ZIP code 92251

ZIP 92251 is a small city in Imperial County, California, with 27,197 residents counted in the Census American Community Survey 2019-2023 ACS 5-year estimates, which places it #676 of 1,803 ranked by population — larger than 62% of them. The median age here is 34 years against 39.1 nationally, a slightly younger profile than the country as a whole. Places under 65,000 residents only appear in the five-year release, never the one-year file, so these values pool sixty months of responses and lag the current year by design.

Households in ZIP 92251 earn a median of $83,709 a year, 6.6% above the national figure of $78,538. This figure covers the household, not the worker: two people on ordinary wages at one address outrank a single professional in the same table. Poverty reaches 13.3% of residents here, above the 12.4% national rate.

The typical owner-occupied home in ZIP 92251 is valued at $350,100, 15.4% above the national figure, while median gross rent runs $1,378 a month, 2% below the national figure, or roughly $16,536 across a full year. A household on the local median income would put about 19.8% of gross pay toward that rent against the federal 30% cost-burden threshold, so renting here is cheap relative to what people here earn. The home-price-to-income ratio works out to 4.2×, against roughly 3.9× nationally, so buying is harder here than in the average US market. 66.8% of occupied homes are owner-occupied versus 65% nationally, so the market leans toward owners. 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.

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.

All values below were released by the Census for this exact geography, with no gap-filling on our side. 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.

ZIP 92251 is tabulated inside Imperial County, California, one of 15 ZIP areas the Census publishes for that county and 1,803 across California. This is a mid-sized suburban ZIP inside a county that is split across many delivery areas. County assignment on this page follows the largest share of the ZIP's land area, which matters where a delivery route crosses a county line: mail addressed to 92251 can be handled by a post office in a neighbouring county even though the tabulation area is filed here.

Against its own county, 92251 reports a median household income of $83,709, 57% above the $53,282 county median, and 7% below the $89,916 typical CA ZIP. Owner-occupied homes are valued at a median of $350,100, 58% above the county figure and 44% below the statewide ZIP median. Rent is reported gross — the contract amount plus tenant-paid utilities — at $1,378 a month, which is why it reads higher than the advertised rent on a listing for the same unit.

California charges 7.25% statewide, and local governments overlapping 92251 may add county, city or special-district levies on top. We publish the state floor for this ZIP rather than guessing a combined figure, because ZIP boundaries and taxing-district boundaries were drawn for different purposes and do not line up.

Everything above comes from the Census Bureau American Community Survey 2019-2023 ACS 5-year estimates for this ZIP Code Tabulation Area, with sales tax rates traced to the state revenue agency. Five-year estimates pool sixty months of responses, so they are stable enough to compare 92251 with its neighbours but always trail the current year, and any value the Census suppressed for sample size is shown as unpublished rather than filled in with a model.