City · Orange County, California

Seal Beach, California

Seal Beach is a city in Orange County, California, part of the Los Angeles-Long Beach-Anaheim, CA metro area. It has 24,722 residents. Seal Beach, California has a quality-of-life score of 69 out of 100 (high), ranking #4,866 of 15,651 US cities and towns. Within California it ranks #208 of 1,062 cities and towns. It ranks best on comfortable days (high), child poverty rate (low) and dentists (high). It ranks worst on students per teacher (high), fine particulate matter (PM2.5) (high) and high ozone days (high).

69High

Quality-of-life score: #4,866 of 15,651 cities and towns
California: #208 of 1,062 in CA
Population: 24,722 (2020-2024)
Land area: 11 mi²
Density: 2,183.1 /mi²
FIPS code: 0670686

Percentile-based score (100 is the best in the country) from 76 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.

Safety70#4,718/15,637
Economy80#3,145/15,631
Housing12#13,142/14,977
Health94#923/15,609
Healthcare93#1,135/15,650
Environment4#14,865/15,453
Education50#7,810/15,649
Infrastructure69#4,787/15,650
Community56#6,863/15,651
Leisure & amenities87#2,041/15,651

Strengths · Weaknesses

Indicators where Seal Beach, California ranks highest and lowest among US cities and towns (score = percentile, 100 = best). Values marked “Orange 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

Comfortable days · high62.4%
100/100California 34.8%United States 26.8%2016-2025NOAA National Centers for Environmental InformationOrange County value
Child poverty rate · low1.5%
99/100California 14.6%United States 15.5%2020-2024U.S. Census Bureau Census table B17001High uncertainty
Dentists · high127 /100k
98/100California 95 /100kUnited States 75 /100k2023University of Wisconsin Population Health InstituteOrange County value
Adult obesity · low22.5%
97/100California 30.4%United States 38.2%2023University of Wisconsin Population Health InstituteModel-based estimate
Distance to an Amtrak station · low5 mi
97/100California 10 miUnited States 43 mi2026Federal Aviation Administration · Bureau of Transportation Statistics · U.S. Census BureauOrange County value
Access to exercise opportunities · high99.1%
97/100California 94.3%United States 84.5%2022 & 2024University of Wisconsin Population Health InstituteOrange County value

Weaknesses

Students per teacher · high22.8×
1/100California 21.7×United States 15.2×2024National Center for Education StatisticsOrange County value
Fine particulate matter (PM2.5) · high10.1 µg/m³
2/100California 9.4 µg/m³United States 8.0 µg/m³2022Centers for Disease Control and Prevention · U.S. Environmental Protection AgencyOrange County value
High ozone days · high17 days
3/100California 38 daysUnited States 7 days2022Centers for Disease Control and Prevention · U.S. Environmental Protection AgencyOrange County value
Income inequality (Gini index) · high0.503
5/100California 0.489United States 0.4832020-2024U.S. Census Bureau Census table B19083
Public libraries · low0.2 /10k
9/100California 0.3 /10kUnited States 0.5 /10k2024Institute of Museum and Library ServicesOrange County value
Median Air Quality Index · high53
10/100California 602025U.S. Environmental Protection AgencyOrange County value

Trends

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

Rent-burdened householdsWorsening
44.9% (2015-2019) → 54.3% (2020-2024)
+9.5 pts5 yearsCensus table B25070US 49.6% → 51.1%
New homes permittedWorsening
0.7 /1k (2021) → 0.4 /1k (Sep 2025–Aug 2026)
−43%5 yearsUS 5.2 /1k → 4.2 /1k
Broadband subscriptionsImproving
84.1% (2015-2019) → 90.9% (2020-2024)
+6.8 pts5 yearsCensus table B28002US 82.7% → 91.0%
Rent as share of incomeWorsening
27.2% (2015-2019) → 33.2% (2020-2024)
+6 pts5 yearsCensus table B25071US 29.8% → 30.6%
Median household incomeImproving
$68,852 (2015-2019) → $85,964 (2020-2024)
+25%5 yearsCensus table B19013US $65,712 → $81,604
Average commute timeImproving
33.3 min (2015-2019) → 28.8 min (2020-2024)
−13%5 yearsCensus table B08013US 26.9 min → 26.4 min

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, Seal Beach, California improved on 3 of 13 measures with a comparison and declined on 2. 8 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.

