City safety & data profile
El CentroCA
El Centro, CA is a 44K-resident city in Imperial County with a median household income of $53,082.
Imperial County, California. Federal health, economic, and safety indicators for El Centro, drawn from the U.S. Census Bureau American Community Survey, CDC PLACES, and CMS Hospital Compare. El Centro has a population larger than 76% of the 4,640 U.S. cities Areazine tracks, a median home value of $323,100, and 1 hospital serving the surrounding area.
- 44K
- Population (place)
- Top 24%
- By size
- $53,082
- Median income (place)
- $323,100
- Median home (place)
- 21.6%
- Poverty rate (place)
The read on El Centro
El Centro posts a median household income higher than 13% of U.S. cities Areazine tracks, where 1 hospital serves the El Centro area.
- Bottom 14%
- by median income, US cities
- 1
- hospital in & near El Centro
Composite score · El Centro, CA
12/100
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.
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.
Median household income vs cities tracked on Areazine; ACS 5-Year Estimates.
Share of residents below the poverty line; lower scores better on this axis. ACS 5-Year Estimates.
Adults with a bachelor's degree or higher; ACS 5-Year Estimates.
Curious how El Centro stacks up nationwide? See the full tables: Healthiest Cities in America (health outcomes only) · Community Wellbeing Cities (this page's blended composite).
Where El Centro income ranks nationally
Median household income vs. every place Areazine profiles (place-level ACS)
$53,082 Bottom 13% higher than 13% of 3,889 places Areazine profiles
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
CA cities ranked by population
Ranked by headcount across the 482 CA places Areazine tracks with both population and income data. Tooltip carries the income rank.
- Los Angeles
Los Angeles, CA
3,820,914 residents
- San Diego 1,404,452
San Diego, CA
1,404,452 residents
- San Jose 997,368
San Jose, CA
997,368 residents
- San Francisco 827,526
San Francisco, CA
827,526 residents
- Fresno 542,107
Fresno, CA
542,107 residents
- Sacramento 524,943
Sacramento, CA
524,943 residents
- Long Beach 474,140
Long Beach, CA
474,140 residents
- Oakland 419,267
Oakland, CA
419,267 residents
- Bakersfield 373,640
Bakersfield, CA
373,640 residents
- Anaheim 350,742
Anaheim, CA
350,742 residents
What this shows Los Angeles is the largest CA city on this list; Alamo leads median income.
CA cities ranked by median household income
Median household income among the same 482-city pool. Tooltip shows the population rank.
- Alamo
Alamo, CA
$250,001 median
- Hillsborough
Hillsborough, CA
$250,001 median
- Los Altos
Los Altos, CA
$250,001 median
- Orinda
Orinda, CA
$250,001 median
- Piedmont
Piedmont, CA
$250,001 median
- Saratoga
Saratoga, CA
$250,001 median
- Coto De Caza
Coto De Caza, CA
$243,816 median
- Tamalpais-Homestead Valley
Tamalpais-Homestead Valley, CA
$243,227 median
- Palos Verdes Estates
Palos Verdes Estates, CA
$242,014 median
- San Carlos
San Carlos, CA
$237,470 median
What this shows Alamo leads this pool on median income; Los Angeles is the population leader instead.
The quick read
Reading El Centro, CA beyond the headline numbers
El Centro sits inside Imperial County, California, at roughly 32.79°N, -115.56°W. Population 43,956, $53,082 median household income. Median home value $323,100, median rent $1,052. Poverty rate 21.6%, read against that income figure since two cities on the same median can differ underneath it.
1 hospital in/around El Centro, 1/5 avg rating, 1 with an ER. Climate: 74.3°F annual average, 2.6" precipitation.
Among the CDC measures on this page, lack of health insurance departs furthest from its peer median: 21.5% in El Centro, the highest-prevalence quarter of the 3,759 cities reporting that measure.
9.8% unemployment puts El Centro in the toughest quarter of reporting cities for job availability.
El Centro's median age is 31 years, in the youngest quarter of reporting cities.
21.6% of El Centro, 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 El Centro costs around 6.1 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.
14.9% of El Centro adults hold a bachelor's degree or higher, the lowest quarter of reporting cities.
Only 5.9% of El Centro workers report working from home, the lowest quarter of reporting cities -- an economy still built around showing up somewhere.
A typical renter in El Centro, CA pays $1,052/month, in the cheapest quarter of reporting cities -- rent here is not what strains a local paycheck.
Public transit carries 0% of El Centro workers, a smaller share than at least three quarters of reporting cities.
Sources: U.S. Census ACS, CDC PLACES, CMS Hospital Compare, plus live alerts for El Centro 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.
A Decade of Change 2013–2024
County-level trend (Imperial County): El Centro'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.
Economic Snapshot
El Centro's poverty rate of 21.6% runs 74% above the tracked-city average, the most notable of the economic figures Areazine tracks here. Median household income also diverges: $53,082, 41% below average.
| Indicator | Value |
|---|---|
| Median Rent | |
| Poverty Rate | 21.6% +74% vs avg |
| Unemployment | 9.8% |
| Bachelor's Degree+ | 14.9% |
| Work From Home | 5.9% |
| Public Transit | 0% |
Headcount
Health Profile 15 measures
Health Indicators
Preventive Care
Other Measures
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.
Climate
NOAA 1991-2020 NormalsCost of Living
BEA 20244.8% below national average
Metro area: El Centro, CA (MSA)
Source: BEA Regional Price Parities via FRED. RPP of 100 = national average.
NFIP Flood Claim History
FEMA NFIP, county-levelImperial County has recorded 2 National Flood Insurance Program claims totaling $34K in payouts since 2016.
Tropical Storm Hilary alone generated 1 of those claims, the county's largest named flood event in this 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 El Centro?
No area-tagged alerts are on record for El Centro right now. New federal and counterpart-agency notices still land in the site feed as agencies publish them.
City alert dispatch desk
Sheet CA-EL-CENTRO · El Centro
El Centro: no area-tagged alerts on record. State hubs carry the live CAP stream.
- FEED-QUIET No tagged alerts
- LEAD-NONE Feed idle
- DESK-IDLE Awaiting feed
Counts reflect published articles tagged to El Centro; untagged NOAA county warnings may still appear in the site feed. Browse California state hubs · Methodology
Related reading
Questions & Answers 9
What is the population of El Centro, CA? ▼
What is the median household income in El Centro? ▼
What is the median home value in El Centro? ▼
What are the top health concerns in El Centro? ▼
How many hospitals are in El Centro? ▼
What is the median age in El Centro? ▼
What is the climate like in El Centro? ▼
What is the cost of living in El Centro? ▼
What is the flood claim history for El Centro? ▼
Cities nationwide with a comparable poverty or income figure 8
Two ACS-derived peer sets for El Centro, both outside California so the neighborhoods are not the geographic nearby list below.
Similar poverty rate
Nearest place-level ACS poverty rates outside CA (21.6% here).
Similar median income
Nearest place-level ACS median household incomes outside CA ($53,082 here).
Compare El Centro 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.
Nearby Cities 8
What to do with El Centro'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 El Centro 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 El Centro against California peers on any ranking lens. Explore California
U.S. Census ACS supplies the place-level population and economics figures (income, home value, poverty, education); CDC PLACES supplies health; hospital counts reflect nearby facilities. County-level trends carry their own label.
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 (Imperial 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.