for it — it says nothing about burglary, theft or assault.

Los Angeles County records 4.7 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 6.3 per 100,000 — more than the homicide rate, because nationally most firearm deaths are suicides.

Drug overdose deaths run at 17.8 per 100,000 residents in Los Angeles County.

Homicide
4.7
per 100,000 residents · under 10 deaths
Firearm deaths, all intents
6.3
per 100,000 residents · under 10 deaths
Drug overdose
17.8
per 100,000 residents · under 10 deaths
Suicide
8.1
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 Los Angeles 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 90265 rather than 90265 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 and full cost of living
No public source publishes either with national coverage and a method open enough to check. 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. 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

7 major airports lie within 100 miles, the nearest 23 miles away.

AirportCodeDistanceLongest runway
Van NuysVNY23 mi8,001 ft
Los Angeles IntlLAX27 mi12,923 ft
Long Beach (Daugherty Fld)LGB44 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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Area Score
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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
July 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.

90265 vs Malibu

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

90265
Malibu
Median household income
$196,742
vs
$194,421
Per capita income
$127,242
vs
$141,203
Population density
143/sq mi
vs
525/sq mi
Median home value
$2,000,001
vs
$2,000,001
Median gross rent
$3,501
vs
$3,501
Homeownership rate
78.5%
vs
75.4%
Bachelor's degree or higher
68.9%
vs
68.6%
Poverty rate
10.6%
vs
12.6%
Median age
52.0
vs
53.9

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.