Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
Stockton grades D− overall, 706th of 841 graded towns in California, mostly because of safety. Its crime rate is higher than 96% of U.S. towns, with 3,348 violent crimes reported to the FBI in 2025. What it does well: it is more walkable than 80% of U.S. towns. Stockton’s violent crime rate is 10.3 per 1,000 residents, against 2.9 in California’s towns and 1.6 across U.S. towns. Only 89 of California’s 1,064 towns score higher on hazard risk. Its National Register listings include Hotel Stockton and Benjamin Holt House.
Where Stockton beats most towns, and one thing worth knowing.
Old Weber School| College | Students |
|---|---|
| San Joaquin Delta College | 9,160 |
| University of the Pacific | 6,679 |
| Teachers College of San Joaquin | 818 |
Its founding year, 1849, comes before those of 94% of the California towns we grade with a known year.
Census counts: 3,679 in 1860, 320,804 in 2020. The archive holds 24 old photos and papers going back to 1852 and 5 maps from 1913 on.
17 places on the National Register of Historic Places.
Each subject compared with towns across the country (schools within California), ordered by how far Stockton is from typical.
How TownRatings grades towns →
Who provides power, water and the rest in Stockton, and how to reach them.
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 Stockton.
Stockton carries less natural-hazard risk than nearly all of California (mostly earthquakes) and has a longer frost-free season than nearly all U.S. towns, but it reports violent crime at about twice the California rate.
Violent crime runs at 10.3 per 1,000 residents, about twice the California rate; the Safety Grade counts each violent crime four times, so this weighs most on its D−. Reported crimes fell from 13,636 to 10,708 over the last three FBI years, a drop beyond ordinary year-to-year swings.
Stockton’s property crime rate is 22.6 per 1,000 residents. Stockton reports more crime per resident than most U.S. towns we grade: about 96% report less.
FBI crime data, 2025 · crimes reported to police
Three of its 114 schools are below, each with why it’s listed.
| School | Level | Students | Letter |
|---|---|---|---|
| Great Valley ElementaryLargest public elementary schoolGrades K–8 | Grades K–8 | 983 | – |
| Lincoln HighLargest public high schoolGrades 9–12 | Grades 9–12 | 2,801 | B+ |
| Middle College HighTop results in townGrades 9–12 | Grades 9–12 | 343 | A+ |
NCES · EDFacts · graded within CA on state tests and graduation
The typical value, about $423K, is 8% below its July 2022 peak.
The typical Stockton home is worth about $423,000, down 1.7% in a year, 45% below the California typical home. 54% of Stockton households own their home.
| Stockton | California towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Households that own their home | 54% | 64% | 73% |
| Median rent | $1,577 a month | $1,898 a month | $1,185 a month |
| Renters paying 30%+ of income on rent | 56% | 55% | 48% |
Census ACS, 2020–24 · Zillow Home Value Index · Redfin Data Center
66 miles of trail in 56 parks and preserves. The biggest park or preserve is Oak Park, at 59 acres. The trail density in Stockton is 1.0 miles per square mile.
| Stockton | California towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Miles of trail per square mile | 1.0 miles per square mile | 1.0 | 0.4 |
| Conserved land | 3% | 4.3% | 4.3% |
| Biggest places to walk | Trails | Acres |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Fritz Grupe Park | 0.9 mi | 22 |
| 2. Victory Park | 0.8 mi | 25 |
| 3. Matt Equinoa Park | 0.8 mi | 16 |
Trails & parks © OpenStreetMap contributors · Conserved land: USGS PAD-US
The Stockton Fire Stn 4 weather station records that the frost-free season runs about 305 days, longer than in 95% of U.S. towns.
Stockton has mild winters and hot summers, with very little rain. July afternoons reach 94°, January nights drop to 39° and snow is almost unheard of.
