Census-designated place · San Joaquin County, California

Linden, California

Linden is a census-designated place in San Joaquin County, California, part of the Stockton-Lodi, CA metro area. It has 2,389 residents. Linden, California has a quality-of-life score of 23 out of 100 (low), ranking #12,067 of 15,651 US cities and towns. Within California it ranks #682 of 1,062 cities and towns. It ranks best on distance to an Amtrak station (low), drought exposure (low) and comfortable days (high). It ranks worst on unemployment rate (high), students per teacher (high) and social associations (low).

23Low

Quality-of-life score: #12,067 of 15,651 cities and towns
California: #682 of 1,062 in CA
Population: 2,389 (2020-2024)
Land area: 7 mi²
Density: 322.4 /mi²
FIPS code: 0641670

Percentile-based score (100 is the best in the country) from 75 of 80 indicators, with the default “Explorer” weights.

Open in the map

Scores by category

Each category averages its indicators' percentile scores among US cities and towns.

Safety14#13,379/15,637
Economy75#3,980/15,631
Housing33#9,978/14,977
Health55#7,048/15,609
Healthcare53#7,361/15,650
Environment14#13,349/15,453
Education9#14,178/15,649
Infrastructure54#7,226/15,650
Community13#13,591/15,651
Leisure & amenities17#12,991/15,651

Strengths · Weaknesses

Indicators where Linden, California ranks highest and lowest among US cities and towns (score = percentile, 100 = best). Values marked “San Joaquin County value” are the county’s: the source publishes no figure for this city or town, and the county holding most of its residents stands in.

Strengths

Distance to an Amtrak station · low4 mi
99/100California 10 miUnited States 43 mi2026Federal Aviation Administration · Bureau of Transportation Statistics · U.S. Census BureauSan Joaquin County value
Drought exposure · low0%
98/100California 9%United States 43%Oct 2025–Sep 2026National Drought Mitigation Center (University of Nebraska–Lincoln), USDA and NOAASan Joaquin County value
Comfortable days · high34.2%
93/100California 34.8%United States 26.8%2016-2025NOAA National Centers for Environmental InformationSan Joaquin County value
Poverty rate · low2.8%
93/100California 11.8%United States 12.1%2020-2024U.S. Census Bureau Census table B17001High uncertainty
Median household income · high$125,532
89/100California $100,130United States $81,6042020-2024U.S. Census Bureau Census table B19013
Suicide rate · low9.4 /100k
86/100California 9.9 /100kUnited States 14.1 /100kMay 2025–Apr 2026Centers for Disease Control and PreventionProvisional dataSan Joaquin County value

Weaknesses

Unemployment rate · high18.3%
1/100California 5.5%United States 4.3%2020-2024U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics Census table B23025High uncertainty
Students per teacher · high22.1×
3/100California 21.7×United States 15.2×2024National Center for Education StatisticsSan Joaquin County value
Social associations · low4.2 /10k
3/100California 6.2 /10kUnited States 9.1 /10k2023University of Wisconsin Population Health InstituteSan Joaquin County value
Fine particulate matter (PM2.5) · high9.7 µg/m³
4/100California 9.4 µg/m³United States 8.0 µg/m³2022Centers for Disease Control and Prevention · U.S. Environmental Protection AgencySan Joaquin County value
Violent crime rate · high616 /100k
4/100California 433 /100kUnited States 328 /100k2025Federal Bureau of InvestigationSan Joaquin County value
High school diploma or higher · low95.0%
7/100California 84.7%United States 89.6%2020-2024U.S. Census Bureau Census table B15003

Trends

The largest changes over about five years, next to the country's over the same periods.

PopulationRising
1,547 (2015-2019) → 2,389 (2020-2024)
+54%5 yearsCensus table B01003US 328,329,953 → 340,003,797
Unemployment rateWorsening
4.7% (2015-2019) → 18.3% (2020-2024)
+14 pts5 yearsCensus table B23025US 3.7% → 4.0%
Bachelor's degree or higherImproving
22.5% (2015-2019) → 34.9% (2020-2024)
+12 pts5 yearsCensus table B15003US 32.1% → 35.7%
Rent-burdened householdsWorsening
10.7% (2015-2019) → 19.0% (2020-2024)
+8.4 pts5 yearsCensus table B25070US 49.6% → 51.1%
Home price to income ratioWorsening
3.4× (2015-2019) → 4.8× (2020-2024)
+39%5 yearsCensus table B25077US 3.5× → 4.1×
Child poverty rateImproving
8.4% (2015-2019) → 1.4% (2020-2024)
−6.9 pts5 yearsCensus table B17001US 16.8% → 15.5%

What changed in five years

How each measure moved between two periods about five years apart, read against whether more or less is better, the published margin of error and the same change in other places.

Over about five years, Linden, California improved on 0 of 10 measures with a comparison and declined on 1. 9 moved within the margin of error and 0 barely changed.

Earlier (2015-2019)
Latest (2020-2024)
Lower standingHigher standing

Position is the place's standing among cities and towns: further right is better, whichever way the measure counts.

Improved0

No measure improved by more than its margin of error.

