AromasCA
A town of 3,245, settled in 1894.
Is Aromas a good place to live?
FEMA rates its natural-hazard risk higher than 97% of U.S. communities, with earthquakes at the top. Overall it grades C, 333rd among California's 841 graded towns. The median household earns $148K and it is healthier than 78% of U.S. towns. Its weakest subject is cost of living: the typical home is worth about $950K, 9.8 years of the Salinas metro’s $97K median household income. Aromas’ going rate for rent is $2,638 a month, where California’s towns sit at $1,895 a month and U.S. towns at $1,185 a month. Only 69 of California’s 1,064 towns score lower on the outdoors.
What makes Aromas stand out
Where Aromas beats most towns, and one thing worth knowing.
98% of working residents leave Aromas for work
Where Aromas’s working residents go each day. Line width shows the share.
Census LEHD 2023
How Aromas grades
Each subject compared with towns across the country (schools within California), ordered by how far Aromas is from typical.
Its grades run from A for jobs and income (better than 93% of comparable towns) to D− for hazard risk (better than 1%), so the C overall blends very different results.
How TownRatings grades towns →
Moving to Aromas: who provides what
Aromas is unincorporated, so Monterey 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 Aromas.
Aromas has a longer frost-free season than nearly all U.S. towns and has less tooth loss than most of California, but it has homes that cost more against local pay than most of California.
The biggest natural risk in Aromas is earthquakes, at a very high overall level
FEMA puts 57% of Aromas’s expected hazard losses down to earthquakes, and 27% to inland flooding. Federal disaster aid has reached households in Aromas after 2 declared disasters, most recently in 2023.
FEMA disaster declarations and aid · FEMA National Risk Index · OpenFEMA
Aromas’ public schools trail 66% of California districts
Its public schools are run by the Aromas - San Juan Unified school district. Aromas’ only public school teaches 399 students.
| School | Level | Students | Letter |
|---|---|---|---|
| AromasLargest public elementary schoolGrades K–8 | Grades K–8 | 399 | B− |
NCES · EDFacts · graded within CA on state tests and graduation
For health, Aromas earns an A−
Its widest gap with California is tooth loss: 6% of those 65+ have lost all their teeth, against 10.6% statewide. Against the 2,848 U.S. towns with household incomes like Aromas’s, it is less healthy than 76%: its national edge comes with its incomes.
73% of adults had a checkup this year in Aromas. On the CDC’s 32 measures, Aromas is ahead of California on 11 and behind on 2.
| Aromas | California towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sleep under 7 hours (CDC PLACES) | 31% | 35% | 36% |
| Yearly checkup (CDC PLACES) | 73% | 72% | 79% |
| Smoke cigarettes (CDC PLACES) | 10% | 11% | 14% |
| Frequent mental distress (CDC PLACES) | 16% | 17% | 17% |
| What stands out | Aromas | CA |
|---|---|---|
| Fewer older adults who have lost all their teeth | 6% | 10.6% |
| Fewer adults facing food insecurity | 12.9% | 17.9% |
| More adults who have had cancer | 8.5% | 6.4% |
CDC PLACES 2025 · modeled estimates for adults · CMS · HRSA
Aromas has 0.4 jobs for every working resident, so most commute out
Jobs based in Aromas grew to 470 in 2023, 239 more than in 2013. Most working residents leave Aromas for work: only 2% work in town. For residents in the town, the share who live below the poverty line is 3.1%. The top destinations are Watsonville (10%), San Jose (9%) and Salinas (8%).
| Aromas | California towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Median household income | $148,000 | $95,000 | $80,000 |
| Below the poverty line | 3.1% | 10% | 9.6% |
| Working residents who work in town | 1.7% | 6.6% | 8% |
| Average trip to work | 26 minutes | 28 minutes | 25 minutes |
Where working residents work
Census LEHD 2023 · ACS
For cost of living, Aromas earns a C−
At 9.8 years of the Salinas metro’s $97K median household income, the typical home (about $950K) costs more against local pay than in 77% of California towns; that ratio is one input to that grade. The typical value, about $950K, is 7% below its June 2022 peak.
Values rose 2.8% in the 12 months to September 2026. In Aromas, 73% of households are owner-occupiers.
Typical home value
Census ACS, 2020–24 · Zillow Home Value Index · Redfin Data Center
In Aromas, expect mild winters and pleasant summers
The Watsonville Wtr Wks weather station, 9 miles away, records that the frost-free season runs about 324 days, longer than in 96% of U.S. towns. July afternoons average 77°, cooler than in 97% of U.S. towns; January nights average 39.7°.
