Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
2,736 people live in this town, settled in 1937.
Real strengths, and real weak spots. Where it falls short is cost of living — the typical home is worth about $848K, 8.7 years of the Sacramento metro’s $97K median household income. Overall, Kings Beach earns a C, which places it 386th of 841 in California. Set against the rest, it does better than 30% of U.S. towns. Schools are where it shines: its schools outperform just over four fifths of the state's. Add walkability to its strengths: it is more walkable than 90% of U.S. towns. On history, just 25 of California’s 1,063 towns do worse. Its typical July afternoon high is 73°F, against 89°F in California’s towns and 85°F across U.S. towns.
Figures: schools, state test and graduation results · home values, Zillow · incomes, Census ACS, 2020–24 · National Register of Historic Places · NOAA normals, 1991–2020.
Where Kings Beach beats most towns.
| School | Grades | Students |
|---|---|---|
| Kings Beach Elementary | K–5 | 362 |
Where Kings Beach’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 Kings Beach is from typical.
How TownRatings grades towns →
Census counts: 1,942 in 1980, 3,563 in 2020. The archive holds 6 old photos and papers going back to 1972 and 3 maps from 1955 on.
Museums, parks, gardens and other places to visit around Kings Beach. Close and well known come first.
Big draw11 mi LakeLake Tahoe
14 mi LakeDonner Lake
13 mi Ski areaPalisades Tahoe Olympic Valley122 runs · 2,542 ft vertical
9 mi Ski areaMount Rose Ski Tahoe57 runs · 1,625 ft vertical
13 mi State parkDonner Memorial State Park6 mi Ski areaNorthstar at Tahoe Resort125 runs · 2,311 ft verticalLake Tahoe: Lara Farhadi, CC BY 2.0 · Donner Lake: J.smith, CC BY-SA 3.0 · Palisades Tahoe Olympic Valley: Jonnyboyca at English Wikipedia, Public domain · Mount Rose Ski Tahoe: Beesmill, CC BY-SA 4.0 · Donner Memorial State Park: Joe Parks from Berkeley, CA, CC BY 2.0
Kings Beach is unincorporated, so Placer 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 Kings Beach.
Kings Beach carries less natural-hazard risk than most of California (mostly avalanches), is a second-home town and keeps more of its land conserved than most of California.
Its 1,146 conserved acres are a larger share of the town than in 99% of California towns.
20 miles of trail wind through 1 park or preserve. Kings Beach has one park or preserve, 10 acres in all.
| Biggest places to walk | Trails | Acres |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Kings Beach State Recreational Area | — | 10 |
Trails & parks © OpenStreetMap contributors · Conserved land: USGS PAD-US
Its A− for schools comes with a C− for cost of living: the typical home is worth about $848K.
Its one school is below. Kings Beach’s only public school teaches 362 students.
| School | Level | Students | Letter |
|---|---|---|---|
| Kings Beach ElementaryLargest public elementary schoolGrades K–5 | Grades K–5 | 362 | B |
NCES · EDFacts · graded within CA on state tests and graduation
43.6% of homes are seasonal or vacation homes, against 2.4% statewide, which helps explain the older median age.
28% never finished high school. For residents in Kings Beach, the share who are 65 or older is 12%. Adults 35 to 64 are 57% of residents (39% statewide); adults 18 to 34 are 11% of residents (24% statewide). The median age locally is 44 years.
| Kings Beach | California towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Aged 65 or older | 12% | 16% | 18% |
| Median age | 44 years | 39 years | 40.5 years |
53% women, 47% men
That’s an even split within the survey’s margin of ±6 points. Across California, 50.1% of residents are women.
| Kings Beach | CA | U.S. | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Under 10 | 7.8% | 11.4% | 11.6% |
| 10 to 17 | 12% | 10.5% | 10.3% |
| 18 to 24 | 6.7% | 9.1% | 9.1% |
| 25 to 34 | 4.3% | 14.8% | 13.7% |
| 35 to 44 | 24.4% | 13.9% | 13.2% |
| 45 to 54 | 22.4% | 12.5% | 12.2% |
| 55 to 64 | 10.3% | 12.1% | 12.7% |
| 65 to 74 | 8.7% | 9.2% | 10.2% |
| 75 and older | 3.3% | 6.5% | 7% |
| No diploma | 27.8% | 15.3% | 10.4% |
| High school | 16.5% | 20.5% | 26% |
| Some college | 18.8% | 19.3% | 19.1% |
| Associate’s | 6% | 7.9% | 8.8% |
| Bachelor’s | 23.6% | 22.7% | 21.6% |
| Graduate | 7.2% | 14.4% | 14.1% |
U.S. Census Bureau · ACS 2020-2024 5-year estimates · in a town of 2,700, single groups can be off by several points
The average commute for its 1,012 working residents takes 21.3 minutes, against 28.7 across California.
