Alum RockCA
A town of 10,440.
Is Alum Rock a good place to live?
Alum Rock grades C overall, 337th among California's 841 graded towns, with clear strengths and some subjects that lag. The median household earns $127K and it is more walkable than 81% of U.S. towns. On the other side, FEMA rates its natural-hazard risk higher than 91% of U.S. communities, with earthquakes at the top. Alum Rock’s median rent is $2,389 a month, against $1,895 a month in California’s towns and $1,185 a month across U.S. towns. On the outdoors, just 37 of California’s 1,064 towns do worse.
What makes Alum Rock stand out
Where Alum Rock beats most towns, and one thing worth knowing.
Alum Rock has shrunk 23% from 2010 to 2020
15,536 counted in 2010 and 12,042 in 2020.
U.S. Census 2010 & 2020 counts
How Alum Rock grades
Each subject compared with towns across the country (schools within California), ordered by how far Alum Rock is from typical.
How TownRatings grades towns →
Levi's Stadium and 108 more within 40 miles
Museums, parks, gardens and other places to visit around Alum Rock. Close and well known come first.
Big draw8 mi Stadium & arenaLevi's Stadium
Big draw8 mi Theme parkCalifornia's Great America
5 mi Stadium & arenaSAP Center
Big draw38 mi MuseumUSS Hornet
6 mi Stadium & arenaPayPal Park
14 mi MuseumComputer History MuseumPhoto credits
Levi's Stadium: Matthew Roth, CC BY-SA 2.0 · California's Great America: Oleg Alexandrov, CC BY-SA 4.0 · SAP Center: Dicklyon, CC BY-SA 4.0 · USS Hornet: kitmasterbloke, CC BY 2.0 · PayPal Park: Jbburgess0, CC BY-SA 4.0 · Computer History Museum: Dzou, CC BY-SA 3.0
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Moving to Alum Rock: who provides what
Alum Rock is unincorporated, so Santa Clara County and regional agencies provide most services.
EPA SDWIS (Oct 9, 2026) · HIFLD + EIA-861 2025 · Census 2020 ZCTAs · NCES 2024–25 · registration: vote.gov, updated Nov 18, 2024.
The data
Ordered by what stands out in Alum Rock.
Alum Rock has a longer frost-free season than nearly all U.S. towns and sends most of its workers to San Jose and beyond, but it trails even towns with similar incomes on health.
Alum Rock faces a very high natural-hazard risk, led by earthquakes
FEMA National Risk Index · OpenFEMA
About two in five of Alum Rock’s working residents commute to San Jose
Alum Rock has 918 jobs for its 4,900 working residents: even if every job went to a resident, most would still commute out.
Most working residents leave Alum Rock for work: only 1% work in town. 6.2% of Alum Rock residents live below the poverty line. Jobs based in Alum Rock grew to 918 in 2023, 52 more than in 2013.
| Alum Rock | California towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Median household income | $127,000 | $95,000 | $80,000 |
| Work from home | 7.7% | 14% | 11% |
| Below the poverty line | 6.2% | 10% | 9.6% |
| Working residents who work in town | 1.4% | 6.6% | 8% |
Where working residents work
Census LEHD 2023 · ACS
Alum Rock has mild winters and pleasant summers
The Los Gatos weather station, 12 miles away, records that the frost-free season runs about 310 days, longer than in 95% of U.S. towns.
Alum Rock has mild winters and warm summers, with very little rain. July afternoons reach 86°, January nights drop to 39° and snow is almost unheard of.
Typical low → high °F
NOAA U.S. Climate Normals, 1991–2020
Alum Rock is less healthy than 58% of U.S. towns
Against the 4,883 U.S. towns with household incomes like Alum Rock’s, it is less healthy than 94%, so it trails even them.
Alum Rock beats the California average on 2 of 32 CDC measures and trails it on 14. 42% of adults feel lonely in Alum Rock.
| Alum Rock | California towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Feel lonely (CDC PLACES) | 42% | 36% | 33% |
| Yearly checkup (CDC PLACES) | 67% | 72% | 79% |
| No health insurance, 18–64 (CDC PLACES) | 18% | 9% | 8.1% |
| Get no exercise (CDC PLACES) | 33% | 24% | 25% |
| What stands out | Alum Rock | CA |
|---|---|---|
| Fewer adults who have had cancer | 4.5% | 6.4% |
| Fewer adults with arthritis | 17.2% | 20.8% |
| More uninsured adults | 17.8% | 10.6% |
CDC PLACES 2025 · modeled estimates for adults · CMS · HRSA
The median home in Alum Rock sells for about $1.21M
Zillow Home Value Index · Redfin Data Center
Everything we know about Alum Rock
Colleges nearby
14 within 15 miles of the center of Alum Rock
About 9 of every 100 Alum Rock residents are enrolled in college, about the same as California.
99% of working residents leave Alum Rock for work
Where Alum Rock’s working residents go each day. Line width shows the share.
Census LEHD 2023
Alum Rock’s neighbors
2 towns share a border with Alum Rock.
| Town | CA rank | Overall | Cost | Safety | Schools | Health |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Alum Rock | #337 | C | C− | — | C+ | C+ |
| San Jose | #293 | C+ | D | D | B+ | A− |
| East Foothills | #253 | C+ | D | — | C+ | A− |
Alum Rock and East Foothills report no FBI crime data of their own. Compare Alum Rock with a neighbor →
Questions about Alum Rock
Short answers, built from the data on this page.
Is Alum Rock, CA a good place to live?
Alum Rock grades C overall, better than 34% of U.S. towns and #337 of 841 in California. It grades C+ for health and C+ for schools. Hazard risk is its weak spot, with a D.
Is Alum Rock, CA expensive?
Yes. The typical home is worth about $910,000, 19% above the California typical home. Cost of living, which also weighs rents, property taxes and how many households pay 30% or more of their income for housing, grades C−.