100 years in pictures
The archive holds 6 old photos and papers going back to 2005 and 4 maps from 1940 on.
- 1926Anza is settled
Each edition grades its towns against each other only.

A town of 1,898, settled in 1926.
Anza’s weakest subject grade is a D− for hazard risk. Anza’s concentration of trails is 3.7 miles per square mile, above both California’s towns (1.0) and U.S. towns (0.4). On history, just 21 of California’s 1,063 towns do worse. San Bernardino National Forest, at 813 acres with 3.3 miles of trail, is the biggest park or preserve. Anza has fewer than 2,500 residents, so it gets subject grades but no overall grade.
Where Anza’s working residents go each day. Line width shows the share.
Census LEHD 2023
Each subject compared with towns across the country (schools within California), ordered by how far Anza is from typical.
How TownRatings grades towns →
The archive holds 6 old photos and papers going back to 2005 and 4 maps from 1940 on.
Anza is unincorporated, so Riverside 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.
Ordered by what stands out in Anza.
FEMA puts 78% of Anza’s expected hazard losses down to wildfires, and 12% to earthquakes. Households in the town have drawn federal disaster aid in 2 declared disasters, most recently in 2007. Expected storm and flood damage is higher than in 100% of U.S. communities.
FEMA disaster declarations and aid · FEMA National Risk Index · OpenFEMA
Its two schools are below. The largest public high school is Hamilton, with 450 students. The public schools here belong to the Hemet Unified school district.
| School | Level | Students | Letter |
|---|---|---|---|
| Hamilton ElementaryLargest public elementary schoolGrades K–5 | Grades K–5 | 360 | – |
| HamiltonLargest public high schoolGrades 6–12 | Grades 6–12 | 450 | B |
NCES · EDFacts · graded within CA on state tests and graduation
Among households in Anza, 79% live in a home they own. The typical rent for Anza comes to $1,580 a month, against $1,896 a month in California’s towns and $1,185 a month across U.S. towns. Home values are down 1.8% over the year to September 2026.
| Anza | California towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Households that own their home | 79% | 64% | 73% |
| Median rent | $1,580 a month | $1,896 a month | $1,185 a month |
Census ACS, 2020–24 · Zillow Home Value Index · Redfin Data Center
Anza’s average trip to work stands at 34 minutes. Only 7% of working residents stay in Anza for work; the rest commute out. Between 2013 and 2023, jobs in the town rose by 125, to 402. The top destinations are Temecula (5%), Palm Desert (5%) and Los Angeles (5%).
| Anza | California towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Average trip to work | 34 minutes | 28 minutes | 25 minutes |
| Below the poverty line | 11% | 10% | 9.6% |
Census LEHD 2023 · ACS
Anza: 17% of adults report frequent physical distress. Among adults in the town, 39% have high blood pressure and 14% binge drink.
| Anza | California towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Frequent physical distress (CDC PLACES) | 17% | 14% | 14% |
| High blood pressure (CDC PLACES) | 39% | 31% | 35% |
| Binge drink (CDC PLACES) | 14% | 16% | 16% |
| Diabetes (CDC PLACES) | 14% | 12% | 12% |
| What stands out | Anza | CA |
|---|---|---|
| More adults screened for colon cancer | 62.1% | 57.5% |
| More adults treating high blood pressure | 75.1% | 71.3% |
| More adults with COPD | 7.9% | 5.1% |
CDC PLACES 2025 · modeled estimates for adults · CMS · HRSA
In July, afternoons reach 90°; in January, nights fall to 36°, and about 26 inches of snow falls in a winter.
NOAA U.S. Climate Normals, 1991–2020
Trails run 102 miles in 2 parks and preserves. Parks and preserves in Anza: 2, covering 821 acres.
| Biggest places to walk | Trails | Acres |
|---|---|---|
| 1. San Bernardino National Forest | 3.3 mi | 813 |
| 2. Minor Park | 0.2 mi | 8 |
Trails & parks © OpenStreetMap contributors · Conserved land: USGS PAD-US
Museums, parks, gardens and other places to visit around Anza. Close and well known come first.
Big draw31 mi National ParkJoshua Tree National Park2.9M visitors a year
18 mi MountainSan Jacinto Peak
26 mi Stadium & arenaAcrisure Arena
27 mi State parkAnza-Borrego Desert State Park
38 mi MountainSan Gorgonio Mountain
37 mi Zoo & aquariumSan Diego Zoo Safari ParkJoshua Tree National Park: Sergiy Galyonkin, CC BY-SA 4.0 · San Jacinto Peak: Wattewyl, CC BY 3.0 · Acrisure Arena: TheAHL, CC BY 2.0 · Anza-Borrego Desert State Park: No machine-readable author provided. Miskatonic assumed (based on copyright clai, CC BY 2.5 · San Gorgonio Mountain: Doc Searls, CC BY-SA 2.0 · San Diego Zoo Safari Park: Flickr user: Olivier Bruchez https://www.flickr.com/photos/bruchez/, CC BY-SA 2.0
None within 15 miles of Anza; the nearest are
About 3 of every 100 Anza residents are enrolled in college, against 8 across California.
Census-designated place in California, United States
Anza is a census-designated place in Riverside County, California, in the Anza Valley, a semi-arid region at a mean elevation of 3,921 feet (1,195 m) above sea level. It is located 13 miles (21 km) south of Idyllwild, 32 miles (51 km) east-northeast of Temecula, 40 miles (64 km) southwest of Palm Springs, and 90 miles (140 km) northeast of San Diego, being traversed by State Route 371. Anza is on the Pacific Crest Trail and the Juan Bautista de Anza National Historic Trail. The population was 3,075 at the 2020 census. Locally, Anza and several other mountain communities (including Garner Valley, Idyllwild, Pinyon Pines and Aguanga) are collectively referred to as "the Hill." The ZIP code is…
From Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0 · facts via Wikidata (CC0)
Short answers, built from the data on this page.
That is 4.4 years of the area's median household income ($89,662 across the Riverside-San Bernardino-Ontario, CA metro area). Cost of living, which also weighs rents, property taxes and how many households pay 30% or more of their income for housing, grades C+.