Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
A town of 3,443, settled in 1889.
FEMA rates its natural-hazard risk higher than 95% of U.S. communities, with inland flooding at the top. Overall it grades C+, 288th of 841 graded towns in California. CDC estimates put its residents' health ahead of 78% of the country and it is more walkable than 90% of U.S. towns. Its weakest subject is cost of living: homes are expensive, about $909K for a typical one and 8.7 times the Santa Rosa metro’s $105K median household income. El Verano’s median rent is $2,372 a month, above both California’s towns ($1,895 a month) and U.S. towns ($1,185 a month).
Where El Verano beats most towns, and one thing worth knowing.
Where El Verano’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 Verano is from typical.
Its grades run from A for walkability (better than 90% of comparable towns) to D− for hazard risk (better than 1%), so the C+ overall blends very different results.
How TownRatings grades towns →
Census counts: 1,236 in 1960, 3,867 in 2020. The archive holds 5 old photos and papers going back to 1860 and 4 maps from 1942 on.
Museums, parks, gardens and other places to visit around El Verano. Close and well known come first.
Big draw33 mi MuseumAlcatraz Federal Penitentiary
Big draw38 mi MuseumUSS Hornet
Big draw35 mi LandmarkLombard Street
Big draw37 mi Stadium & arenaChase Center
Big draw35 mi GardenPresidio of San Francisco
Big draw36 mi Stadium & arenaOracle ParkAlcatraz Federal Penitentiary: druchoy, CC BY-SA 2.0 · USS Hornet: kitmasterbloke, CC BY 2.0 · Lombard Street: The original uploader was Y6y6y6 at English Wikipedia., Public domain · Chase Center: Gregory Varnum, CC BY-SA 4.0 · Presidio of San Francisco: Robert Campbell, CC BY-SA 3.0 · Oracle Park: User Coasttocoast on en.wikipedia, CC BY-SA 3.0
El Verano is unincorporated, so Sonoma 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 El Verano.
El Verano owes part of its health edge to its incomes and has added a third more jobs in ten years, but it has property taxes 1.6 times the California norm.
FEMA National Risk Index · OpenFEMA
Its public schools are run by the Sonoma Valley Unified school district. Its one school is below.
| School | Level | Students | Letter |
|---|---|---|---|
| El Verano ElementaryLargest public elementary schoolGrades K–5 | Grades K–5 | 314 | – |
NCES · EDFacts · graded within CA on state tests and graduation
Against the 5,203 U.S. towns with household incomes like El Verano’s, it is less healthy than 53%: its national edge comes with its incomes.
31% of adults feel lonely in El Verano. El Verano beats the California average on 8 of 32 CDC measures and trails it on 1. 27% of adults have obesity in El Verano.
| El Verano | California towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Feel lonely (CDC PLACES) | 31% | 36% | 33% |
| Obesity (CDC PLACES) | 27% | 29% | 35% |
| Yearly checkup (CDC PLACES) | 72% | 72% | 79% |
| Get no exercise (CDC PLACES) | 21% | 24% | 25% |
| What stands out | El Verano | CA |
|---|---|---|
| Fewer adults facing food insecurity | 13.2% | 17.9% |
| Fewer adults facing housing insecurity | 12.2% | 14.9% |
| More adults who have had cancer | 8.2% | 6.4% |
CDC PLACES 2025 · modeled estimates for adults · CMS · HRSA
Jobs based here grew from 331 in 2013 to 479.
Most working residents leave El Verano for work: only 4% work in town. The median household income in El Verano is $124,000. Jobs based in El Verano grew to 479 in 2023, 148 more than in 2013.
| El Verano | California towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Median household income | $124,000 | $95,000 | $80,000 |
| Below the poverty line | 3.1% | 10% | 9.6% |
| Working residents who work in town | 4.2% | 6.6% | 8% |
| Average trip to work | 28 minutes | 28 minutes | 25 minutes |
Census LEHD 2023 · ACS
El Verano has mild winters and pleasant summers. El Verano’s July high is 83°F.
NOAA U.S. Climate Normals, 1991–2020
People 65 and older are 20% of residents (16% statewide). 20% of El Verano residents are under 18. 33% of adults 25 and older have a bachelor’s degree or more, vs 37% across California.
| El Verano | California towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Aged 65 or older | 20% | 16% | 18% |
| Under 18 | 20% | 22% | 22% |
| Median age | 42 years | 39 years | 40.5 years |
| Bachelor’s degree or more, 25+ | 33% | 29% | 29% |
47% women, 53% men
That’s an even split within the survey’s margin of ±7.2 points. Across California, 50.1% of residents are women.
| El Verano | CA | U.S. | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Under 10 | 10% | 11.4% | 11.6% |
| 10 to 17 | 10.1% | 10.5% | 10.3% |
| 18 to 24 | 8.6% | 9.1% | 9.1% |
| 25 to 34 | 12.4% | 14.8% | 13.7% |
| 35 to 44 | 13.5% | 13.9% | 13.2% |
| 45 to 54 | 14.4% | 12.5% | 12.2% |
| 55 to 64 | 11% | 12.1% | 12.7% |
| 65 to 74 | 15.5% | 9.2% | 10.2% |
| 75 and older | 4.4% | 6.5% | 7% |
| No diploma | 8.4% | 15.3% | 10.4% |
| High school | 23.2% | 20.5% | 26% |
| Some college | 27.3% | 19.3% | 19.1% |
| Associate’s | 8.7% | 7.9% | 8.8% |
| Bachelor’s | 22.1% | 22.7% | 21.6% |
| Graduate | 10.4% | 14.4% | 14.1% |
U.S. Census Bureau · ACS 2020-2024 5-year estimates · in a town of 3,400, single groups can be off by several points
| El Verano | California towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Miles of trail per square mile | 0.2 miles per square mile | 1.0 | 0.4 |
| Conserved land | 3% | 4.3% | 4.3% |
| Biggest places to walk | Trails | Acres |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Ernie Smith Community Park | 0.2 mi | 12 |
| 2. Maxwell Farms Regional Park | — | 7 |
Trails & parks © OpenStreetMap contributors · Conserved land: USGS PAD-US
The median property tax bill is $8,313, against $5,124 across California, another input to its cost-of-living grade.
Zillow Home Value Index · Redfin Data Center
2 within 15 miles of the center of El Verano
About 3 of every 100 El Verano residents are enrolled in college, against 8 across California.
Census-designated place in California, United States
El Verano (Spanish for "The Summer") is a census-designated place (CDP) in Sonoma Valley, Sonoma County, California, United States. The population was 4,123 at the 2010 census, falling to 3,867 at the 2020 census.
From Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0 · facts via Wikidata (CC0)
2 towns share a border with El Verano.
| Town | CA rank | Overall | Cost | Safety | Schools | Health |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| El Verano | #288 | C+ | D− | — | B− | A− |
| Boyes Hot Springs | #371 | C | D− | — | B− | B+ |
| Sonoma | #294 | C+ | D− | B | B− | A− |
El Verano and Boyes Hot Springs report no FBI crime data of their own. Compare El Verano with a neighbor →
Short answers, built from the data on this page.
El Verano grades C+ overall, better than 39% of U.S. towns and #288 of 841 in California. It grades A− for health and B− for schools. Hazard risk is its weak spot, with a D−.
Yes. The typical home is worth about $909,000, 19% above the California typical home. Cost of living, which also weighs rents, property taxes and how many households pay 30% or more of their income for housing, grades D−.
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