92082Valley Center, California

Area Profile

Income, jobs, climate, physical risk and development data for ZIP code 92082.

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
OpportunityTop 38% of 6,210 ZIP areas measured61
Housing affordability4451st of 6,685 ZIP areas measured69
ClimateTop 10% of 6,789 ZIP areas measured84
Physical resilience6459th of 6,709 ZIP areas measured8
Access5723rd of 6,791 ZIP areas measured75
Economic stabilityTop 39% of 6,742 ZIP areas measured65
The quick read

Unemployment is 4.4% and median household income $126,544, putting employment conditions in the middle range of published ZIP profiles.

Rent takes 17% of median household income here, below the 30% threshold conventionally called cost-burdened, and the median home is 6.6 times that income.

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

At a glance

Population
21,727
2024 ACS 5-Year
Median household income
$126,544
Top 8% nationally
Density
173/sq mi
125.7 sq mi of land
Median age
42.0
2024 ACS 5-Year
City
Valley Center
California
Metro area
San Diego-Chula Vista-Carlsbad, CA
Nearest major airport
PSP
49 mi · Palm Springs Intl
Median home value
$833,600
2024 ACS 5-Year

Jobs & opportunity

Unemployment of 4.4% is lower than 52% of the 6,544 measured US ZIP areas.

Employment fell 1.1% over the past year, to 1,567,556 employed residents.

34% of adults hold a four-year degree, higher than 72% of measured US ZIP areas.

Household income is higher than at least 92% of measured US ZIP areas.

MetricValueCompared nationallySource period
Median household income ±$15,301$126,544Top 8%of 31,2952024 ACS 5-Year
Per capita income ±$3,734$50,404Top 19%of 32,8222024 ACS 5-Year
Poverty rate6.6%Bottom 28%of 32,9702024 ACS 5-Year
Average commute40.1 minTop 8%of 32,8872024 ACS 5-Year
Bachelor's degree or higher33.6%Top 28%of 33,1932024 ACS 5-Year
Employment1,567,556Top 4%of 6,544June 2026
Employment change (3 years)-0.1%Bottom 48%of 6,542June 2026
Employment change (year over year)-1.1%Bottom 43%of 6,544June 2026
Labor force1,640,465Top 4%of 6,544June 2026
Labor force participation62.5%Top 43%of 33,2522024 ACS 5-Year
Mean annual wage$79,060Top 16%of 6,0722025 OEWS
Median annual wage$58,690Top 21%of 6,0722025 OEWS
Unemployment change (year over year)-0.3%Bottom 31%of 6,544June 2026
Unemployment rate4.4%Bottom 48%of 6,544June 2026
Median household income, successive ACS releases
2021202220232024127k104k
Each point is a separate five-year estimate, most recently $126,544 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 Diego-Chula Vista-Carlsbad, CA
OccupationPeople employedMedian annual wage
Home Health and Personal Care Aides57,080$35,300
Fast Food and Counter Workers42,550$42,190
Retail Salespersons34,390$37,810
Cashiers30,420$37,020
Registered Nurses28,680$139,520
Office Clerks, General28,470$49,920

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 Valley Center, CA, the city containing this ZIP code.

There are 22.9 students for every full-time teacher, more than in most measured places.

Public schools
9
2024-25 school year
Students per teacher
22.9
across all schools here
Math proficiency
Reading proficiency
SchoolDistrictStudentsPer teacherMathReading
Valley Center HighValley Center-Pauma Unified1,075
Valley Center MiddleValley Center-Pauma Unified76622.5
Valley Center PrimaryValley Center-Pauma Unified49620.7
Valley Center ElementaryValley Center-Pauma Unified47626.4
LilacValley Center-Pauma Unified43821.9
All Tribes Elementary Charter · charterAll Tribes Elementary Charter District8442.0
All Tribes Charter · charterAll Tribes Charter District8213.7
Oak Glen HighValley Center-Pauma Unified7839.0
Valley Center PrepValley Center-Pauma Unified5628.0

63.8% 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 →

Prices for everything a household buys run about 11% above the national average, on the Bureau of Economic Analysis index. Housing drives most of that difference.

Median rent of $1,815 takes 17% 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.

