Searles ValleyCA
A town of 1,713.
Is Searles Valley a good place to live?
The best of Searles Valley’s subject grades is an A+ for cost of living; the weakest is a D for incomes. Searles Valley’s July high is 105°F, where California’s towns sit at 89°F and U.S. towns at 85°F. Only 2 of California’s 1,058 towns score higher on cost of living. Searles Valley’s trail density is 1.4 miles per square mile, above both the California town median (1.0) and the median of U.S. towns (0.4). Searles Valley has fewer than 2,500 residents, so it gets subject grades but no overall grade.
Searles Valley has shrunk 10% from 2010 to 2020
1,739 counted in 2010 and 1,565 in 2020.
U.S. Census 2010 & 2020 counts
How Searles Valley grades
Each subject compared with towns across the country (schools within California), ordered by how far Searles Valley is from typical.
How TownRatings grades towns →
Moving to Searles Valley: who provides what
Searles Valley is unincorporated, so San Bernardino 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 Searles Valley.
On state tests, Searles Valley’s schools trail 83% of California districts
Its public schools are run by the Trona Joint Unified school district. Its two schools are below.
| School | Level | Students | Letter |
|---|---|---|---|
| Trona ElementaryLargest public elementary schoolGrades K–6 | Grades K–6 | 147 | D |
| Trona HighLargest public high schoolGrades 7–12 | Grades 7–12 | 111 | C− |
NCES · EDFacts · graded within CA on state tests and graduation
Health in Searles Valley trails 82% of U.S. towns
Searles Valley beats the California average on 0 of 32 CDC measures and trails it on 19. 18% of Searles Valley adults report frequent physical distress.
| Searles Valley | California towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Frequent physical distress (CDC PLACES) | 18% | 14% | 14% |
| Fair or poor health (CDC PLACES) | 28% | 22% | 19% |
| Frequent mental distress (CDC PLACES) | 20% | 17% | 17% |
| Smoke cigarettes (CDC PLACES) | 18% | 11% | 14% |
| What stands out | Searles Valley | CA |
|---|---|---|
| More adults with COPD | 9.5% | 5.1% |
| More smokers | 17.9% | 10.9% |
| More older adults who have lost all their teeth | 17% | 10.6% |
CDC PLACES 2025 · modeled estimates for adults · CMS · HRSA
Searles Valley faces a very high natural-hazard risk, led by earthquakes
Expected storm and flood damage is higher than in 85% of U.S. communities.
FEMA National Risk Index · OpenFEMA
In Searles Valley, expect mild winters and hot summers
Searles Valley has mild winters and scorching summers, with very little rain. Searles Valley’s January low is 36°F.
Typical low → high °F
NOAA U.S. Climate Normals, 1991–2020
Most of Searles Valley’s workers commute out: the town has 0.8 jobs for each of them
About one in 5 of Searles Valley’s working residents works in town. 24% of residents live below the poverty line in Searles Valley. Since 2013, Searles Valley has lost 357 jobs, to 586 in 2023.
| Searles Valley | California towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Below the poverty line | 24% | 10% | 9.6% |
| Working residents who work in town | 22% | 6.6% | 8% |
| Average trip to work | 21 minutes | 28 minutes | 25 minutes |
| Median household income | $63,000 | $95,000 | $80,000 |
Where working residents work
Census LEHD 2023 · ACS
The median rent in Searles Valley is lower than in the typical California or U.S. town
The median rent in Searles Valley is $819 a month.
| Searles Valley | California towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Median rent | $819 a month | $1,896 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
Trails & parks © OpenStreetMap contributors · Conserved land: USGS PAD-US
Death Valley National Park and 4 more within 40 miles
Museums, parks, gardens and other places to visit around Searles Valley. Close and well known come first.
Big draw16 mi National ParkDeath Valley National Park1.3M visitors a year
11 mi Park & preserveTrona Pinnacles
37 mi Park & preserveBurro Schmidt Tunnel
16 mi MuseumNaval Museum of Armament & Technology
18 mi MuseumMaturango MuseumPhoto credits
Death Valley National Park: Greg Willis from Denver, CO, usa, CC BY-SA 2.0 · Trona Pinnacles: Doug Dolde at English Wikipedia, Public domain · Burro Schmidt Tunnel: Kurtis2014, CC BY-SA 3.0 · Naval Museum of Armament & Technology: U.S. Navy photo by Geoffrey Patrick., Public domain · Maturango Museum: Qfl247 (talk) (Transferred by Citypeek/Original uploaded by Qfl247), CC BY-SA 3.0
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Everything we know about Searles Valley
Colleges nearby
None within 15 miles of Searles Valley; the nearest are
About 3 of every 100 Searles Valley residents are enrolled in college, against 8 across California.
Questions about Searles Valley
Short answers, built from the data on this page.
Is Searles Valley, CA expensive?
Not for the area. The typical home is worth about $81,000, 89% 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 A+.