Jobs based in Kings Beach grew to 565 in 2023, 92 more than in 2013. For Kings Beach, the average trip to work is 21 minutes. The median commute is under 61 miles. Kings Beach: 6.8% of residents live below the poverty line.
| Kings Beach | California towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Average trip to work | 21 minutes | 28 minutes | 25 minutes |
| Median household income | $68,000 | $95,000 | $80,000 |
| Below the poverty line | 6.8% | 10% | 9.6% |
| Working residents who work in town | 10% | 6.6% | 8% |
Census LEHD 2023 · ACS
24% of adults worry about having enough food in Kings Beach. The share of adults in Kings Beach who had a checkup this year: 69%.
| Kings Beach | California towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Yearly checkup (CDC PLACES) | 69% | 72% | 79% |
| Food insecurity (CDC PLACES) | 24% | 16% | 14% |
| Fair or poor health (CDC PLACES) | 27% | 22% | 19% |
| No health insurance, 18–64 (CDC PLACES) | 15% | 9% | 8.1% |
| What stands out | Kings Beach | CA |
|---|---|---|
| More older adults who have lost all their teeth | 17.6% | 10.6% |
| More adults facing a utility shut-off | 10.8% | 7.3% |
| More smokers | 15.6% | 10.9% |
CDC PLACES 2025 · modeled estimates for adults · CMS · HRSA
The Tahoe City weather station, 9 miles away, records that 179 inches of snow fall in a normal winter, more than in 100% of U.S. towns. July afternoons average 73.1°, cooler than in 99% of U.S. towns; January nights average 21.4°.
Among 846 California towns, just 3 have a lower January low than Kings Beach.
| Kings Beach | California towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| July high | 73°F | 89°F | 85°F |
| January low | 21°F | 41°F | 22°F |
NOAA U.S. Climate Normals, 1991–2020
The typical value, about $848K, is 8% below its July 2022 peak.
Homes sold in Kings Beach spent a median 36 days on the market. Values rose 5.9% in the 12 months to September 2026. For Kings Beach, the going rate for rent is $1,271 a month.
| Kings Beach | California towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Median rent | $1,271 a month | $1,898 a month | $1,185 a month |
| Households that own their home | 63% | 64% | 73% |
Census ACS, 2020–24 · Zillow Home Value Index · Redfin Data Center
FEMA rates its natural-hazard risk lower than 89% of California towns, with expected losses of about $2,838 per resident a year; that rating is what its C+ for hazard risk is built on.
Kings Beach’s risk rating from FEMA is 58 of 100. Expected losses in Kings Beach break down as 86% from avalanches and 8% from inland flooding. One declared disaster, in 2021, has brought federal aid to Kings Beach households.
FEMA disaster declarations and aid · FEMA National Risk Index · OpenFEMA
1 within 15 miles of the center of Kings Beach
About 3 of every 100 Kings Beach residents are enrolled in college, against 8 across California.
Census-designated place in California, United States
Kings Beach is a census-designated place (CDP) in Placer County, California, United States, on the north shore of Lake Tahoe. The population was 3,563 at the 2020 census. The town's post office was erected in 1937. The area is named after its first postmaster, Joe King.
From Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0 · facts via Wikidata (CC0)
2 towns share a border with Kings Beach.
| Town | CA rank | Overall | Cost | Safety | Schools | Health |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Kings Beach | #386 | C | C− | — | A− | C |
| Tahoe Vista | — | — | C+ | — | A− | A |
Tahoe Vista has fewer than 2,500 residents, so it gets subject grades but no overall grade. Kings Beach and Tahoe Vista report no FBI crime data of their own. Compare Kings Beach with a neighbor →
Short answers, built from the data on this page.
Kings Beach grades C overall, better than 30% of U.S. towns and #386 of 841 in California. It grades C for health and A− for schools. Cost of living is its weak spot, with a C−.
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−.