Declined1

Price / income+1.3×3.4× → 4.8×

All 10 measures

Change of every measure of Linden, California between two periods about five years apart
Measure	Before	After	Change	Reading	Favourable vs peers
Average commute time	25.8 min2015-2019	31.1 min2020-2024	+5.3 min	Within the margin of error	9%
Bachelor's degree or higher	22.5%2015-2019	34.9%2020-2024	+12 points	Within the margin of error	94%
Broadband subscriptions	96.5%2015-2019	95.7%2020-2024	−0.8 points	Within the margin of error	6%
Effective property tax rate	0.97%2015-2019	0.58%2020-2024	−0.4 points	Within the margin of error	84%
High school diploma or higher	96.6%2015-2019	95.0%2020-2024	−1.6 points	Within the margin of error	18%
Home price to income ratio	3.4×2015-2019	4.8×2020-2024	+1.3×	Declined	12%
Income inequality (Gini index)	0.3142015-2019	0.3402020-2024	+0.027	Within the margin of error	29%
Median household income	$114,7922015-2019	$125,5322020-2024	+9.4%	Within the margin of error	16%
Public transit commuters	0.0%2015-2019	0.0%2020-2024	0 points	Within the margin of error	60%
Rent as share of income	15.0%2015-2019	21.2%2020-2024	+6.2 points	Within the margin of error	18%

“Against peers” compares the change with the same change in the 14640 cities and towns that have the same two periods. It describes how common a change is, not why it happened.

Sources: American Community Survey 5-Year Estimates. Values are the latest and the one five years earlier of the same publisher dataset; datasets that changed publisher in between are never compared.

Survey estimates (American Community Survey) compare the two most recent 5-year windows that do not share years, so the margin of error of the difference holds. The 2015-2019 window predates the pandemic and 2020-2024 includes it.
A change counts only when it is larger than 1.645 times the square root of the two standard errors squared, summed (a 90% margin). Measures published without a margin must change by at least 5% to count.
“Against peers” compares the change with the same change in the 15651 cities and towns that have the same two periods. It describes how common a change is, not why it happened.
Standing is a percentile among the same places: 0 is the lowest value on the measure (or the worst when lower is better), 100 the best.

Cities and towns like Linden, California five years ago that improved

The places whose measures looked most like those of Linden, California in the earlier period, ranked by how many measures improved beyond the margin of error, minus how many declined. A comparison of published data, not a forecast and not advice.

For comparison, Linden, California itself moved −4.9 points in standing on average over the same 9 measures (standings of all places average about zero).

How the ranking works

Similarity is the root-mean-square difference of standings in the earlier period over the measures most places have. Places are ranked by measures that improved beyond the margin of error minus those that declined (a count that estimation noise in small places cannot inflate), then by the mean change of standing over the measures a place has in both periods. Only places with more improvements than declines and a rise in standing are listed. Standings are relative, so a place can improve in absolute terms and still lose standing.

Who lives here

Age, race and education of residents, from the American Community Survey. Shares are of all residents (age), residents of every origin (race) or adults 25 and over (education).

Age and sex

2,389 residents (±581)

Men
Women

80 and over†
70–79†
60–69†

Income

How household income is spread, not just the middle: each bar is the share of households in that income range.

Household income

989 households (±188)

Linden, California
California share

Under $25k5.2%†51
$25k–50k17%†165
$50k–75k

Homes

Who owns and who rents, what homes cost, and what the housing stock looks like.

Owners and renters

989 households (±188)

Linden, California
California share

Own56%†555
Rent44%†434

Biggest shift since 2015–2019: Own (−23.7 points).

† Wide margin of error (more than 30% of the estimate): read with care.

Table view

Getting to work

How workers travel to their job and how long it takes them.

How people get to work

1,065 workers (±231)

Linden, California
California share

Drive alone93%993
Carpool0.8%†9
Public transit0.0%0

Jobs and pay

What the largest occupations here pay, from the Bureau of Labor Statistics' Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics survey.

The Bureau of Labor Statistics publishes pay by metro area, not by county or city. The metro area page lists its largest occupations and lets you look up any job.

Pay in the Stockton-Lodi, CA

Local businesses

Employer businesses and sole proprietors by industry, per resident and against the state and the nation. Counts of businesses next to counts of people, not a measure of demand.

The Census Bureau publishes business counts by county, not by city, so these are the figures of San Joaquin County, the county holding most of Linden's residents.

San Joaquin County has 13,638 employer establishments, 169 for every 10,000 residents (0.68× the US rate of 248; 0.64× California's), with 232,910 paid employees at an average annual pay of $56,826. The Census Bureau also counts 55,593 nonemployer businesses, mostly sole proprietors.

