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Towns / California

Ferndale, California

Ferndale is a small town of about 1,300 people in Humboldt County, California. It has lost about 4% of its people since 2020. A typical home costs about 8.6 years of the typical household's income, compared with 4.1 across the U.S. The nearest metro area of about a million people or more, Sacramento, is about 204 miles away as the crow flies.

Population
1,348
down 3.7% since 2020
Typical home, 2020-24
$542,000
Humboldt County prices up 2.6% since 2022
Household income
$63,142
U.S.: $80,734
Prices, rural California
100
U.S. average = 100
Emergency room
7 miles
Fortuna, CA
To Sacramento
204 mi
straight line

The book's checklist

  • Lower cost of livingEveryday prices match the U.S. average in the parts of California outside metro areas.
  • More house for the moneyA typical home costs 8.6 years of the typical household's income here. Across the U.S. it's 4.1.
  • A safer neighborhood1 violent crime was reported in 2025, about 0.7 per 1,000 people (U.S.: 3.3). Property crime: 7.4 per 1,000 (U.S.: 15.3).
  • Schools in town2 public schools: 1 elementary and 1 high school.
  • A hospital close byProvidence Redwood Memorial Hospital in Fortuna, about 7 miles away, has the nearest emergency room.
  • Within reach of a big citySacramento is about 204 miles away as the crow flies. The book suggests staying within about 60 miles if you'll miss big-city sports, concerts and theater.

A check means Ferndale meets the rule of thumb from Frank and Dave's book. An empty box isn't a deal breaker: it's something to weigh for your family. A question mark means there isn't enough data.

For a lifetime

Homes and money

Typical home value, as owners valued them in 2020-2024
$542,000U.S.: $332,700
Home prices since then
Up 2.6%Humboldt County, 2022 to 2025
Typical rent, with utilities
$1,028 a monthU.S.: $1,413
Typical household income
$63,142U.S.: $80,734
Homes owned by the people living in them
61%U.S.: 65%
Typical property tax bill
$3,130 a yearCalifornia: $5,124
Homes built since 2010
3%U.S.: 11%
Vacation and seasonal homes
4%U.S.: 3%
Everyday prices
100U.S. average = 100 (the parts of California outside metro areas)

Home values and rents are what households told the Census Bureau across 2020 to 2024, so they trail today's market: county prices have moved up 2.6% since 2022. Everyday prices are the government's average for the parts of California outside metro areas, not Ferndale alone. Check current listings before you budget.

Sources: U.S. Census Bureau, American Community Survey 2020-2024 5-year estimates; Federal Housing Finance Agency, House Price Index for counties (all transactions); U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis, Regional Price Parities, 2024.

The people

Population, 2025 estimate
1,3482020: 1,399
Median age
61.2 yearsU.S.: 38.9
Age 65 and older
36%U.S.: 17%
Under 18
8%U.S.: 22%
Adults with a bachelor's degree or more
32%U.S.: 36%
Moved here from another county or state in the past year
1%U.S.: 6%

Sources: U.S. Census Bureau, Population Estimates (Vintage 2025); U.S. Census Bureau, American Community Survey 2020-2024 5-year estimates.

Work

Biggest lines of work
Information and media (12%)
Work from home
16%U.S.: 15%
Below the poverty line
13%U.S.: 12%

Sources: U.S. Census Bureau, American Community Survey 2020-2024 5-year estimates.

Health care

Nearest emergency room: Providence Redwood Memorial Hospital, Fortuna, CA, about 7 miles away. It's a critical access hospital (a small rural hospital with 25 or fewer beds). Medicare gives it 4 of 5 stars.

Nearest general hospital: Providence St. Joseph Hospital, Eureka, CA, about 16 miles away. Medicare gives it 4 of 5 stars.

Look up doctors, clinics and the hospitals themselves on Medicare's Care Compare. Ask where the most serious cases are sent.

Sources: Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, Hospital General Information.

Schools

2 public schools in Ferndale, run by Ferndale Unified.

See each school on the federal school search, then check test scores and graduation rates on California's school report card.

Sources: National Center for Education Statistics, Common Core of Data, 2023-24 (via the Urban Institute Education Data Portal); National Center for Education Statistics, IPEDS institution directory, 2024.

Internet

Homes with cable, fiber or DSL internet
80%U.S.: 76%
Homes with any internet subscription
92%U.S.: 91%

Before you buy, look up the address on the FCC's National Broadband Map to see which providers serve it.

Sources: U.S. Census Bureau, American Community Survey 2020-2024 5-year estimates.

Weather

January average low
43°F
July average high
70°F
Days 90°F or hotter
2 a year
Nights at or below freezing
6 a year
Rain and melted snow
40.4 inches a year
Snow
0 inches a year
Elevation
45 feet

Weather stations: Scotia (11 miles away) and Eureka Wfo Woodley Island (17 miles away, rain and snow). Averages for 1991 to 2020.

Sources: NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information, U.S. Climate Normals 1991-2020; U.S. Geological Survey, 3D Elevation Program.

Getting around

Straight-line miles. The road is always longer, and as the book says, an interstate at 70 is a different trip from a farm road at 45. Check the real drive: Providence Redwood Memorial Hospital, Redding, Sacramento.

Humboldt County is outside any metro area, with 20,000 or more people in its towns, not next to a metro area (USDA rural-urban code 5, on a scale where 1 is the biggest metro areas and 9 the most rural counties).

For a day

9 places on the National Register of Historic Places, including the Andreasen, F. W.-John Rossen House, the Fern Cottage Historic District and the Ferndale Main Street Historic District.

National Park Service sites within about an hour:

  • Redwood National Park38 miles

Read about Ferndale's history on Wikipedia.

Know Ferndale?

Tell us what a visitor shouldn't miss, and what living there is really like. Write to Main Street at mainstreet@smalltownguide.com. The best notes from people who know the town will be added here.

Nearby

Straight-line miles.

Small towns

Smaller places

  • Loleta, CA (unincorporated)723 people, 5 miles
  • Hydesville, CA (unincorporated)1,263 people, 9 miles
  • Fields Landing, CA (unincorporated)532 people, 10 miles
  • Scotia, CA (unincorporated)405 people, 11 miles
  • Fairhaven, CA (unincorporated)293 people, 15 miles

Sources

  1. U.S. Census Bureau, Population Estimates (Vintage 2025)
  2. U.S. Census Bureau, American Community Survey 2020-2024 5-year estimates
  3. Federal Housing Finance Agency, House Price Index for counties (all transactions)
  4. U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis, Regional Price Parities, 2024
  5. FBI, Crime in the United States, Table 8 (offenses known to law enforcement by city)
  6. Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, Hospital General Information
  7. National Center for Education Statistics, Common Core of Data, 2023-24 (via the Urban Institute Education Data Portal)
  8. National Center for Education Statistics, IPEDS institution directory, 2024
  9. NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information, U.S. Climate Normals 1991-2020
  10. U.S. Geological Survey, 3D Elevation Program
  11. National Park Service, National Register of Historic Places listings
  12. National Park Service, park unit boundaries
  13. USDA Economic Research Service, Rural-Urban Continuum Codes, 2023
  14. U.S. Census Bureau, 2025 Gazetteer files and 2020 urban areas

Census survey figures are estimates with a margin of error; we leave out any figure whose margin is too wide to be useful. Data last gathered October 5, 2026. See something wrong? Write to mainstreet@smalltownguide.com.