City safety & data profile

ArcataCA

Arcata, CA is a 18K-resident city in Humboldt County with a median household income of $46,713.

Humboldt County, California. Federal health, economic, and safety indicators for Arcata, drawn from the U.S. Census Bureau American Community Survey, CDC PLACES, and CMS Hospital Compare. Arcata has a population larger than 37% of the 4,640 U.S. cities Areazine tracks, a median home value of $484,600, and 1 hospital serving the surrounding area.

Data updated 2026-08-21

18K
Population (place)
Bottom 38%
By size
$46,713
Median income (place)
$484,600
Median home (place)
27.2%
Poverty rate (place)
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The read on Arcata

Arcata posts a median household income higher than 6% of U.S. cities Areazine tracks, where 1 hospital serves the Arcata area.

Bottom 7%
by median income, US cities
1
hospital in & near Arcata

Where Arcata income ranks nationally

Median household income vs. every place Areazine profiles (place-level ACS)

$46,713 Bottom 6% higher than 6% of 3,889 places Areazine profiles

Arcata $0 $260,000 every profiled place, bucketed by value

Each bar is a $20K-wide band; taller bars hold more places Areazine profiles. The dashed line + filled bar mark this entry. Hover or tap any bar for its full count, share, and where it sits relative to this entry.

Source U.S. Census Bureau, American Community Survey (place-level) · 2024 ACS 5-year

Largest cities in CA

Population among 482 CA places with 10,000+ residents and ACS income on Areazine. Tooltip shows the income rank in the same pool.

residents

What this shows Los Angeles is the largest CA city on this list; Alamo leads median income.

Source U.S. Census Bureau, American Community Survey (place-level) As of 2024 ACS 5-year

Highest median incomes in CA

Median household income among the same 482-city pool. Tooltip shows the population rank.

median

What this shows Alamo posts the highest place-level median income in CA; Los Angeles is largest by headcount.

Source U.S. Census Bureau, American Community Survey (place-level) As of 2024 ACS 5-year

The quick read

Reading Arcata, CA beyond the headline numbers

Arcata sits inside Humboldt County, California, at roughly 40.87°N, -124.08°W. Population 17,843, $46,713 median household income. Median home value $484,600, median rent $1,327. Poverty rate 27.2%, read against that income figure since two cities on the same median can differ underneath it.

1 hospital in/around Arcata, 1/5 avg rating, 1 with an ER.

27.2% of Arcata, CA residents live below the poverty line, placing it in the hardest-hit quarter of reporting cities. Read every median on this page against that: half the households are above it, and a large minority are far below.

The median home in Arcata costs around 10.4 times what a median household earns in a year -- the most expensive quarter of reporting cities, and far enough ahead of local pay that ownership is largely closed to median earners.

15.4% of Arcata workers are remote, above the midpoint of reporting cities.

Among the CDC measures on this page, frequent mental distress departs furthest from its peer median: 22.6% in Arcata, the highest-prevalence quarter of the 3,759 cities reporting that measure.

Arcata's median age is 28.1 years, in the youngest quarter of reporting cities.

Sources: U.S. Census ACS, CDC PLACES, CMS Hospital Compare, plus live alerts for Arcata from FEMA, NOAA, FDA, and CPSC. Economic comparison bars use the unweighted average across tracked Census places with a reported value, not a household-weighted national median.

Population (place)
17,843
Arcata · Census Place
Median Income (place)
$46,713
-48% vs avg
Median Home Value (place)
$484,600
+17% vs avg
Median Age (place)
28.1
years · ACS place

10-Year Trends 2013–2024

County-level trend (Humboldt County): Arcata's own historical series isn't separately published by the Census Bureau, so these year-over-year figures track the surrounding county, not the city alone.

20132024
Population
135K-0%
Median Income
$61,160+48%
Median Home Value
$446,900+55%
Poverty Rate
18.7%-8%
Unemployment
9%-19%

Economics

Economics indicators for Arcata, CA
IndicatorValue
Median Rent
$1,327/mo
Poverty Rate
27.2% +119% vs avg
Unemployment 11.9%
Bachelor's Degree+ 46.3%
Work From Home 15.4%
Public Transit 1.4%

Population

White 72.8%
African American 3.5%
Asian 1.1%
Two or More Ethnicities 6.6%

Health Profile 15 measures

Health Indicators

Short Sleep Duration
34.9%
Obesity
29.7%
High Blood Pressure
24.3%
Frequent Mental Distress
22.6%
Physical Inactivity
21%
Binge Drinking
20%
Frequent Physical Distress
12.8%
Current Smoking
12.3%
Current Asthma
11.2%
Lack of Health Insurance
8.3%

Preventive Care

Dental Visit 58.6%
Annual Checkup 67.1%

Other Measures

Diabetes
7.7%
Coronary Heart Disease
4.6%
Stroke
2.5%

Hospitals 1 total

Rating Distribution
★★★★★
0
★★★★
0
★★★
0
★★
0
★
1
Average Rating
1/5
Total Hospitals
1
With ER
1
MAD RIVER COMMUNITY HOSPITAL
ARCATA · Acute Care Hospitals · ER
★☆☆☆☆

Alerts & News - Arcata Area

No area-tagged alerts are on record for Arcata right now. New federal and counterpart-agency notices still land in the site feed as agencies publish them.

