Poplar-Cotton CenterCA
Home to 2,171 people, this town lies in California.
Is Poplar-Cotton Center a good place to live?
The best of Poplar-Cotton Center’s subject grades is a B+ for cost of living; the weakest is a D for schools. 26% of residents live below the poverty line in Poplar-Cotton Center, above both the California town median (10%) and the median of U.S. towns (9.6%). On cost of living, just 29 of California’s 1,058 towns do better. Most errands need a car: it is less walkable than 83% of U.S. towns. Poplar-Cotton Center has fewer than 2,500 residents, so it gets subject grades but no overall grade.
99% of working residents leave Poplar-Cotton Center for work
Where Poplar-Cotton Center’s working residents go each day. Line width shows the share.
Census LEHD 2023
How Poplar-Cotton Center grades
Each subject compared with towns across the country (schools within California), ordered by how far Poplar-Cotton Center is from typical.
How TownRatings grades towns →
Moving to Poplar-Cotton Center: who provides what
Poplar-Cotton Center is unincorporated, so Tulare 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 Poplar-Cotton Center.
Public schools in Poplar-Cotton Center fall behind 93% of California districts
One of its 2 schools is below, with the reason it’s listed. Public schools: the Pleasant View Elementary school district. 2 public schools serve Poplar-Cotton Center, with 448 students in all.
| School | Level | Students | Letter |
|---|---|---|---|
| Pleasant View ElementaryLargest public elementary schoolGrades K–8 | Grades K–8 | 446 | – |
NCES · EDFacts · graded within CA on state tests
Poplar-Cotton Center is less healthy than 79% of U.S. towns
In Poplar-Cotton Center, 37% of adults get no exercise outside work, and 33% worry about having enough food. Against the California average, Poplar-Cotton Center comes out ahead on 1 CDC measures out of 32, and behind on 19. Poplar-Cotton Center: two thirds of adults had a checkup this year.
| Poplar-Cotton Center | California towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Fair or poor health (CDC PLACES) | 33% | 22% | 19% |
| Get no exercise (CDC PLACES) | 37% | 24% | 25% |
| Food insecurity (CDC PLACES) | 33% | 16% | 14% |
| Yearly checkup (CDC PLACES) | 67% | 72% | 79% |
| What stands out | Poplar-Cotton Center | CA |
|---|---|---|
| Fewer adults who have had cancer | 4.5% | 6.4% |
| More uninsured adults | 22.6% | 10.6% |
CDC PLACES 2025 · modeled estimates for adults · CMS · HRSA
Most of Poplar-Cotton Center’s workers commute out: the town has 0.4 jobs for each of them
For Poplar-Cotton Center, the middle household income is $51,000. Only 1% of working residents stay in Poplar-Cotton Center for work; the rest commute out. The top destinations are Porterville (18%), Visalia (8%) and Fresno (6%). Half of commuters travel less than 31 miles.
| Poplar-Cotton Center | California towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Median household income | $51,000 | $95,000 | $80,000 |
| Working residents who work in town | 1% | 6.6% | 8% |
| Average trip to work | 25 minutes | 28 minutes | 25 minutes |
Where working residents work
Census LEHD 2023 · ACS
In Poplar-Cotton Center, expect mild winters and hot summers
The midsummer high in Poplar-Cotton Center is 98°F.
Typical low → high °F
NOAA U.S. Climate Normals, 1991–2020
The biggest natural risk in Poplar-Cotton Center is inland flooding, at a high overall level
Compared with 67% of U.S. communities, expected storm and flood damage in Poplar-Cotton Center is higher. FEMA puts 50% of the town’s expected hazard losses down to inland flooding, and 23% to heat waves.
FEMA National Risk Index · OpenFEMA
Poplar-Cotton Center has set aside 0.2% of its land for conservation
1.8 miles of trail. In Poplar-Cotton Center, the trail density is 0.8 miles per square mile.
| Poplar-Cotton Center | California towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Conserved land | 0.2% | 4.3% | 4.3% |
| Miles of trail per square mile | 0.8 miles per square mile | 1.0 | 0.4 |
Trails & parks © OpenStreetMap contributors · Conserved land: USGS PAD-US
Homes in Poplar-Cotton Center sell for about $400K
Poplar-Cotton Center’s midpoint rent is $1,044 a month. Among households here, 50% are owner-occupiers.
| Poplar-Cotton Center | California towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Households that own their home | 50% | 64% | 73% |
| Median rent | $1,044 a month | $1,896 a month | $1,185 a month |
Census ACS, 2020–24 · Zillow Home Value Index · Redfin Data Center
Everything we know about Poplar-Cotton Center
Colleges nearby
1 within 15 miles of the center of Poplar-Cotton Center
About 4 of every 100 Poplar-Cotton Center residents are enrolled in college, against 8 across California.
Questions about Poplar-Cotton Center
Short answers, built from the data on this page.
Is Poplar-Cotton Center, CA expensive?
Not for the area. The typical home is worth about $220,000, 71% 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 B+.