National City, CA

The affordability dashboard for National City, CA aggregates Census ACS 5-Year Estimates across 1 ZIP code covering 60,322 residents, then layers in county-level federal data to produce an overall grade of F (26/100). The headline inputs are median household income of $66,426, median home value of $612,200, median rent of $1,670 per month, and 18.0% 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 $3,001 per month (studio $2,288, 1BR $2,459, 3BR $3,998, 4BR $4,845). Department of Labor data lists infant center-based childcare at $19,719 per year, consuming 30% 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 education, housing, rent, childcare. Unemployment currently reads 6.0% and poverty 14.9% — numbers worth keeping alongside the headline grade.