Ballard, CA population, income and ZIP codes

Ballard CDP is a very small community in California, with 796 residents counted in the Census American Community Survey 2019-2023 ACS 5-year estimates, which places it #1121 of 1,618 ranked by population — larger than 30% of them. The median age here is 40.3 years against 39.1 nationally, a slightly older profile than the country as a whole. At this population the ACS sample is small, so the margin of error around every dollar figure below is wide — treat the numbers as a band, not a point, and expect them to move between annual releases without the place itself changing.

Households in Ballard CDP earn a median of $113,750 a year, 44.8% above the national figure of $78,538 and 25% above the $91,111 median for the 1,050 California cities we cover. Median household income counts every pre-tax dollar arriving at an address — wages, self-employment, Social Security, pensions, interest and public assistance — for everyone living there, so multi-earner households pull the figure up even where individual pay is modest. Poverty reaches 16.1% of residents here, above the 12.4% national rate.

The typical owner-occupied home in Ballard CDP is valued at $1,589,300, 423.8% above the national figure and 170% above the $589,600 peer median, while median gross rent runs $2,260 a month, 60.7% above the national figure, or roughly $27,120 across a full year. A household on the local median income would put about 23.8% of gross pay toward that rent against the federal 30% cost-burden threshold, so renting here is within the standard affordability guideline. The home-price-to-income ratio works out to 14×, against roughly 3.9× nationally, so buying is out of reach on local earnings alone and the ownership market leans on outside income, equity or dual high earners. 61.9% of occupied homes are owner-occupied versus 65% nationally, so the market leans more heavily on renters. Rent is reported gross — contract rent plus tenant-paid utilities — which is why it runs above the advertised price on a listing for the same unit.

Home values sit at 14× median household income, far past the 3.9× national mark, so ownership costs here are set by something other than local wages — second homes, retirees with equity, or commuters earning elsewhere. Median income runs above the national figure while poverty also runs above it — a split distribution, not a uniformly comfortable place. Averages hide that; the two numbers together do not.

No figure on this page is estimated by us; each one comes straight from the published ACS tables for this area. Small-area estimates still carry wider margins of error than state or national figures, so check the linked ACS tables before relying on them for lending, appraisal or legal work.