Back

City in the United States

Arcata

$486kMedian Home
306Sunny Days/yr
View on Map· Pop. 19k· Elev. 23 ftWikipedia

Arcata is a city adjacent to the Arcata Bay (northern) portion of Humboldt Bay in Humboldt County, California, United States. At the 2020 census, Arcata's population was 18,857. Arcata was first founded in 1850 as Union, was officially established in 1858, and was renamed Arcata in 1860. It is located 280 miles (450 km) north of San Francisco, and is home to California State Polytechnic University, Humboldt. Arcata is also the location of the Arcata Field Office of the Federal Bureau of Land Management, which is responsible for the administration of natural resources, lands and mineral programs, including the Headwaters Forest, on approximately 200,000 acres (810 km2) of public land in Northwestern California.Wikipedia

About the RegionCalifornia

California contains multitudes in a way that makes any single characterization misleading. The Bay Area and Los Angeles operate as global city-states, with housing markets, income levels, and cultural gravity that put them in direct competition with London and Tokyo rather than with other American metros. Both have lost net domestic migrants to lower-cost states for most of the last decade — primarily to Texas, Arizona, and Nevada — though both also continue to be net draws for international migration and maintain labor markets of extraordinary depth and diversity.

But California's geography is vast. The Central Valley offers costs of living that rival the Midwest with driving distance to the Sierra Nevada; the North Coast is one of the most beautiful and least-crowded stretches of American coastline; and the smaller cities of the inland valleys represent genuinely different lifestyle profiles. For remote workers who can absorb the state income tax and housing cost, the combination of climate diversity, outdoor access, and cultural institution density remains difficult to replicate anywhere in the world.

02

Current Conditions

03

Cost of Living

Housing
$2k/mo
Median Rent
$486k
Median Home Price
Rent burden51% of income
Household Income
$43k
Median annual
04

Livability

Walk Score
91
School Rating
5/10
Internet
Fiber
0%
Cable
82%
address availability
05

Climate

Sunshine
306
sunny days per year
84% of the year
Comfort Score
70/100
Good
Rainfall
57"
inches per year
Air Quality
35
Good AQI
07

Demographics

Population19k
Altitude23 ftabove sea level
Median Age27 yrs
College Educated45%bachelor's or higher
Work From Home13%of workforce
Poverty Rate34%

Similar Cities

Climate + Costs + Daily Life

Nearby Comparisons

Regional Alternatives
Local Real Estate ExpertAD
Your Name HereClaim this exclusive city slot

Compare Arcata with other cities

Stack it side-by-side against cities you're considering.

Quick Compare