El NidoCA
The town, settled in 1920, counts 510 residents.
Is El Nido a good place to live?
29% of residents live below the poverty line in El Nido, above both California’s towns (10%) and U.S. towns (9.6%). Only 9 of the 848 California towns we compare have a lower share of adults with a bachelor’s degree than El Nido. El Nido has fewer than 1,000 residents, too few for fair grades; the figures below are still real.
510 people, and everyone knows the way
In a town this size, neighbors are the best guide. Ask them anything.
Moving to El Nido: who provides what
El Nido is unincorporated, so Merced 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 El Nido.
The schools El Nido’s kids attend
The public schools here belong to the El Nido Elementary school district. One of its 2 schools is below, with the reason it’s listed. The town’s only public school teaches 156 students.
| School | Level | Students | Letter |
|---|---|---|---|
| El Nido ElementaryLargest public elementary schoolGrades K–8 | Grades K–8 | 156 | B− |
NCES · EDFacts
El Nido has a high natural-hazard risk, chiefly from drought
El Nido’s FEMA hazard score works out to 72 of 100. 58% of the town’s expected losses from natural hazards come from drought, followed by earthquakes at 24%. One declared disaster, in 2022, has brought federal aid to El Nido households.
FEMA disaster declarations and aid · FEMA National Risk Index · OpenFEMA
Typical low → high °F
NOAA U.S. Climate Normals, 1991–2020
El Nido has 0.8 jobs for every working resident, so most commute out
The top destinations are Merced (17%), Livingston (4%) and Turlock (3%). El Nido had 73 jobs in 2023, up 27 from 2013. The average commute for El Nido is 18 minutes. Half commute less than 29 miles.
| El Nido | Typical California town | Typical U.S. town | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Average trip to work | 18 minutes | 28 minutes | 25 minutes |
| Median household income | $55,000 | $95,000 | $80,000 |
Where working residents work
Census LEHD 2023 · ACS
A smaller share of adults had a checkup this year in El Nido than in most of California or the rest of the country
For adults in El Nido, the share who sleep under 7 hours is 39%. Across all 32 CDC measures, El Nido beats California on 6 and trails on 16.
| El Nido | Typical California town | Typical U.S. town | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Feel lonely (CDC PLACES) | 42% | 36% | 33% |
| Food insecurity (CDC PLACES) | 31% | 16% | 14% |
| Yearly checkup (CDC PLACES) | 65% | 72% | 79% |
| No health insurance, 18–64 (CDC PLACES) | 23% | 9% | 8.1% |
| What stands out | El Nido | CA |
|---|---|---|
| Fewer adults who have had cancer | 3.7% | 6.4% |
| Fewer adults with arthritis | 15.7% | 20.8% |
| More uninsured adults | 22.9% | 10.6% |
CDC PLACES 2025 · modeled estimates for adults · CMS · HRSA
0% of El Nido is conserved land
1.0 miles of trail. El Nido’s concentration of trails is 0.3 miles per square mile.
Trails & parks © OpenStreetMap contributors · Conserved land: USGS PAD-US
Everything we know about El Nido
Colleges nearby
1 within 15 miles of the center of El Nido
About 2 of every 100 El Nido residents are enrolled in college, against 8 across California.
About El Nido
Census-designated place in California, United States
El Nido (Spanish for "The Nest") is a census-designated place in Merced County, California. It is located 11 miles (18 km) south of Merced at an elevation of 141 feet (43 m), on California State Route 59. The community had a population of 331 at the 2020 census.
From Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0 · facts via Wikidata (CC0)
- Area
- 3.3 sq mi
- Elevation
- 141 ft
- ZIP code
- 95317
- Area code
- 209
Questions about El Nido
Short answers, built from the data on this page.
Is El Nido, CA a good place to live?
El Nido has fewer than 1,000 residents, too few for fair grades; the figures below are still real.