West Sacramento, California

Area Profile

54,927 residents. Public schools, jobs, income, housing cost, climate and natural-hazard risk for West Sacramento, in Yolo County.

60out of 100
Area Score
Bottom 46% of 2,944 published profiles

How we calculate this

How this area ranks
Opportunity2272nd of 3,904 published cities52
GrowthTop 14% of 2,973 published cities72
Housing affordability3028th of 4,223 published cities66
ClimateTop 18% of 4,223 published cities79
Physical resilience3245th of 4,182 published cities28
AccessTop 3% of 4,226 published cities100
Economic stability2458th of 4,226 published cities56
The quick read

Development activity is both elevated and accelerating — 416 housing units permitted over the past twelve months, up 247% on the prior year.

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

A major airport is 10 miles away, giving the area unusually direct access to the national air network.

At a glance

Population
54,927
2024 ACS 5-Year
Median household income
$93,188
Top 23% nationally
Density
2,558/sq mi
21.5 sq mi of land
Median age
34.6
2024 ACS 5-Year
County
Yolo County
California
Metro area
Sacramento-Roseville-Folsom, CA
Nearest major airport
SMF
10 mi · Sacramento Intl
Median home value
$525,800
2024 ACS 5-Year

Jobs & opportunity

Unemployment of 4.9% is lower than 28% of the 3,904 measured US cities.

Employment fell 1.2% over the past year, to 27,156 employed residents.

35% of adults hold a four-year degree, higher than 75% of measured US cities.

MetricValueCompared with peersSource period
Median household income ±$3,323$93,188Top 23%2024 ACS 5-Year
Per capita income ±$1,830$41,795Top 29%2024 ACS 5-Year
Poverty rate12.8%Top 43%2024 ACS 5-Year
Average commute26.5 minBottom 49%2024 ACS 5-Year
Bachelor's degree or higher34.5%Top 25%2024 ACS 5-Year
Employment27,156Bottom 35%June 2026
Employment change (3 years)0.5%Top 42%June 2026
Employment change (year over year)-1.2%Bottom 41%June 2026
Labor force28,560Bottom 35%June 2026
Labor force participation65.2%Top 33%2024 ACS 5-Year
Mean annual wage$77,150Top 25%2025 OEWS
Median annual wage$59,750Top 21%2025 OEWS
Unemployment change (year over year)-0.3%Bottom 30%June 2026
Unemployment rate4.9%Top 28%June 2026
Unemployment rate
2021/062022/032022/122023/092024/062025/032025/102026/066.43.5
Monthly unemployment rate from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, most recent value 4.9% 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
202120222023202493k77k
Each point is a separate five-year estimate, most recently $93,188 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 — Sacramento-Roseville-Folsom, CA
OccupationPeople employedMedian annual wage
Home Health and Personal Care Aides60,350$34,320
Management Analysts25,600$82,990
Fast Food and Counter Workers24,910$42,860
Registered Nurses23,590$171,460
Retail Salespersons22,970$38,100
Office Clerks, General21,340$48,940

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 21.3 students for every full-time teacher, more than in most measured places.

Public schools
16
2024-25 school year
Students per teacher
21.3
across all schools here
Math proficiency
Reading proficiency
SchoolDistrictStudentsPer teacherMathReading
River City HighWashington Unified2,16822.1
Bridgeway Island ElementaryWashington Unified1,06224.1
Stonegate ElementaryWashington Unified92823.2
Southport ElementaryWashington Unified78522.4
Riverbank ElementaryWashington Unified59917.6
Elkhorn Village ElementaryWashington Unified55718.0
Westmore Oaks ElementaryWashington Unified53121.2
Westfield Village ElementaryWashington Unified51519.8
River Charter Schools Lighthouse Charter · charterRiver Charter Schools Lighthouse Charter District44622.3
Empowering Possibilities International Charter · charterEmpowering Possibilities International Charter District42622.4
Sacramento Valley Charter · charterSacramento Valley Charter District41518.9
Washington Middle College High · charterWashington Unified17124.4

64.4% 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 $1,665 takes 21% of median household income, below the 30% threshold at which a household is considered cost-burdened.

A median home costs 5.6 times median household income here, well above the historic benchmark, at a level conventionally described as seriously unaffordable.

