City safety & data profile

ChicoCA

Chico, CA is a 121K-resident city in Butte County with a median household income of $66,977.

Butte County, California. Federal health, economic, and safety indicators for Chico, drawn from the U.S. Census Bureau American Community Survey, CDC PLACES, and CMS Hospital Compare. Chico has a population larger than 94% of the 4,640 U.S. cities Areazine tracks, a median home value of $468,100, and 1 hospital serving the surrounding area.

Data updated 2026-09-16
121K
Population (place)
Top 6%
By size
$66,977
Median income (place)
$468,100
Median home (place)
22.7%
Poverty rate (place)
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The read on Chico

Chico posts a median household income higher than 32% of U.S. cities Areazine tracks, where 1 hospital serves the Chico area.

Bottom 33%
by median income, US cities
1
hospital in & near Chico

Composite score · Chico, CA

32/100

4 published dimensions · ACS/FBI 2024

A transparent index Areazine derives from Census ACS medians (income, poverty, bachelor's share) and FBI UCR violent-crime rates when published, not an official Census Bureau or FBI rating. Higher means a stronger standing on those published figures, not a livability rating, not a recommendation to move to or avoid any place. Missing inputs drop out and redistribute weight. How it is calculated.

Bachelor's+ share B-
42.2%

Adults with a bachelor's degree or higher; ACS 5-Year Estimates.

Household income F
$66,977

Median household income vs cities tracked on Areazine; ACS 5-Year Estimates.

Violent crime F
442 /100k

FBI UCR violent offenses per 100,000 residents. State-level rate (per-city UCR reporting is incomplete/voluntary): every city in the state shares this value; lower is stronger on this axis.

Poverty rate F
22.7%

Share of residents below the poverty line; lower scores better on this axis. ACS 5-Year Estimates.

See the full national tables: Healthiest Cities in America (health outcomes only) · Community Wellbeing Cities (this page's blended composite).

Where Chico income ranks nationally

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

$66,977 Bottom 32% higher than 32% of 3,889 places Areazine profiles

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

Each bar is a $20,000-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

Biggest cities by headcount 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 tops this pool by population; the income lead belongs to Alamo instead.

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

CA cities ranked by median household income

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

median

What this shows Income honors go to Alamo here -- by headcount, that title belongs to Los Angeles.

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

The quick read

Reading Chico, CA beyond the headline numbers

Chico sits inside Butte County, California, at roughly 39.73°N, -121.84°W. Population 121,345, $66,977 median household income. Median home value $468,100, median rent $1,488. Poverty rate 22.7%, read against that income figure since two cities on the same median can differ underneath it.

1 hospital in/around Chico, 3/5 avg rating, 1 with an ER. Climate: 61.7°F annual average, 27.3" precipitation.

The median home in Chico costs around 7.0 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.

22.7% of Chico, 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.

Chico's median age is 31.1 years, in the youngest quarter of reporting cities.

Among the CDC measures on this page, binge drinking departs furthest from its peer median: 18.9% in Chico, the highest-prevalence quarter of the 3,759 cities reporting that measure.

6.8% unemployment puts Chico in the toughest quarter of reporting cities for job availability.

42.2% of Chico adults hold a bachelor's degree or higher, above the midpoint of reporting cities.

13.5% of Chico workers are remote, above the midpoint of reporting cities.

Median rent in Chico, CA runs $1,488/month, above the midpoint for reporting cities -- worth weighing against the income figures on this page.

Sources: U.S. Census ACS, CDC PLACES, CMS Hospital Compare, plus live alerts for Chico 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.

Looking Back a Decade 2013–2024

County-level trend (Butte County): Chico'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
208K-6%
Median Income
$67,928+55%
Median Home Value
$424,700+88%
Poverty Rate
19.2%-6%
Unemployment
7.4%-48%

Money & Work

The clearest outlier in Chico's numbers is poverty rate: 22.7%, which is 83% above what's typical across the tracked-city set. Median household income runs 25% below average too, at $66,977.

Economics indicators for Chico, CA
IndicatorValue
Median Rent
$1,488/mo
Poverty Rate
22.7% +83% vs avg
Unemployment 6.8%
Bachelor's Degree+ 42.2%
Work From Home 13.5%
Public Transit 0.9%

Population Snapshot

White 69.2%
African American 2.3%
Asian 5.3%
Two or More Ethnicities 2.7%

Health at a Glance 15 measures

Health Indicators

Short Sleep Duration
32.8%
High Blood Pressure
28.8%
Obesity
28.6%
Physical Inactivity
20.9%
Frequent Mental Distress
19.9%
Binge Drinking
18.9%
Frequent Physical Distress
13%
Current Smoking
11.8%
Current Asthma
10.7%
Diabetes
8.9%

Preventive Care

Dental Visit 61.3%
Annual Checkup 71%

Other Measures

Lack of Health Insurance
8%
Coronary Heart Disease
5.4%
Stroke
2.9%

Hospitals 1 total

CMS Overall Hospital Quality Star Rating (1-5): a composite score across dozens of reported measures, not a single outcome guarantee for any patient. It isn't adjusted for patient case mix and isn't directly comparable across hospital types, a critical-access facility and a large teaching hospital aren't rated on the same measure set.

