Garden Valley, CA

The affordability dashboard for Garden Valley, CA aggregates Census ACS 5-Year Estimates across 1 ZIP code covering 3,349 residents, then layers in county-level federal data to produce an overall grade of F (34/100). The headline inputs are median household income of $74,258, median home value of $434,200, median rent of $2,065 per month, and 25.7% of adults holding a bachelor's degree or higher. These four metrics alone explain most of the variance between city dashboards.

Cross-agency feeds widen the picture beyond Census demographics. HUD publishes a Fair Market Rent for a 2-bedroom in this county at $2,255 per month (studio $1,748, 1BR $1,832, 3BR $3,002, 4BR $3,460). Department of Labor data lists infant center-based childcare at $23,398 per year, consuming 32% of the local median household income.

Reading the overall grade requires reading all seven dimensions together. The score weights Income 20%, Safety 20%, Housing 15%, Rent 15%, Education 10%, Commute 10%, and Childcare 10%, with each sub-score benchmarked against national percentiles rather than state averages — so the grade is genuinely comparable across any city in the country. Pressure points are housing, rent, childcare. Unemployment currently reads 2.7% and poverty 16.7% — numbers worth keeping alongside the headline grade.