BonsallCA
A town of 4,332.
Is Bonsall a good place to live?
The typical home is worth about $1.0 million, 9.5 years of the San Diego metro’s $106K median household income. Overall it grades C, 431st of 841 graded towns in California. Residents are healthier than 81% of U.S. towns on CDC estimates. Its weakest subject is hazard risk: FEMA rates its natural-hazard risk higher than 98% of U.S. communities, with wildfire at the top. Bonsall’s median rent is $2,336 a month, above both California’s towns ($1,895 a month) and U.S. towns ($1,185 a month). Most errands need a car: it is less walkable than 70% of U.S. towns.
What makes Bonsall stand out
Where Bonsall beats most towns, and one thing worth knowing.
Bonsall has grown 14% from 2010 to 2020
3,982 counted in 2010 and 4,546 in 2020.
U.S. Census 2010 & 2020 counts
How Bonsall grades
Each subject compared with towns across the country (schools within California), ordered by how far Bonsall is from typical.
How TownRatings grades towns →
Snapdragon Stadium and 63 more within 40 miles
Museums, parks, gardens and other places to visit around Bonsall. Close and well known come first.
Big draw34 mi Stadium & arenaSnapdragon Stadium
39 mi Stadium & arenaPetco Park
12 mi Theme parkLegoland California
37 mi Zoo & aquariumSan Diego Zoo4.0M visitors a year
35 mi Theme parkSeaWorld San Diego4.0M visitors a year
16 mi Zoo & aquariumSan Diego Zoo Safari ParkPhoto credits
Snapdragon Stadium: Terrible Tim, CC BY-SA 4.0 · Petco Park: Mds08011, CC BY 4.0 · Legoland California: https://www.flickr.com/photos/jdigger/, CC BY 2.0 · San Diego Zoo: en:User:Cburnett, CC BY-SA 3.0 · SeaWorld San Diego: ZooFari, CC BY-SA 3.0 · San Diego Zoo Safari Park: Flickr user: Olivier Bruchez https://www.flickr.com/photos/bruchez/, CC BY-SA 2.0
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Moving to Bonsall: who provides what
Bonsall is unincorporated, so San Diego 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 Bonsall.
Bonsall has milder winter nights than nearly all U.S. towns and owes part of its health edge to its incomes.
The biggest natural risk in Bonsall is wildfire, at a very high overall level
FEMA puts 63% of Bonsall’s expected hazard losses down to wildfires, and 29% to inland flooding. Federal aid has come to Bonsall households in 5 declared disasters; the latest was in 2024.
FEMA disaster declarations and aid · FEMA National Risk Index · OpenFEMA
Bonsall’s public schools outperform 65% of California districts
The public schools here belong to the Bonsall Unified school district. Its one school is below. Enrollment at the town’s public school: 949 students.
| School | Level | Students | Letter |
|---|---|---|---|
| Bonsall ElementaryLargest public elementary schoolGrades K–5 | Grades K–5 | 949 | – |
NCES · EDFacts · graded within CA on state tests and graduation
Bonsall’s grade for health is an A−
Against the 6,676 U.S. towns with household incomes like Bonsall’s, it is healthier than 63%, a smaller edge than it has nationally: part of it comes with its incomes.
One in ten adults smoke cigarettes in Bonsall. Against the California average, Bonsall comes out ahead on 12 CDC measures out of 32, and behind on 4. Two figures for adults in the town: 20% get no exercise outside work, 76% had a checkup this year.
| Bonsall | California towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Obesity (CDC PLACES) | 26% | 29% | 35% |
| Get no exercise (CDC PLACES) | 20% | 24% | 25% |
| Yearly checkup (CDC PLACES) | 76% | 72% | 79% |
| Smoke cigarettes (CDC PLACES) | 10% | 11% | 14% |
| What stands out | Bonsall | CA |
|---|---|---|
| Fewer uninsured adults | 7% | 10.6% |
| Fewer adults facing food insecurity | 12% | 17.9% |
| More adults who have had cancer | 9.9% | 6.4% |
CDC PLACES 2025 · modeled estimates for adults · CMS · HRSA
Most of Bonsall’s workers commute out: the town has 0.5 jobs for each of them
Bonsall: 17% of residents live below the poverty line. Commuting out is the norm here: 6% of working residents work locally. Between 2013 and 2023, jobs in Bonsall dropped by 192, to 928. For Bonsall, the average trip to work is 31 minutes.
| Bonsall | California towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Below the poverty line | 17% | 10% | 9.6% |
| Average trip to work | 31 minutes | 28 minutes | 25 minutes |
| Median household income | $114,000 | $95,000 | $80,000 |
Where working residents work
Census LEHD 2023 · ACS
Bonsall’s grade for cost of living is a D−
A typical home in Bonsall is worth about $1,005,000, about the same as a year ago, 32% above the California typical home. On the market here: a median 61 days to sell. Sellers in Bonsall got 96.4% of the asking price, typically.
Typical home value
Zillow Home Value Index · Redfin Data Center
Mild winters and pleasant summers in Bonsall
January nights average 44.7°, milder than in 97% of U.S. towns; July afternoons average 84.9°.
For Bonsall, the January low is 45°F. Snow is a rarity.
| Bonsall | California towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| January low | 45°F | 40°F | 22°F |
| July high | 85°F | 89°F | 85°F |
Typical low → high °F
NOAA U.S. Climate Normals, 1991–2020
Open space protected for good: 9.7% of Bonsall
7.0 miles of trail. Bonsall’s concentration of trails stands at 0.5 miles per square mile.
| Bonsall | California towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Conserved land | 9.7% | 4.2% | 4.3% |
| Miles of trail per square mile | 0.5 miles per square mile | 1.0 | 0.4 |
Trails & parks © OpenStreetMap contributors · Conserved land: USGS PAD-US
Everything we know about Bonsall
Colleges nearby
6 within 15 miles of the center of Bonsall
About 4 of every 100 Bonsall residents are enrolled in college, against 8 across California.
94% of working residents leave Bonsall for work
Where Bonsall’s working residents go each day. Line width shows the share.
Census LEHD 2023
About Bonsall
Census-designated place in California, United States
Bonsall is a census-designated place (CDP) in San Diego County, California. The population was 4,546 at the 2020 census, up from 3,982 at the 2010 census. The Bonsall area was heavily affected by the Lilac Fire in December 2017, which burned 4,100 acres.
From Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0 · facts via Wikidata (CC0)
- Area
- 14 sq mi
- Elevation
- 180 ft
- ZIP code
- 92003
- Area code
- 760
Bonsall’s neighbors
One town shares a border with Bonsall.
Bonsall reports no FBI crime data of its own. Compare Bonsall with a neighbor →
Questions about Bonsall
Short answers, built from the data on this page.
Is Bonsall, CA a good place to live?
Bonsall grades C overall, better than 26% of U.S. towns and #431 of 841 in California. It grades A− for health and B+ for schools. Cost of living is its weak spot, with a D−.
Is Bonsall, 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 D−.