Establishments: 13,638; 55,593 nonemployers
Per 10,000 residents: 169; US 248 · California 263
Paid employees: 232,910
Average annual pay: $56,826; US $68,342

Employer establishments, employees, average pay and nonemployers of San Joaquin County by industry, with the density per resident against the nation

Truck transportation	1,291	16	3.17×More than typical	8,947	$62,301	6,890
Restaurants and other eating places	1,159	14.4	0.78×Fewer than typical	20,554	$24,991	287
Ambulatory health care services	1,133	14.1	0.67×Fewer than typical	13,304	$74,481	1,656
Specialty trade contractors	946	11.7	0.76×Fewer than typical	9,572	$72,841	2,049
Lessors of real estate	584	7.2	0.59×Fewer than typical	2,366	$52,199	4,010
Limited-service restaurants	562	7	0.87×About typical	11,107	$23,692	99
Full-service restaurants	403	5	0.65×Fewer than typical	6,774	$27,831	114
Services to buildings and dwellings	399	5	0.73×Fewer than typical	3,525	$41,176	3,544
Automotive repair and maintenance	392	4.9	0.97×About typical	2,464	$51,590	1,118
Construction of buildings	381	4.7	0.63×Fewer than typical	2,687	$77,177	1,301
Building equipment contractors	360	4.5	0.74×Fewer than typical	3,235	$81,415	456
Offices of physicians	333	4.1	0.64×Fewer than typical	2,818	$93,717	222

Rank places for an industry Open San Joaquin County

County Business Patterns (2023); Nonemployer Statistics (2024)

Per-resident figures divide by the population estimate of 2023: 806,055 residents here, 336,755,052 in the United States. County Business Patterns counts establishments in 2023; the Nonemployer Statistics count businesses in 2024.
“More than typical” is a density at least 1.25 times the nation's per resident, “fewer” at most 0.8 times, with at least 10 establishments. It compares counts of businesses with counts of people: it says nothing about demand, incomes, size, quality or profit, and visitors and commuters are not residents.
The Census Bureau adds noise to employment and payroll to protect confidentiality, and withholds some figures: an industry with few establishments can show employees or pay as unavailable.
Industries overlap: a narrower industry (full-service restaurants) is part of a broader one (restaurants), so the rows do not add up.
Industries follow the North American Industry Classification System; the two surveys use different editions (NAICS 2017 and 2022), which this page matches industry by industry.

Federal contracts performed here

In FY2026, an estimated -$156 of federal contract obligations were for work performed in Linden, California: -$0.07 per resident (US $1,994).

Obligations: -$156
Per resident: -$0.07; US $1,994
Sole-source: —; US 30%
Single offer: —; US 8.8%

A signal is a reason to look closer, not evidence of wrongdoing: most sole-source awards are lawful and justified.

Top buying agencies

Top recipients

GUIDRY LIASON GROUP, INC.-$1560.0%

Spending by fiscal year

16.1KFY2019
11.5KFY2022
510.2KFY2023
-25.4KFY2024
-6.2KFY2025
-156.1FY2026

What was bought

Source: Federal contract transactions (Federal Procurement Data System) (U.S. Department of the Treasury, USAspending.gov), data current to Oct 3, 2026, loaded Oct 3, 2026.

How this is estimated

Agencies report each contract action's place of performance as a county and a ZIP code. A ZIP code's money is split among the cities it covers by the share of its land inside each (Census 2020 ZIP code tabulation areas); the part outside city limits stays with the county.

The place of performance is what the contracting agency reports, often the contractor's office rather than where the work happens.
Shares are of land, not of people or businesses: a ZIP code that is mostly rural land but has its offices in town gives the town less than it should.
ZIP codes that are not mapped areas (post office boxes, the unique ZIP codes of large federal sites and companies) stay with their county, unless one city covers nearly all of it.
Counts of actions and awards include those only partly in Linden, California, so they do not add up across cities.

Linden, California's figures are part of those of San Joaquin County, CA ($460.4M in FY2026), never added to them: 0.0% of that total.

Grants and other federal assistance are counted by county here, not split among cities: Linden is mostly in San Joaquin County.

See federal money in San Joaquin County

Representation in Congress

Members serving today, with their record in the current Congress (party-unity votes cast with their caucus, roll calls missed). Not a grade.

Linden, California is split between congressional districts: each representative is shown with the share of its residents in their district (current boundaries).

House

Senate

County

A city can lie in several counties. Some indicators are published for counties only: the page marks them.

San Joaquin County28100% of residents

Metro area

The metro or micro area the city belongs to.

Stockton-Lodi, CA28

Other cities and towns in San Joaquin County

Largest first.

Similar cities and towns

Closest indicator profiles across the country (no model: score distances).

Data and sources

Latest published value of each indicator; periods differ by source. Values flagged by their publisher are marked.

PLACES: Local Data for Better HealthCenters for Disease Control and Prevention · release 2025
Local Area Unemployment StatisticsU.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics · release 2025
American Community Survey 5-Year EstimatesU.S. Census Bureau · release 2017-2024
Population Estimates ProgramU.S. Census Bureau · release 2025
Small Area Health Insurance EstimatesU.S. Census Bureau · release 2024
Small Area Income and Poverty EstimatesU.S. Census Bureau · release 2024
County Health Rankings & RoadmapsUniversity of Wisconsin Population Health Institute · release 2022-2025+2026-03-supplement

JSON · /api/v1/places/0641670

Scores by category

Strengths · Weaknesses

Strengths

Weaknesses

Trends