Improved3

Commute−4.4 min33.3 min → 28.8 min
Household income+25%$68,852 → $85,964
Broadband+6.8 points84.1% → 90.9%

Declined2

Rent / income+6 points27.2% → 33.2%
Rent burden+9.5 points44.9% → 54.3%

All 13 measures

Change of every measure of Seal Beach, California between two periods about five years apart
Measure	Before	After	Change	Reading	Favourable vs peers
Average commute time	33.3 min2015-2019	28.8 min2020-2024	−4.4 min	Improved	87%
Bachelor's degree or higher	49.0%2015-2019	51.4%2020-2024	+2.5 points	Within the margin of error	47%
Broadband subscriptions	84.1%2015-2019	90.9%2020-2024	+6.8 points	Improved	43%
Effective property tax rate	0.63%2015-2019	0.63%2020-2024	+0 points	Within the margin of error	15%
High school diploma or higher	94.9%2015-2019	95.0%2020-2024	+0.2 points	Within the margin of error	35%
Home price to income ratio	5.4×2015-2019	5.7×2020-2024	+0.3×	Within the margin of error	64%
Income inequality (Gini index)	0.5122015-2019	0.5032020-2024	−0.009	Within the margin of error	58%
Median household income	$68,8522015-2019	$85,9642020-2024	+25%	Improved	44%
Poverty rate	5.7%2015-2019	6.7%2020-2024	+0.9 points	Within the margin of error	35%
Rent as share of income	27.2%2015-2019	33.2%2020-2024	+6 points	Declined	18%
Rent-burdened households	44.9%2015-2019	54.3%2020-2024	+9.5 points	Declined	25%
Unemployment rate	4.1%2015-2019	4.7%2020-2024	+0.6 points	Within the margin of error	36%
Uninsured residents (under 65)	4.7%2015-2019	3.4%2020-2024	−1.3 points	Within the margin of error	62%

“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 Seal Beach, California five years ago that improved

The places whose measures looked most like those of Seal Beach, 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, Seal Beach, California itself moved −7 points in standing on average over the same 10 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

24,722 residents (±41)

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

12,837 households (±427)

Seal Beach, California
California share

Under $25k12%1,522
$25k–50k21%2,705
$50k–75k13%1,643

Homes

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

Owners and renters

12,837 households (±427)

Seal Beach, California
California share

Own77%9,827
Rent23%3,010

No change since 2015–2019 is larger than the margin of error.

Table view

Getting to work

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

How people get to work

9,207 workers (±536)

Seal Beach, California
California share

Drive alone67%6,182
Carpool3.2%†291
Public transit0.0%†4

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 Los Angeles-Long Beach-Anaheim, 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 Orange County, the county holding most of Seal Beach's residents.

Orange County has 106,961 employer establishments, 340 for every 10,000 residents (1.37× the US rate of 248; 1.29× California's), with 1,580,778 paid employees at an average annual pay of $75,083. The Census Bureau also counts 334,683 nonemployer businesses, mostly sole proprietors.

Establishments: 106,961; 334,683 nonemployers
Per 10,000 residents: 340; US 248 · California 263
Paid employees: 1,580,778
Average annual pay: $75,083; US $68,342

