Patterson, California

Area Profile

24,693 residents. Public schools, jobs, income, housing cost, climate and natural-hazard risk for Patterson, in Stanislaus County.

56out of 100
Area Score
Bottom 32% of 2,944 published profiles

How we calculate this

How this area ranks
Opportunity3396th of 3,904 published cities37
GrowthTop 6% of 2,973 published cities79
Housing affordability2661st of 4,223 published cities72
ClimateTop 25% of 4,223 published cities77
Physical resilience3480th of 4,182 published cities22
Access2761st of 4,226 published cities87
Economic stability2149th of 4,226 published cities60
The quick read

Employment conditions sit below most comparable published city profiles: unemployment is 8.6% and the Opportunity signal places Patterson in the bottom 13%.

Development activity is both elevated and accelerating — 130 housing units permitted over the past twelve months, up 195% on the prior year.

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

At a glance

Population
24,693
2024 ACS 5-Year
Median household income
$93,650
Top 22% nationally
Density
3,171/sq mi
7.8 sq mi of land
Median age
30.9
2024 ACS 5-Year
County
Stanislaus County
California
Metro area
Modesto, CA
Nearest major airport
SCK
29 mi · Stockton Metro
Median home value
$450,200
2024 ACS 5-Year

Jobs & opportunity

Unemployment of 8.6% is lower than 1% of the 3,904 measured US cities.

Employment fell 1.5% over the past year, to 10,564 employed residents.

MetricValueCompared with peersSource period
Median household income ±$15,253$93,650Top 22%2024 ACS 5-Year
Per capita income ±$2,818$30,150Bottom 37%2024 ACS 5-Year
Poverty rate9.0%Bottom 42%2024 ACS 5-Year
Average commute42.1 minTop 6%2024 ACS 5-Year
Bachelor's degree or higher13.6%Bottom 30%2024 ACS 5-Year
Employment10,564Bottom 4%June 2026
Employment change (3 years)0.9%Top 35%June 2026
Employment change (year over year)-1.5%Bottom 33%June 2026
Labor force11,563Bottom 4%June 2026
Labor force participation62.4%Top 44%2024 ACS 5-Year
Mean annual wage$67,230Bottom 45%2025 OEWS
Median annual wage$50,610Bottom 46%2025 OEWS
Unemployment change (year over year)-0.5%Bottom 17%June 2026
Unemployment rate8.6%Top 1%June 2026
Unemployment rate
2023/012023/072024/012024/072025/012025/072026/012026/06107.8
Monthly unemployment rate from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, most recent value 8.6% in June 2026. 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
202120222023202494k83k
Each point is a separate five-year estimate, most recently $93,650 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 — Modesto, CA
OccupationPeople employedMedian annual wage
Home Health and Personal Care Aides9,160$34,320
Fast Food and Counter Workers6,700$42,630
Retail Salespersons5,140$37,430
Cashiers4,890$36,490
Registered Nurses4,850$132,590
Laborers and Freight, Stock, and Material Movers, Hand4,810$46,630

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.

There are 21.5 students for every full-time teacher, more than in most measured places.

Public schools
9
2024-25 school year
Students per teacher
21.5
across all schools here
Math proficiency
Reading proficiency
SchoolDistrictStudentsPer teacherMathReading
Patterson HighPatterson Joint Unified1,83020.8
Creekside MiddlePatterson Joint Unified90720.6
Apricot Valley ElementaryPatterson Joint Unified78824.6
Walnut Grove ElementaryPatterson Joint Unified74423.3
Las Palmas ElementaryPatterson Joint Unified64221.4
Northmead ElementaryPatterson Joint Unified52820.3
West Valley Learning CenterPatterson Joint Unified14721.0
Open Valley Independent StudyPatterson Joint Unified10025.0
Del Puerto HighPatterson Joint Unified9215.3

76.9% 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 $1,655 takes 21% of median household income, below the 30% threshold at which a household is considered cost-burdened.