NOAA U.S. Climate Normals, 1991–2020
Stockton beats the California average on 1 of 32 CDC measures and trails it on 15. 26% of adults worry about having enough food in Stockton.
| Stockton | California towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Food insecurity (CDC PLACES) | 26% | 16% | 14% |
| Fair or poor health (CDC PLACES) | 28% | 22% | 19% |
| Yearly checkup (CDC PLACES) | 71% | 72% | 79% |
| No health insurance, 18–64 (CDC PLACES) | 15% | 9% | 8.1% |
| What stands out | Stockton | CA |
|---|---|---|
| Fewer adults who have had cancer | 5.2% | 6.4% |
| More adults facing a utility shut-off | 10.9% | 7.3% |
CDC PLACES 2025 · modeled estimates for adults · CMS · HRSA
About one in 3 of Stockton’s working residents works in town. Since 2013, Stockton has added 13,298 jobs, to 104,229 in 2023. The top destinations are Lodi (4%), Tracy (4%) and Sacramento (3%).
| Stockton | California towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Working residents who work in town | 33% | 6.6% | 8% |
| Average trip to work | 32 minutes | 28 minutes | 25 minutes |
| Below the poverty line | 16% | 10% | 9.6% |
| Work from home | 8% | 14% | 11% |
Census LEHD 2023 · ACS
FEMA rates its natural-hazard risk lower than 90% of California towns, with expected losses of about $319 per resident a year; that rating is what its C+ for hazard risk is built on.
Since 1983, 28 flood insurance claims have been paid out in Stockton.
FEMA flood insurance claims · FEMA National Risk Index · OpenFEMA
Museums, parks, gardens and other places to visit around Stockton. Close and well known come first.
in town Stadium & arenaAdventist Health Arena
34 mi MountainMount Diablo
in town MuseumHaggin Museum
in town MuseumUSS Lucid
35 mi MuseumWestern Railway Museum
35 mi MuseumBlackhawk MuseumAdventist Health Arena: Christopher Bauer, CC BY-SA 4.0 · Mount Diablo: Trurl66, Public domain · Haggin Museum: Bluelight999, CC BY-SA 4.0 · USS Lucid: U.S. Navy photo, Public domain · Western Railway Museum: LPS.1, CC BY-SA 3.0 · Blackhawk Museum: ShakataGaNai, CC BY-SA 3.0
4 within 15 miles of the center of Stockton
About 7 of every 100 Stockton residents are enrolled in college, about the same as California.
4 colleges in town.
17 places in Stockton on the National Register of Historic Places.
45 notable people were born in Stockton.
City in California, United States
Stockton is a city in and the county seat of San Joaquin County, California, United States. It is the most populous city in the county, the 11th-most populous city in California and the 60th-most populous city in the U.S, with 320,804 residents at the 2020 census. The city is located on the San Joaquin River in the northern San Joaquin Valley, within California's Central Valley. It lies at the southeastern corner of a large inland river delta that separates it from other nearby cities, such as Sacramento and the San Francisco Bay Area. Stockton was founded by Charles Maria Weber during the California Gold Rush in 1849, after he acquired Rancho Campo de los Franceses to capitalize on its str…
From Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0 · facts via Wikidata (CC0)
5 towns share a border with Stockton.
All 5 graded towns on its borders grade higher than its D−; August (D) is closest.
| Town | CA rank | Overall | Cost | Safety | Schools | Health |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Stockton | #706 | D− | C− | D− | C+ | C+ |
| Kennedy | #600 | D | C | — | C | D |
| August | #633 | D | B− | — | C | D |
| French Camp | #439 | C | C− | — | B− | B− |
| Garden Acres | #593 | D | B− | — | C | C− |
| Morada | #547 | C− | D− | — | B− | C+ |
Kennedy, August, French Camp, Garden Acres and Morada report no FBI crime data of their own. Compare Stockton with a neighbor →
Short answers, built from the data on this page.
Stockton grades D− overall, better than 5% of U.S. towns and #706 of 841 in California. It grades C+ for health, D− for safety and C+ for schools. Safety is its weak spot, with a D−.
Yes. That is 4.6 years of the area's median household income ($92,179 across the Stockton-Lodi, CA metro area). Cost of living, which also weighs rents, property taxes and how many households pay 30% or more of their income for housing, grades C−.
45 notable people were born here, including Chris Isaak and Daniel Goleman.
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