Pine HillsCA
A town of 2,875.
Is Pine Hills a good place to live?
Pine Hills grades D overall, 665th among California's 841 graded towns, mostly because of health. CDC estimates put its residents' health behind 81% of the country. One bright spot: it has 26 miles of trail and 33% conserved land. Pine Hills’ peak summer temperature is 66°F, below both the California town median (89°F) and the median of U.S. towns (85°F). Homes are expensive, about $488K for a typical one and 8 times the Eureka area’s $61K median household income. McKay Community Forest, at 959 acres with 17.2 miles of trail, is the biggest park or preserve.
What makes Pine Hills stand out
Where Pine Hills beats most towns, and one thing worth knowing.
99% of working residents leave Pine Hills for work
Where Pine Hills’s working residents go each day. Line width shows the share.
Census LEHD 2023
How Pine Hills grades
Each subject compared with towns across the country (schools within California), ordered by how far Pine Hills is from typical.
How TownRatings grades towns →
Moving to Pine Hills: who provides what
Pine Hills is unincorporated, so Humboldt 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 Pine Hills.
Pine Hills keeps more of its land conserved than most of California, has milder winter nights than nearly all U.S. towns and sends most of its workers to Eureka and beyond.
Open space protected for good: nearly a third of Pine Hills
Its 2,114 conserved acres are a larger share of the town than in 93% of California towns.
Across 2 parks and preserves: 27 miles of trail. For Pine Hills, the concentration of trails is 2.6 miles per square mile.
| Biggest places to walk | Trails | Acres |
|---|---|---|
| 1. McKay Community Forest | 17.2 mi | 959 |
| 2. Elk River Wildlife Area | 0.1 mi | 83 |
Trails & parks © OpenStreetMap contributors · Conserved land: USGS PAD-US
On state tests, Pine Hills’ schools beat 67% of California districts
Public schools: the Cutten Elementary school district. Its one school is below. 260 students attend Pine Hills’s public school.
| School | Level | Students | Letter |
|---|---|---|---|
| Ridgewood ElementaryLargest public elementary schoolGrades K–2 | Grades K–2 | 260 | – |
NCES · EDFacts · graded within CA on state tests
Pine Hills faces a very high natural-hazard risk, led by earthquakes
Storm and flood damage is expected to run higher than in 88% of U.S. communities. Of the losses FEMA expects in Pine Hills, 47% come from earthquakes and 36% from tsunamis.
FEMA National Risk Index · OpenFEMA
Pine Hills stands out in California and nationally, with more of its adults who have been diagnosed with depression
The share of adults in Pine Hills who binge drink: 15%. CDC measures, 32 in all: Pine Hills beats California on 2 and trails on 18. Two figures for adults locally: 18% smoke cigarettes, 20% report frequent mental distress.
| Pine Hills | California towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Frequent physical distress (CDC PLACES) | 18% | 14% | 14% |
| Smoke cigarettes (CDC PLACES) | 18% | 11% | 14% |
| Frequent mental distress (CDC PLACES) | 20% | 17% | 17% |
| Fair or poor health (CDC PLACES) | 27% | 22% | 19% |
| What stands out | Pine Hills | CA |
|---|---|---|
| Fewer uninsured adults | 8.9% | 10.6% |
| More adults treating high blood pressure | 75.7% | 71.3% |
| More adults with COPD | 10.5% | 5.1% |
CDC PLACES 2025 · modeled estimates for adults · CMS · HRSA
About half of Pine Hills’ working residents commute to Eureka
Pine Hills has 107 jobs for its 1,150 working residents: even if every job went to a resident, most would still commute out. The average commute takes 18.9 minutes, against 28.7 across California.
