Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
El Monte earns a D, 668th among California's 841 graded towns, mostly because of safety. It reports more crime per resident than 81% of U.S. towns, including 425 violent crimes reported to the FBI in 2025. What it does well: it is more walkable than 94% of U.S. towns. El Monte's civic life (library use, community groups, volunteering) trails 99% of U.S. towns. FEMA rates its natural-hazard risk higher than 93% of U.S. communities, with earthquakes at the top.
Where El Monte beats most towns, and one thing worth knowing.
Where El Monte’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 El Monte is from typical.
Its grades run from A for walkability (better than 94% of comparable towns) to D− for hazard risk (better than 4%), so the D overall blends very different results.
How TownRatings grades towns →
Census counts: 1,283 in 1920, 109,450 in 2020. The archive holds 18 old photos and papers going back to 1898 and 8 maps from 1896 on.
Museums, parks, gardens and other places to visit around El Monte. Close and well known come first.
Big draw20 mi Stadium & arenaSoFi Stadium
Big draw18 mi LandmarkHollywood Walk of Fame10.0M visitors a year
Big draw19 mi Theme parkDisneyland17.3M visitors a year
Big draw16 mi MuseumLucas Museum of Narrative Art
Big draw15 mi Stadium & arenaLos Angeles Memorial Coliseum
Big draw14 mi Stadium & arenaCrypto.com ArenaSoFi Stadium: Thank You (21 Millions+) views, CC BY 2.0 · Hollywood Walk of Fame: BenSherman, Public domain · Disneyland: HarshLight from San Jose, CA, USA, CC BY 2.0 · Lucas Museum of Narrative Art: Kriddl, CC0 · Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum: CanonStarGal, CC BY-SA 4.0 · Crypto.com Arena: Troutfarm27, CC BY-SA 4.0
Who provides power, water and the rest in El Monte, and how to reach them.
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 El Monte.
El Monte has milder winter nights than nearly all U.S. towns and fares better on crime within California than nationally.
One flood insurance claim has been paid in El Monte since 1980.
FEMA flood insurance claims · FEMA National Risk Index · OpenFEMA
Two of its 27 schools are below, each with why it’s listed.
| School | Level | Students | Letter |
|---|---|---|---|
| Durfee ElementaryLargest public elementary schoolGrades K–8 | Grades K–8 | 1,120 | – |
| Arroyo HighLargest public high schoolGrades 9–12 | Grades 9–12 | 1,638 | – |
NCES · EDFacts · graded within CA on state tests and graduation
At 36.7 crimes per 1,000 residents a year, it reports more crime than 69% of California’s graded towns.
El Monte’s violent crime rate is 4.1 per 1,000 residents, where California’s towns sit at 2.9 and U.S. towns at 1.6. El Monte’s property crime rate is 19.3 per 1,000 residents. El Monte reports more crime per resident than most U.S. towns we grade: about 81% report less.
| El Monte | California towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Violent crimes per 1,000 (2025) | 4.1 per 1,000 residents | 2.9 | 1.6 |
| Property crimes per 1,000 (2025) | 19.3 per 1,000 residents | 13.3 | 9.9 |
FBI crime data, 2025 · crimes reported to police
Most working residents leave El Monte for work: only 9% work in town. 17% of El Monte residents live below the poverty line, against 10% in California’s towns and 9.6% across U.S. towns. 6.5% of El Monte workers work from home.
| El Monte | California towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Below the poverty line | 17% | 10% | 9.6% |
| Work from home | 6.5% | 14% | 11% |
| Median household income | $68,000 | $95,000 | $80,000 |
| Average trip to work | 28 minutes | 28 minutes | 25 minutes |
Census LEHD 2023 · ACS
El Monte beats the California average on 4 of 32 CDC measures and trails it on 20. 44% of adults feel lonely in El Monte.
| El Monte | California towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Fair or poor health (CDC PLACES) | 32% | 22% | 19% |
| Feel lonely (CDC PLACES) | 44% | 36% | 33% |
| Food insecurity (CDC PLACES) | 32% | 16% | 14% |
| No health insurance, 18–64 (CDC PLACES) | 19% | 9% | 8.1% |
| What stands out | El Monte | CA |
|---|---|---|
| Fewer adults who have had cancer | 4.1% | 6.4% |
| Fewer binge drinkers | 12.9% | 15.3% |
| More adults facing food insecurity | 32.2% | 17.9% |
CDC PLACES 2025 · modeled estimates for adults · CMS · HRSA
January nights average 45.7°, milder than in 97% of U.S. towns; July afternoons average 87.9°.
El Monte has warm winters and warm summers, with very little rain. The January low in El Monte is 46°F. Snow is almost unheard of.
| El Monte | California towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| January low | 46°F | 40°F | 22°F |
| July high | 88°F | 89°F | 85°F |
NOAA U.S. Climate Normals, 1991–2020
5.6 miles of trail in 8 parks and preserves.
| El Monte | California towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Conserved land | 1.3% | 4.3% | 4.3% |
| Miles of trail per square mile | 0.6 miles per square mile | 1.0 | 0.4 |
| Biggest places to walk | Trails | Acres |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Lambert Park | 0.4 mi | 9 |
| 2. Mountain View Park | 0.4 mi | 9 |
| 3. Mariposa Park | 0.3 mi | 4 |
Trails & parks © OpenStreetMap contributors · Conserved land: USGS PAD-US
The typical El Monte home is worth about $753,000, up 0.9% in a year, close to the California typical home.
| El Monte | California towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Households that own their home | 40% | 64% | 73% |
| Median rent | $1,736 a month | $1,898 a month | $1,185 a month |
| Renters paying 30%+ of income on rent | 58% | 55% | 48% |
Zillow Home Value Index · Redfin Data Center
46 within 15 miles of the center of El Monte
About 7 of every 100 El Monte residents are enrolled in college, about the same as California.
18 notable people were born in El Monte.
City in California, United States
El Monte is a city in Los Angeles County, California, United States. The city lies in the San Gabriel Valley, east of the city of Los Angeles. El Monte's slogan is "Welcome to Friendly El Monte" and is historically known as "The End of the Santa Fe Trail". As of the 2020 census, the city had a total population of 109,450, down from 113,475 at the 2010 census. As of 2020, El Monte was the 66th-most populous city in California.
From Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0 · facts via Wikidata (CC0)
8 towns share a border with El Monte.
| Town | CA rank | Overall | Cost | Safety | Schools | Health |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| El Monte | #668 | D | D− | C− | C+ | C |
| South El Monte | #751 | D− | D | D | C+ | C− |
| Industry | — | — | — | — | — | — |
| Temple City | #170 | B− | D− | B− | A− | B+ |
| North El Monte | #258 | C+ | D− | — | B | B |
| Rosemead | #522 | C− | D− | C− | A− | C+ |
| Arcadia | #228 | B− | D− | C− | A | A |
| Baldwin Park | #555 | D | D | C | B | C+ |
North El Monte reports no FBI crime data of its own. Industry isn’t graded (fewer than 1,000 residents, or not enough data). Compare El Monte with a neighbor →
Short answers, built from the data on this page.
El Monte grades D overall, better than 6% of U.S. towns and #668 of 841 in California. It grades C for health, C− for safety and C+ for schools. Hazard risk is its weak spot, with a D−.
Yes. That is 7.8 years of the area's median household income ($95,958 across the Los Angeles-Long Beach-Anaheim, 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 D−.
18 notable people were born here, including Scatman John and Mary Ford.
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