City · Sonoma County, California

Sonoma, California

Sonoma is a city in Sonoma County, California, part of the Santa Rosa-Petaluma, CA metro area. It has 10,670 residents. Sonoma, California has a quality-of-life score of 77 out of 100 (high), ranking #3,661 of 15,651 US cities and towns. Within California it ranks #132 of 1,062 cities and towns. It ranks best on median Air Quality Index (low), comfortable days (high) and drought exposure (low). It ranks worst on home price to income ratio (high), natural hazard risk (high) and rent-burdened households (high).

77High

Quality-of-life score: #3,661 of 15,651 cities and towns
California: #132 of 1,062 in CA
Population: 10,670 (2020-2024)
Land area: 3 mi²
Density: 3,889.1 /mi²
FIPS code: 0672646

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.

Safety65#5,461/15,637
Economy63#5,789/15,631
Housing7#13,942/14,977
Health85#2,286/15,609
Healthcare94#986/15,650
Environment91#1,311/15,453
Education27#11,364/15,649
Infrastructure65#5,453/15,650
Community66#5,249/15,651
Leisure & amenities96#617/15,651

Strengths · Weaknesses

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

Median Air Quality Index · low9
99/100California 602025U.S. Environmental Protection AgencySonoma County value
Comfortable days · high49.6%
99/100California 34.8%United States 26.8%2016-2025NOAA National Centers for Environmental InformationSonoma County value
Drought exposure · low0%
98/100California 9%United States 43%Oct 2025–Sep 2026National Drought Mitigation Center (University of Nebraska–Lincoln), USDA and NOAASonoma County value
Grocery stores · high3.0 /10k
94/100California 2.0 /10kUnited States 1.7 /10k2025U.S. Bureau of Labor StatisticsSonoma County value
Mental health providers · high616 /100k
93/100California 487 /100kUnited States 348 /100k2025University of Wisconsin Population Health InstituteSonoma County value
Adult obesity · low25.3%
93/100California 30.4%United States 38.2%2023University of Wisconsin Population Health InstituteModel-based estimate

Weaknesses

Home price to income ratio · high9.9×
1/100California 7.4×United States 4.1×2020-2024U.S. Census Bureau Census table B25077
Natural hazard risk · high96.3
4/100California 87.32025Federal Emergency Management AgencySonoma County value
Rent-burdened households · high63.7%
6/100California 55.3%United States 51.1%2020-2024U.S. Census Bureau Census table B25070
Students per teacher · high20.1×
7/100California 21.7×United States 15.2×2024National Center for Education StatisticsSonoma County value
Rent as share of income · high34.3%
12/100California 32.8%United States 30.6%2020-2024U.S. Census Bureau Census table B25071
High school diploma or higher · low95.7%
13/100California 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.

New homes permittedImproving
0.4 /1k (2021) → 1.0 /1k (Sep 2025–Aug 2026)
+179%5 yearsUS 5.2 /1k → 4.2 /1k
Bachelor's degree or higherImproving
42.0% (2015-2019) → 51.2% (2020-2024)
+9.2 pts5 yearsCensus table B15003US 32.1% → 35.7%
Broadband subscriptionsImproving
89.7% (2015-2019) → 95.3% (2020-2024)
+5.6 pts5 yearsCensus table B28002US 82.7% → 91.0%
High school diploma or higherImproving
91.3% (2015-2019) → 95.7% (2020-2024)
+4.4 pts5 yearsCensus table B15003US 88.0% → 89.6%
Rent-burdened householdsWorsening
59.7% (2015-2019) → 63.7% (2020-2024)
+3.9 pts5 yearsCensus table B25070US 49.6% → 51.1%
Median household incomeImproving
$84,352 (2015-2019) → $98,527 (2020-2024)
+17%5 yearsCensus table B19013US $65,712 → $81,604

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, Sonoma, California improved on 3 of 12 measures with a comparison and declined on 0. 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.

Improved3

Bachelor's++9.2 points42.0% → 51.2%
Broadband+5.6 points89.7% → 95.3%
Household income+17%$84,352 → $98,527

Declined0

No measure declined by more than its margin of error.