Pine Hills: 16% of residents live below the poverty line. Just 1% of the town’s working residents have a job in town. For Pine Hills, the average trip to work is 19 minutes. Half the trips to work are shorter than 5 miles.
| Pine Hills | California towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Average trip to work | 19 minutes | 28 minutes | 25 minutes |
| Below the poverty line | 16% | 10% | 9.6% |
| Working residents who work in town | 1.3% | 6.6% | 8% |
| Median household income | $78,000 | $95,000 | $80,000 |
Where working residents work
Census LEHD 2023 · ACS
Mild winters and pleasant summers in Pine Hills
January nights average 41.7°, milder than in 95% of U.S. towns; July afternoons average 66.1°.
Snow is a rarity. In Pine Hills, the January low is 42°F.
Typical low → high °F
NOAA U.S. Climate Normals, 1991–2020
The median home in Pine Hills sells for about $538K
91.7% of renter households pay 30% or more of their income for housing, against 55.3% across California.
Pine Hills’ going rate for rent comes in at $1,633 a month. 70% of households are owner-occupiers here.
| Pine Hills | California towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Median rent | $1,633 a month | $1,898 a month | $1,185 a month |
| Households that own their home | 70% | 64% | 73% |
Census ACS, 2020–24 · Zillow Home Value Index · Redfin Data Center
Redwood National Park and 7 more within 40 miles
Museums, parks, gardens and other places to visit around Pine Hills. Close and well known come first.
26 mi National ParkRedwood National Park1.2M visitors a year3 mi Zoo & aquariumSequoia Park Zoo
31 mi State parkHumboldt Redwoods State Park
10 mi MuseumArcata Wastewater Treatment Plant and Wildlife Sanctuary
5 mi MuseumClarke Historical Museum
3 mi GardenHumboldt Botanical GardensPhoto credits
Redwood National Park: Michael Schweppe, CC BY-SA 2.0 · Humboldt Redwoods State Park: Jason Sturner, CC BY 2.0 · Arcata Wastewater Treatment Plant and Wildlife Sanctuary: Monotropa_uniflora (talk) (Uploads), Public domain · Clarke Historical Museum: NoeHill, CC BY-SA 3.0 · Humboldt Botanical Gardens: Jennie Sperling, Public domain
Everything we know about Pine Hills
Colleges nearby
2 within 15 miles of the center of Pine Hills
About 4 of every 100 Pine Hills residents are enrolled in college, against 8 across California.
About Pine Hills
Census-designated place in California, United States
Pine Hills is a census-designated place (CDP) in Humboldt County, California, United States, adjacent to Eureka. The population was 3,186 at the 2020 census, up from 3,131 at the 2010 census. Pine Hills includes areas like Ridgewood and areas as far south as the small neighborhood of Elk River. An area near this artificial census construct is called Pine Hill by Local government agencies and officials. Pine Hill is a much smaller area than "Pine Hills" and as defined by local agencies is actually within an adjacent CDP named Bayview.
From Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0 · facts via Wikidata (CC0)
- Area
- 10 sq mi
- Elevation
- 420 ft
- Area code
- 707
Pine Hills’s neighbors
4 towns share a border with Pine Hills.
| Town | CA rank | Overall | Cost | Safety | Schools | Health |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pine Hills | #665 | D | D− | — | B+ | C− |
| Humboldt Hill | #657 | D | D− | — | C | B− |
| Bayview | #784 | D− | D | — | C+ | C− |
| Eureka | #769 | D− | D | D− | B− | C+ |
| Cutten | #128 | B | D | — | A− | A− |
Pine Hills, Humboldt Hill, Bayview and Cutten report no FBI crime data of their own. Compare Pine Hills with a neighbor →
Questions about Pine Hills
Short answers, built from the data on this page.
Is Pine Hills, CA a good place to live?
Pine Hills grades D overall, better than 7% of U.S. towns and #665 of 841 in California. It grades C− for health and B+ for schools. Cost of living is its weak spot, with a D−.
Is Pine Hills, CA expensive?
Yes. The typical home is worth about $488,000, 36% below 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−.