A median home costs 4.8 times median household income here, above the historic benchmark of about three times income.

Rent as a share of income
21.2%
Below the 30% cost-burdened threshold
Home price to income
4.8×
median home value ÷ median income
Median gross rent
$1,655
2024 ACS 5-Year
Median home value
$450,200
2024 ACS 5-Year
MetricValueCompared with peersSource period
Home price to income4.81Top 17%2024 ACS 5-Year
Homeownership rate71.3%Bottom 40%2024 ACS 5-Year
Housing units ±3746,898Top 9%2024 ACS 5-Year
Median gross rent ±$250$1,655Top 16%2024 ACS 5-Year
Median home value ±$19,800$450,200Top 14%2024 ACS 5-Year
Rent as a share of income21.2%Top 34%2024 ACS 5-Year
Vacancy rate5.4%Bottom 31%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
79/ 100
Top 6% of 2,973 published city profiles
Permitting is decreasing, measured from 2022 to 2025.

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 grown 7% since 2020, reaching 25,495 in 2024.

Permitting has turned downward after moving the other way the year before.

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

At 5.3 permitted units per 1,000 residents, building activity is above the median for measured US cities.

Units permitted
130
12 months ending July 2026
Per 1,000 residents
5.3
Top 28% nationally
Year over year
+195%
vs the prior twelve months
Multifamily share
0.0%
units in 5+ unit buildings
Population, annual estimates
2020202120222023202425k24k
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.
Housing units permitted per year
20222023202420254941
Annual totals from the Census Building Permits Survey. Permitting in 2025 was lower than 2022 (−13%).

Weather & climate

8 of the twelve months have a normal average temperature between 55°F and 80°F. July averages a high of 95°F and January a low of 39°F.

Normal annual precipitation is 12.3 inches.

30°50°70°90°110°JFMAMJJASOND
Solid line: normal daily high. Dashed line: normal daily low. 1991-2020 normals from NOAA station MODESTO CITY CO AP, 15.1 miles from this location.
Precipitation
JFMAMJJASOND2.6"
Normal monthly precipitation, in inches.
MetricValueSource period
Annual precipitation12.3"1991-2020 Normals
Average January low39°F1991-2020 Normals
Average July high95°F1991-2020 Normals
Comfortable months81991-2020 Normals
Seasonal temperature swing31°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

22 / 100
Physical resilience

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

DroughtHigh
EarthquakeHigh
Heat waveElevated
Inland floodingModerate
WildfireModerate
AvalancheModerate

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

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.

Stanislaus County records 2.7 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 6.2 per 100,000 — more than the homicide rate, because nationally most firearm deaths are suicides.

Drug overdose deaths run at 23.2 per 100,000 residents in Stanislaus County.

Homicide
2.7
per 100,000 residents · under 10 deaths
Firearm deaths, all intents
6.2
per 100,000 residents · under 10 deaths
Drug overdose
23.2
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 Stanislaus 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 Patterson rather than Patterson 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

7 major airports lie within 100 miles, the nearest 29 miles away.

AirportCodeDistanceLongest runway
Stockton MetroSCK29 mi10,245 ft
Norman Y Mineta San Jose IntlSJC43 mi11,000 ft
Oakland San Francisco BayOAK61 mi10,520 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
56
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Other cities in Modesto, CA

Same metropolitan area, measured the same way
CityCountyPopulationArea ScoreCompare
ModestoStanislaus County219,21551vs Patterson
TurlockStanislaus County72,50249vs Patterson
CeresStanislaus County49,34243vs Patterson
RiverbankStanislaus County25,16654vs Patterson
OakdaleStanislaus County23,19452vs Patterson
SalidaStanislaus County13,900vs Patterson
NewmanStanislaus County12,31644vs Patterson

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
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

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.

ZIP codes in Patterson

1 published ZIP profiles
ZIPPopulationMedian household incomeArea Score
9536330,769$95,67954