All 12 measures

Change of every measure of Sonoma, California between two periods about five years apart
Measure	Before	After	Change	Reading	Favourable vs peers
Average commute time	29.7 min2015-2019	25.4 min2020-2024	−4.3 min	Within the margin of error	87%
Bachelor's degree or higher	42.0%2015-2019	51.2%2020-2024	+9.2 points	Improved	88%
Broadband subscriptions	89.7%2015-2019	95.3%2020-2024	+5.6 points	Improved	35%
Effective property tax rate	0.71%2015-2019	0.65%2020-2024	−0.1 points	Within the margin of error	28%
High school diploma or higher	91.3%2015-2019	95.7%2020-2024	+4.4 points	Within the margin of error	78%
Home price to income ratio	9.3×2015-2019	9.9×2020-2024	+0.5×	Within the margin of error	46%
Income inequality (Gini index)	0.4912015-2019	0.4742020-2024	−0.017	Within the margin of error	65%
Median household income	$84,3522015-2019	$98,5272020-2024	+17%	Improved	27%
Poverty rate	10.5%2015-2019	10.4%2020-2024	−0.1 points	Within the margin of error	45%
Rent as share of income	36.0%2015-2019	34.3%2020-2024	−1.7 points	Within the margin of error	67%
Rent-burdened households	59.7%2015-2019	63.7%2020-2024	+3.9 points	Within the margin of error	41%
Unemployment rate	6.8%2015-2019	5.7%2020-2024	−1.1 points	Within the margin of error	71%

“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 Sonoma, California five years ago that improved

The places whose measures looked most like those of Sonoma, 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, Sonoma, California itself moved +4.9 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

10,670 residents (±26)

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

5,285 households (±338)

Sonoma, California
California share

Under $25k8.6%†457
$25k–50k12%†635
$50k–75k

Homes

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

Owners and renters

5,285 households (±338)

Sonoma, California
California share

Own65%3,435
Rent35%1,850

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

4,838 workers (±417)

Sonoma, California
California share

Drive alone68%3,314
Carpool2.3%†110
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 Santa Rosa-Petaluma, 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 Sonoma County, the county holding most of Sonoma's residents.

Sonoma County has 14,572 employer establishments, 301 for every 10,000 residents (1.21× the US rate of 248; 1.15× California's), with 177,367 paid employees at an average annual pay of $69,243. The Census Bureau also counts 45,382 nonemployer businesses, mostly sole proprietors.

Establishments: 14,572; 45,382 nonemployers
Per 10,000 residents: 301; US 248 · California 263
Paid employees: 177,367
Average annual pay: $69,243; US $68,342

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

Specialty trade contractors	1,394	28.8	1.86×More than typical	11,339	$81,073	2,069
Ambulatory health care services	1,052	21.8	1.04×About typical	14,317	$86,389	2,634
Restaurants and other eating places	1,041	21.5	1.17×About typical	17,342	$30,953	140
Construction of buildings	788	16.3	2.16×More than typical	3,831	$76,914	1,397
Lessors of real estate	651	13.5	1.09×About typical	2,243	$67,005	4,541
Services to buildings and dwellings	512	10.6	1.57×More than typical	4,228	$48,802	2,490
Full-service restaurants	511	10.6	1.38×More than typical	9,018	$34,117	45
Building equipment contractors	504	10.4	1.73×More than typical	3,830	$86,463	448
Building finishing contractors	439	9.1	2.39×More than typical	3,366	$73,653	679
Limited-service restaurants	354	7.3	0.91×About typical	5,778	$27,595	60
Management, scientific and technical consulting	354	7.3	1.09×About typical	1,588	$79,324	2,375
Automotive repair and maintenance	306	6.3	1.26×More than typical	1,805	$56,429	387

Rank places for an industry Open Sonoma County

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

Per-resident figures divide by the population estimate of 2023: 483,405 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 $86.5K of federal contract obligations were for work performed in Sonoma, California: $8.11 per resident (US $1,994).

Obligations: $86.5K; −37% vs FY2025
Per resident: $8.11; US $1,994
Sole-source: 0.0%; US 30%
Single offer: 3.1%; 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$80.7K93%
Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service$2,4862.9%
Department of the Army$1,9672.3%
Bureau of Reclamation$1,3031.5%
U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service$1200.1%

Top recipients

MELLINGER ENGINEERING, INCORPORATED$60.7K70%
MELLINGER ENGINEERING GROUP, LLC$20K23%
PATRIOT ENVIRONMENTAL SERVICES, INC.$2,4862.9%
ROD TRANSPORT INC$1,9672.3%
GE RENEWABLES US LLC$1,3041.5%

Spending by fiscal year

86.8KFY2017
115.3KFY2018
79.6KFY2019
234.4KFY2020
110.1KFY2021
142KFY2022
594.3KFY2023
463.5K

Top industries (NAICS)

Other fabricated metal product manufacturing · 3329$80.7K93%
Other heavy and civil engineering construction · 2379$3,2703.8%
Remediation and other waste management services · 5629$2,6063.0%

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 Sonoma, California, so they do not add up across cities.

Sonoma, California's figures are part of those of Sonoma County, CA ($76.5M in FY2026), never added to them: 0.1% of that total.

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

See federal money in Sonoma 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.

Sonoma, 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.

Sonoma County84100% of residents

Metro area

The metro or micro area the city belongs to.

Santa Rosa-Petaluma, CA93

Other cities and towns in Sonoma 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/0672646

Scores by category

Strengths · Weaknesses

Strengths

Weaknesses

Trends