Aromas’ January low stands at 40°F. Snow is a rarity.
| Aromas | California towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| July high | 77°F | 89°F | 85°F |
| January low | 40°F | 41°F | 22°F |
Typical low → high °F
NOAA U.S. Climate Normals, 1991–2020
More middle-aged adults than California overall
Among adults 25 and older, 42% have a four-year degree or more, against 37% across California. Adults 35 to 64 are 43% of residents (39% statewide). Aromas: 19% of residents are under 18.
| Aromas | California towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Bachelor’s degree or more, 25+ | 42% | 29% | 29% |
| Under 18 | 19% | 22% | 22% |
| Median age | 41.5 years | 39 years | 40.5 years |
Ages · share of residents
Education · adults 25 and older
Women and men · all residents
51% women, 49% men
That’s an even split within the survey’s margin of ±2.2 points. Across California, 50.1% of residents are women.
| Aromas | CA | U.S. | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Under 10 | 13.6% | 11.4% | 11.6% |
| 10 to 17 | 5.1% | 10.5% | 10.3% |
| 18 to 24 | 8.1% | 9.1% | 9.1% |
| 25 to 34 | 11.9% | 14.8% | 13.7% |
| 35 to 44 | 12.7% | 13.9% | 13.2% |
| 45 to 54 | 22.6% | 12.5% | 12.2% |
| 55 to 64 | 7.3% | 12.1% | 12.7% |
| 65 to 74 | 13.6% | 9.2% | 10.2% |
| 75 and older | 5.2% | 6.5% | 7% |
| No diploma | 12.6% | 15.3% | 10.4% |
| High school | 17.9% | 20.5% | 26% |
| Some college | 11.9% | 19.3% | 19.1% |
| Associate’s | 15.2% | 7.9% | 8.8% |
| Bachelor’s | 28.4% | 22.7% | 21.6% |
| Graduate | 14% | 14.4% | 14.1% |
U.S. Census Bureau · ACS 2020-2024 5-year estimates · in a town of 3,200, single groups can be off by several points
Aromas keeps 0.1% of its land conserved
Just 3 of its 3,023 acres are conserved, so there is little public open land in Aromas itself; its outdoors grade is D.
There are 0.4 miles of trail across 1 park or preserve. Aromas has one park or preserve, 18 acres in all.
| Aromas | California towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Miles of trail per square mile | 0.1 miles per square mile | 1.0 | 0.4 |
| Conserved land | 0.1% | 4.3% | 4.3% |
| Biggest places to walk | Trails | Acres |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Aromas Community Park | — | 18 |
Trails & parks © OpenStreetMap contributors · Conserved land: USGS PAD-US
Monterey Bay Aquarium and 55 more within 40 miles
Museums, parks, gardens and other places to visit around Aromas. Close and well known come first.
23 mi Zoo & aquariumMonterey Bay Aquarium
24 mi MuseumMonterey Museum of Art
35 mi Stadium & arenaSAP Center
6 mi MuseumMission San Juan Bautista
31 mi National ParkPinnacles National Park343K visitors a year13 mi Canyon & gorgeMonterey CanyonPhoto credits
Monterey Bay Aquarium: Meij.kobayashi, Public domain · Monterey Museum of Art: Sgerbic, CC BY-SA 4.0 · SAP Center: Dicklyon, CC BY-SA 4.0 · Mission San Juan Bautista: MARELBU, CC BY 3.0 · Pinnacles National Park: Brocken Inaglory, CC BY-SA 3.0
.jpg){kind=link}
Everything we know about Aromas
Colleges nearby
2 within 15 miles of the center of Aromas
About 10 of every 100 Aromas residents are enrolled in college, against 8 across California.
About Aromas
Census-designated place in California, United States
Aromas is an unincorporated community and census-designated place (CDP) in Monterey County and San Benito County, California, United States. The population was 2,708 at the 2020 census. The CDP straddles the border of the two counties, with Monterey County to the west and San Benito County to the east. The Santa Cruz County line is less than a mile to the northwest, and Santa Clara County is about 2 miles (3 km) to the north. Its population was almost equally distributed between the two counties with 1,365 in Monterey County and 1,343 in San Benito County. Aromas is one of four CDPs in California that are divided between two or more counties. The others are Kingvale (divided between Placer …
From Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0 · facts via Wikidata (CC0)
- Area
- 4.7 sq mi
- Elevation
- 131 ft
- ZIP code
- 95004
Aromas’s neighbors
One town shares a border with Aromas.
Aromas and Prunedale report no FBI crime data of their own. Compare Aromas with a neighbor →
Questions about Aromas
Short answers, built from the data on this page.
Is Aromas, CA a good place to live?
Aromas grades C overall, better than 35% of U.S. towns and #333 of 841 in California. It grades A− for health and C for schools. Hazard risk is its weak spot, with a D−.
Is Aromas, CA expensive?
Yes. Cost of living, which also weighs rents, property taxes and how many households pay 30% or more of their income for housing, grades C−.