City safety & data profile

PacificaCA

Pacifica, CA is a 39K-resident city in San Mateo County with a median household income of $160,523.

San Mateo County, California. Federal health, economic, and safety indicators for Pacifica, drawn from the U.S. Census Bureau American Community Survey, CDC PLACES, and CMS Hospital Compare. Pacifica has a population larger than 73% of the 4,640 U.S. cities Areazine tracks, and a median home value of $1,249,800.

Data updated 2026-09-03

39K
Population (place)
Top 27%
By size
$160,523
Median income (place)
$1,249,800
Median home (place)
5.8%
Poverty rate (place)
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The read on Pacifica

Pacifica posts a median household income higher than 95% of U.S. cities Areazine tracks.

Top 5%
by median income, US cities

Where Pacifica income ranks nationally

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

$160,523 Top 5% higher than 95% of 3,889 places Areazine profiles

Pacifica $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 Pacifica, CA beyond the headline numbers

Pacifica sits inside San Mateo County, California, at roughly 37.61°N, -122.49°W. Population 39,260, $160,523 median household income. Median home value $1,249,800, median rent $3,098. Poverty rate 5.8%, read against that income figure since two cities on the same median can differ underneath it.

Hardship is low by national standards: 5.8% of Pacifica, CA residents live below the poverty line, in the least-affected quarter of the 3,890 cities reporting a rate.

The median home in Pacifica costs around 7.8 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.

23.6% of Pacifica workers report working from home, the highest quarter of reporting cities. Where that share runs this high, local income increasingly reflects employers located somewhere else.

Among the CDC measures on this page, short sleep duration departs furthest from its peer median: 28.2% in Pacifica, the lowest-prevalence quarter of the 3,852 cities reporting that measure.

3.8% of Pacifica workers commute by public transit, a larger share than at least three quarters of reporting cities.

At 44.6 years, Pacifica's median age is in the oldest quarter of reporting cities.

Sources: U.S. Census ACS, CDC PLACES, CMS Hospital Compare, plus live alerts for Pacifica 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)
39,260
Pacifica · Census Place
Median Income (place)
$160,523
+80% vs avg
Median Home Value (place)
$1,249,800
+202% vs avg
Median Age (place)
44.6
years · ACS place

10-Year Trends 2013–2024

County-level trend (San Mateo County): Pacifica'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
742K+2%
Median Income
$158,855+80%
Median Home Value
$1,559,600+116%
Poverty Rate
6.7%-12%
Unemployment
4.8%-41%

Economics

Economics indicators for Pacifica, CA
IndicatorValue
Median Rent
$3,098/mo
Poverty Rate
5.8% -53% vs avg
Unemployment 3.9%
Bachelor's Degree+ 48.9%
Work From Home 23.6%
Public Transit 3.8%

Population

White 52%
African American 1.2%
Asian 22.2%
Two or More Ethnicities 5%

Health Profile 15 measures

Health Indicators

High Blood Pressure
29.4%
Short Sleep Duration
28.2%
Obesity
23.7%
Physical Inactivity
18.5%
Binge Drinking
15.9%
Frequent Mental Distress
14.1%
Frequent Physical Distress
11.2%
Diabetes
9.9%
Current Asthma
9.3%
Current Smoking
8.6%

Preventive Care

Dental Visit 70.3%
Annual Checkup 71.8%

Other Measures

Lack of Health Insurance
5.4%
Coronary Heart Disease
5.1%
Stroke
2.7%

What alerts and safety updates affect Pacifica?

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

City alert dispatch desk

Sheet CA-PACIFICA · Pacifica

Pacifica: 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 Pacifica; untagged NOAA county warnings may still appear in the site feed. Browse California state hubs · Methodology

Read with this city profile

Frequently Asked Questions 5

What is the population of Pacifica, CA?
Pacifica, CA has a population of 39,260 people, located in San Mateo County, California.
What is the median household income in Pacifica?
The median household income in Pacifica, CA is $160,523 per year, per the U.S. Census ACS. The poverty rate is 5.8%.
What is the median home value in Pacifica?
The median home value in Pacifica, CA is $1,249,800. Median rent is $3,098/month.
What are the top health concerns in Pacifica?
The top health indicators in Pacifica include High Blood Pressure (29.4%), Short Sleep Duration (28.2%), Obesity (23.7%). Data from CDC PLACES.
What is the median age in Pacifica?
The median age in Pacifica, CA is 44.6 years. 48.9% of residents have a bachelor's degree or higher.

Nationwide cities with similar poverty or income 8

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

Similar poverty rate

Nearest place-level ACS poverty rates outside CA (5.8% here).

Similar median income

Nearest place-level ACS median household incomes outside CA ($160,523 here).

Compare Pacifica 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:

Nearby Cities 8

Using Pacifica'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 Pacifica 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 Pacifica 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 (San Mateo 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.