Frequently Asked Questions 6

What is the population of Arcata, CA? ▼
Arcata, CA has a population of 17,843 people, located in Humboldt County, California.
What is the median household income in Arcata? ▼
The median household income in Arcata, CA is $46,713 per year, per the U.S. Census ACS. The poverty rate is 27.2%.
What is the median home value in Arcata? ▼
The median home value in Arcata, CA is $484,600. Median rent is $1,327/month.
What are the top health concerns in Arcata? ▼
The top health indicators in Arcata include Short Sleep Duration (34.9%), Obesity (29.7%), High Blood Pressure (24.3%). Data from CDC PLACES.
How many hospitals are in Arcata? ▼
Arcata has 1 hospital with an average rating of 1/5 stars. 1 have emergency departments.
What is the median age in Arcata? ▼
The median age in Arcata, CA is 28.1 years. 46.3% of residents have a bachelor's degree or higher.

Safety Context

Arcata, CA is located in Humboldt County, California. With a population of 18K and a $46,713 median household income, the community faces health challenges including short sleep duration and obesity. Residents have access to 1 hospital with an average rating of 1/5 stars. Safety alerts for the Arcata area are monitored from federal and state agencies including FEMA, NOAA, FDA, and CPSC.

Safety Guides

How Product Recalls Work

CPSC, FDA & NHTSA recall process explained

Understanding Weather Alerts

Watch vs warning vs advisory explained

Earthquake Magnitude Explained

What the numbers mean & when to act
All safety guides →

Primary source data

EPA Outdoor Air Quality Data

Federal monitoring network, every measurement we report

AirNow - California

Real-time AQI for every monitored California location

National Weather Service

NOAA active watches, warnings, advisories

CDC Air Quality & Health

Health-impact reference for every AQI category

EPA NAAQS standards

National Ambient Air Quality Standards, the regulatory thresholds

Nationwide cities with similar poverty or income 8

Two ACS-derived peer sets for Arcata, both outside California so the neighborhoods are not the geographic nearby list below.

Similar poverty rate

Nearest place-level ACS poverty rates outside CA (27.2% here).

Bridgeton, NJ 27.2% Carthage, MO 27.2% Somerset, KY 27.2% Kent, OH 27.1%

Similar median income

Nearest place-level ACS median household incomes outside CA ($46,713 here).

Martinsville, VA $46,727 Klamath Falls, OR $46,693 Anniston, AL $46,668 New Port Richey East, FL $46,641

Nearby Cities 8

Bayside, CA 17K McKinleyville, CA 15K Eureka, CA 27K Fortuna, CA 12K Redding, CA 92K Shasta Lake, CA 10K Grants Pass, OR 37K Anderson, CA 10K
All cities in California → Compare Arcata vs Bayside → All comparisons → Browse all cities

Using Arcata's profile

Use this as a starting research checklist, not a verdict on whether to live here.

  • Check live recalls, weather and hazard alerts scoped to the Arcata area before relying on national headlines. Check your area
  • Read the poverty rate alongside the income figure, two places with the same median can have very different realities.
  • Compare Arcata against California peers on any ranking lens. Explore California

Population and economics (income, home value, poverty, education) are place-level U.S. Census ACS; health is CDC PLACES; hospital counts reflect facilities in and around the city. County-level trends are labeled when shown.

Data Sources

All data on this page comes from official U.S. government sources. Population and economic data from the Census Bureau American Community Survey (2024 5-year estimates, place geography). Health data from the CDC PLACES program (2023). Hospital ratings from CMS Hospital Compare (2024). Climate data from NOAA. Education data from NCES. Cost of living from Bureau of Economic Analysis. Crime statistics, where referenced on Areazine, originate from the FBI Crime Data Explorer. Housing market figures referenced on Areazine come from HUD Fair Market Rents. Census economics and population are at place geography; some health and hospital indicators are reported at the county level (Humboldt County) where that is the smallest published unit.

Every figure on Areazine is published directly from official U.S. government sources, no number is typed in by an editor. City demographic and health figures are compiled directly from U.S. Census (place-level ACS), CDC, and CMS releases, updated quarterly within 30 days of upstream release. County-level trends are labeled when shown. See our editorial standards & corrections policy, the methodology behind these numbers, or report a data error. Data current as of 2026.