Cost of living
110.7

Prices here run about 11% above the national average. The spread between places is driven mostly by housing — goods vary far less — and this excludes taxes.

Rent as a share of income
17.2%
Below the 30% cost-burdened threshold
Home price to income
6.6×
median home value ÷ median income
Median gross rent
$1,815
2024 ACS 5-Year
Median home value
$833,600
2024 ACS 5-Year
MetricValueCompared nationallySource period
Cost of living index110.7Top 17%of 6,0712023
Home price to income6.59Top 8%of 30,4042024 ACS 5-Year
Homeownership rate88.3%Top 23%of 32,9102024 ACS 5-Year
Housing units ±6747,289Top 22%of 33,7722024 ACS 5-Year
Median gross rent ±$275$1,815Top 12%of 26,6182024 ACS 5-Year
Median home value ±$42,703$833,600Top 4%of 30,9412024 ACS 5-Year
Rent as a share of income17.2%Bottom 47%of 26,4702024 ACS 5-Year
Vacancy rate7.1%Bottom 33%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 →

No building-permit activity is published for this location by the Census Building Permits Survey.

Weather & climate

8 of the twelve months have a normal average temperature between 55°F and 80°F. July averages a high of 89°F and January a low of 37°F.

Normal annual precipitation is 14.6 inches.

Air quality measures a median index of 71, in the Moderate band, and about 52 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 RAMONA AP, 15.6 miles from this location.
Precipitation
JFMAMJJASOND3.7"
Normal monthly precipitation, in inches.
MetricValueSource period
90th percentile air quality index105.02024 calendar year
Annual precipitation14.6"1991-2020 Normals
Average January low37°F1991-2020 Normals
Average July high89°F1991-2020 Normals
Comfortable months81991-2020 Normals
Days above AQI 100522024 calendar year
Median air quality index71.02024 calendar year
Seasonal temperature swing24°F1991-2020 Normals
Air quality
Median air quality index
71
Moderate on a typical day
Worst tenth of days
105
90th percentile index
Days above 100
52
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

8 / 100
Physical resilience

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

WildfireHigh
Inland floodingModerate
EarthquakeHigh
Heat waveModerate
AvalancheModerate

Low or minimal exposure: landslide, lightning, hail, coastal flooding, tornado, drought, tsunami, strong wind, winter weather, volcanic activity, hurricane, 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 — they say nothing about burglary, theft or assault.

San Diego County records 2.1 homicide deaths per 100,000 residents a year, lower than most counties measured. The CDC does not publish this below county level.

Firearm deaths of all intents run at 5.8 per 100,000 — more than the homicide rate, because nationally most firearm deaths are suicides.

Drug overdose deaths run at 18.5 per 100,000 residents in San Diego County.

Homicide
2.1
per 100,000 residents · under 10 deaths
Firearm deaths, all intents
5.8
per 100,000 residents · under 10 deaths
Drug overdose
18.5
per 100,000 residents · under 10 deaths
Suicide
10.2
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 San Diego 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 92082 rather than 92082 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
Taxes are not published: no source covers them nationally with a method open enough to check. Cost of living now is — the index above is the Bureau of Economic Analysis price parity for this area — but it is a price level for all consumption rather than a budget for a household, its spread is driven mostly by housing, and it excludes taxes. Housing affordability is computed separately from rent, price and income, because that answers a narrower and more actionable question. 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

6 major airports lie within 100 miles, the nearest 49 miles away.

AirportCodeDistanceLongest runway
Palm Springs IntlPSP49 mi10,000 ft
Jacqueline Cochran RgnlTRM55 mi8,500 ft
San Bernardino IntlSBD60 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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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)
HousingU.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis
Regional price parities and county personal income
2023Annually, each December
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
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.

92082 vs Valley Center

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

92082
Valley Center
Median household income
$126,544
vs
$132,361
Per capita income
$50,404
vs
$52,880
Population density
173/sq mi
vs
405/sq mi
Median home value
$833,600
vs
$883,700
Median gross rent
$1,815
vs
$1,750
Homeownership rate
88.3%
vs
92.6%
Bachelor's degree or higher
33.6%
vs
38.4%
Poverty rate
6.6%
vs
6.7%
Median age
42.0
vs
42.1

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.