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

Ambulatory health care services	11,839	37.6	1.80×More than typical	100,035	$71,640	16,094
Restaurants and other eating places	7,707	24.5	1.33×More than typical	144,694	$28,059	1,233
Lessors of real estate	7,200	22.9	1.86×More than typical	39,830	$87,081	41,207
Management, scientific and technical consulting	5,500	17.5	2.60×More than typical	23,977	$90,330	17,159
Specialty trade contractors	4,824	15.3	0.99×About typical	71,672	$81,573	11,063
Offices of physicians	4,197	13.3	2.06×More than typical	27,911	$99,547	3,089
Limited-service restaurants	3,354	10.6	1.33×More than typical	58,754	$25,179	454
Legal services	3,050	9.7	1.80×More than typical	18,899	$115,288	4,482
Offices of other health practitioners	2,980	9.5	1.56×More than typical	17,648	$46,141	6,950
Full-service restaurants	2,919	9.3	1.21×About typical	67,911	$31,852	487
Offices of dentists	2,876	9.1	2.27×More than typical	15,947	$52,099	1,093
Real estate agents and brokers	2,860	9.1	1.87×More than typical	6,845	$87,124	10,561

Rank places for an industry Open Orange County

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

Per-resident figures divide by the population estimate of 2023: 3,149,341 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 $9M of federal contract obligations were for work performed in Seal Beach, California: $362 per resident (US $1,994).

Obligations: $9M; −71% vs FY2025
Per resident: $362; US $1,994
Sole-source: 9.9%; US 30%
Single offer: 1.3%; 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

Department of the Navy$8.6M96%
Defense Logistics Agency$240.5K2.7%
National Aeronautics and Space Administration$66.6K0.7%
U.S. Coast Guard$17.8K0.2%
Department of the Army$15K0.2%
Department of the Air Force$7,2700.1%

Top recipients

TUNISTA LOGISTICS SOLUTIONS, LLC$4.5M51%
MANSON/CONNOLLY SEAL BEACH JV$1.7M19%
STRATEGIC TECHNOLOGY INSTITUTE INC$704.2K7.9%
CHUGACH SOLUTIONS ENTERPRISE, LLC$530.8K5.9%
RAINBOW DISPOSAL CO INC$369.3K4.1%

Spending by fiscal year

39.2MFY2017
38.6MFY2018
161.4MFY2019
129.3MFY2020
60.2MFY2021
22.3MFY2022
31.5MFY2023
67.6M

Top industries (NAICS)

Facilities support services · 5612$4.9M55%
Other heavy and civil engineering construction · 2379$1.9M21%
Architectural, engineering, and related services · 5413$818.3K9.1%
Utility system construction · 2371$530.8K5.9%
Remediation and other waste management services · 5629$307.2K3.4%
Aerospace product and parts manufacturing · 3364$62.8K

Largest awards whose ZIP code lies mostly in Seal Beach, California

DESIGN-BID-BUILD CONSTRUCTION PROJECT FOR P-224 CAUSEWAY, BOAT CHANNEL, AND TURNING BASIN AND OPTIONAL ITEM P-226 AMMUNITION PIER TO SUPPORT THE NAVAL ORDNANCE FUNCTIONS AT NAVAL WEAPONS STATION, SEAL BEACH, CA.$163.9M
MANSON/CONNOLLY SEAL BEACH JV· Orange County, CA· Construction & real property· Jul 15, 2019 – Mar 2, 2026· N6247319C2450
AE SERVICES FOR MCON P-224$20.4M
MOFFATT & NICHOL· Orange County, CA· Construction & real property· Jul 31, 2017 – Apr 23, 2026· N6247317C4619
P257U EXPLOSIVES TRUCK HOLDING YARD$8.3M
REYES CONSTRUCTION, INC.· Orange County, CA· Construction & real property· Sep 19, 2024 – Mar 24, 2026· N6247324F5121

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 Seal Beach, California, so they do not add up across cities.

Seal Beach, California's figures are part of those of Orange County, CA ($2.5B in FY2026), never added to them: 0.4% of that total.

Grants and other federal assistance are counted by county here, not split among cities: Seal Beach is mostly in Orange County.

See federal money in Orange 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.

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

House

County

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

Orange County73100% of residents

Metro area

The metro or micro area the city belongs to.

Los Angeles-Long Beach-Anaheim, CA56

Other cities and towns in Orange 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
Building Permits SurveyU.S. Census Bureau · release 2026-08
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/0670686

Scores by category

Strengths · Weaknesses

Strengths

Weaknesses

Trends