Rent as a share of income
21.4%
Below the 30% cost-burdened threshold
Home price to income
5.6×
median home value ÷ median income
Median gross rent
$1,665
2024 ACS 5-Year
Median home value
$525,800
2024 ACS 5-Year
MetricValueCompared with peersSource period
Home price to income5.64Top 11%2024 ACS 5-Year
Homeownership rate60.2%Bottom 21%2024 ACS 5-Year
Housing units ±54120,826Top 3%2024 ACS 5-Year
Median gross rent ±$117$1,665Top 16%2024 ACS 5-Year
Median home value ±$18,345$525,800Top 11%2024 ACS 5-Year
Rent as a share of income21.4%Top 32%2024 ACS 5-Year
Vacancy rate7.0%Bottom 38%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
72/ 100
Top 14% of 2,973 published city profiles
Permitting is decreasing, measured from 2020 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 4% since 2020, reaching 55,991 in 2024.

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

Population is still rising, but more slowly than in the preceding year.

At 7.6 permitted units per 1,000 residents, building activity is above the median for measured US cities.

Units permitted
416
12 months ending July 2026
Per 1,000 residents
7.6
Top 20% nationally
Year over year
+247%
vs the prior twelve months
Multifamily share
24.0%
units in 5+ unit buildings
Population, annual estimates
2020202120222023202456k54k
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
202020212022202320242025628156
Annual totals from the Census Building Permits Survey. Permitting in 2025 was lower than 2020 (−67%).

Weather & climate

8 of the twelve months have a normal average temperature between 55°F and 80°F. July averages a high of 93°F and January a low of 39°F.

Normal annual precipitation is 18.1 inches.

Air quality measures a median index of 45, in the Good band, and one day a year passes 100, the threshold at which the air is unhealthy for sensitive groups.

30°50°70°90°JFMAMJJASOND
Solid line: normal daily high. Dashed line: normal daily low. 1991-2020 normals from NOAA station SACRAMENTO EXECUTIVE AP, 4.4 miles from this location.
Precipitation
JFMAMJJASOND3.7"
Normal monthly precipitation, in inches.
MetricValueSource period
90th percentile air quality index63.02024 calendar year
Annual precipitation18.1"1991-2020 Normals
Average January low39°F1991-2020 Normals
Average July high93°F1991-2020 Normals
Comfortable months81991-2020 Normals
Days above AQI 10012024 calendar year
Median air quality index45.02024 calendar year
Seasonal temperature swing29°F1991-2020 Normals
Air quality
Median air quality index
45
Good on a typical day
Worst tenth of days
63
90th percentile index
Days above 100
1
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

28 / 100
Physical resilience

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

DroughtHigh
EarthquakeHigh
Inland floodingModerate
LandslideModerate
Heat waveModerate

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

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.

Yolo 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 6.3 per 100,000 — more than the homicide rate, because nationally most firearm deaths are suicides.

Drug overdose deaths run at 15.9 per 100,000 residents in Yolo County.

Homicide
2.1
per 100,000 residents · under 10 deaths
Firearm deaths, all intents
6.3
per 100,000 residents · under 10 deaths
Drug overdose
15.9
per 100,000 residents · under 10 deaths
Suicide
12.2
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 Yolo 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 West Sacramento rather than West Sacramento 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 10 miles away.

AirportCodeDistanceLongest runway
Sacramento IntlSMF10 mi8,605 ft
Mc Clellan AirfieldMCC11 mi10,599 ft
Stockton MetroSCK49 mi10,245 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
60
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Other cities in Sacramento-Roseville-Folsom, CA

Same metropolitan area, measured the same way
CityCountyPopulationArea ScoreCompare
SacramentoSacramento County528,70664vs West Sacramento
Elk GroveSacramento County179,15568vs West Sacramento
RosevillePlacer County155,95565vs West Sacramento
Arden-ArcadeSacramento County94,994vs West Sacramento
Citrus HeightsSacramento County86,99561vs West Sacramento
FolsomSacramento County83,91671vs West Sacramento
Rancho CordovaSacramento County81,84967vs West Sacramento
CarmichaelSacramento County76,948vs West Sacramento
RocklinPlacer County73,32768vs West Sacramento
DavisYolo County66,97852vs West Sacramento
WoodlandYolo County61,85452vs West Sacramento
LincolnPlacer County52,95666vs West Sacramento

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
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.

ZIP codes in West Sacramento

2 published ZIP profiles
ZIPPopulationMedian household incomeArea Score
9569140,143$104,75061
9560514,896$71,92455