Rating Distribution
★★★★★
0
★★★★
0
★★★
1
★★
0
★
0
Average Rating
3/5
Total Hospitals
1
With ER
1
ENLOE HEALTH
CHICO · Acute Care Hospitals · ER
★★★☆☆

Climate

NOAA 1991-2020 Normals
Avg Temperature
62°F
Annual Rainfall
27.3"
Hot Months (>80°F)
4
Cold Months (<40°F)
0
56°
36°
Jan
5.1"
62°
38°
Feb
5.1"
67°
42°
Mar
3.6"
73°
45°
Apr
2.0"
81°
52°
May
1.4"
89°
57°
Jun
0.6"
95°
61°
Jul
0.0"
94°
59°
Aug
0.1"
91°
55°
Sep
0.3"
80°
47°
Oct
1.7"
65°
40°
Nov
2.4"
57°
36°
Dec
5.0"

Cost of Living

BEA 2024
101.2 Regional Price Parity

1.2% above national average

US avg
101.2

Metro area: Chico, CA (MSA)

Source: BEA Regional Price Parities via FRED. RPP of 100 = national average.

Flood Insurance Claims History

FEMA NFIP, county-level
71
Claims filed
$2.6M
Total paid out
A
Most common flood zone

Butte County has recorded 71 National Flood Insurance Program claims totaling $2.6M in payouts since 2016.

Most claims in this county are not tied to a single named storm or hurricane in the NFIP record.

Source: FEMA National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) claims, via OpenFEMA. County-level data: individual claims are not attributed to a specific city or address by FEMA.

What alerts and safety updates affect Chico?

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

City alert dispatch desk

Sheet CA-CHICO · Chico

Chico: 8 tagged alerts; lead category NWS weather alert.

  • VOL-LIGHT 8 on record
  • WX-LED 100% weather
  • DESK-MIX NOAA
  • PHOTO-FINISH ≈ Central

Tagged alert mix: Chico

Published notices carrying this city slug or location tag

Value

What this shows 8 tagged notices on record for Chico.

Source Areazine publication corpus As of Live tagged feed

Nearest tagged-volume peer: Central, LA (8 tagged · Δ0)

Counts reflect published articles tagged to Chico; untagged NOAA county warnings may still appear in the site feed. Browse California state hubs · Methodology

Cities with a similar tagged alert volume 4

Nearest published-notice counts on Areazine (8 tagged here), a feed-density peer set, not an ACS demographic match.

Central, LA 8 alerts Dallas, TX 7 alerts Leicester, MA 7 alerts Albuquerque, NM 10 alerts

More on this area

Understanding Weather Alerts

Watch vs warning vs advisory, how NOAA labels map to action
All safety guides →

Common Questions 9

What is the population of Chico, CA? ▼
Chico, CA has a population of 121,345 people, located in Butte County, California.
What is the median household income in Chico? ▼
The median household income in Chico, CA is $66,977 per year, per the U.S. Census ACS. The poverty rate is 22.7%.
What is the median home value in Chico? ▼
The median home value in Chico, CA is $468,100. Median rent is $1,488/month.
What are the top health concerns in Chico? ▼
The top health indicators in Chico include Short Sleep Duration (32.8%), High Blood Pressure (28.8%), Obesity (28.6%). Data from CDC PLACES.
How many hospitals are in Chico? ▼
Chico has 1 hospital with an average rating of 3/5 stars. 1 have emergency departments.
What is the median age in Chico? ▼
The median age in Chico, CA is 31.1 years. 42.2% of residents have a bachelor's degree or higher.
What is the climate like in Chico? ▼
Chico has an average annual temperature of 61.7°F and 27.3" of annual precipitation.
What is the cost of living in Chico? ▼
The regional price parity for Chico is 101.197, meaning prices are 1.2% above the national average.
Has Chico had flood insurance claims? ▼
Butte County, California has recorded 71 NFIP flood insurance claims since 2016, totaling $2.6M in payouts. This is county-level data: FEMA does not attribute individual claims to a specific city.

Similar poverty or income, nationwide 8

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

Similar poverty rate

Nearest place-level ACS poverty rates outside CA (22.7% here).

Plattsburgh, NY 22.7% Fremont, OH 22.7% Magnolia, AR 22.7% Lincolnton, NC 22.7%

Similar median income

Nearest place-level ACS median household incomes outside CA ($66,977 here).

Gainesville, GA $66,974 Warner Robins, GA $66,970 Melbourne, FL $66,991 North Tonawanda, NY $66,961

Compare Chico with another city

Pick a second U.S. city to open a side-by-side profile on population, income, health, and hospitals, the same federal datasets as this page.

Quick picks:

In the Area 8

Paradise, CA 26K Magalia, CA 11K Oroville, CA 16K Red Bluff, CA 14K Yuba City, CA 67K Marysville, CA 12K South Yuba City, CA 15K Linda, CA 18K
All cities in California → Compare Chico vs Paradise → All comparisons → Browse all cities

What to do with Chico's numbers

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 Chico area before relying on national headlines. Check your area
  • A median income figure alone can mislead, cross-check it against the poverty rate for the fuller picture.
  • Compare Chico against California peers on any ranking lens. Explore California

Place-level figures for population and economics (income, home value, poverty, education) come from U.S. Census ACS; health data is CDC PLACES; hospital counts cover facilities in and around the city. Any county-level trend is labeled as such.

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 (Butte 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 2026-09-16.