City · Yolo County, California

Winters, California

Winters is a city in Yolo County, California, part of the Sacramento-Roseville-Folsom, CA metro area. It has 7,583 residents. Winters, California has a quality-of-life score of 52 out of 100 (moderate), ranking #7,484 of 15,651 US cities and towns. Within California it ranks #384 of 1,062 cities and towns. It ranks best on drought exposure (low), public EV charging ports (high) and distance to an Amtrak station (low). It ranks worst on high school diploma or higher (low), students per teacher (high) and hot days (high).

52Moderate

Quality-of-life score: #7,484 of 15,651 cities and towns
California: #384 of 1,062 in CA
Population: 7,583 (2020-2024)
Land area: 3 mi²
Density: 2,583.8 /mi²
FIPS code: 0686034

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.

Safety58#6,572/15,637
Economy68#4,936/15,631
Housing34#9,923/14,977
Health80#3,124/15,609
Healthcare80#3,101/15,650
Environment27#11,272/15,453
Education14#13,495/15,649
Infrastructure70#4,705/15,650
Community35#10,125/15,651
Leisure & amenities48#8,201/15,651

Strengths · Weaknesses

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

Drought exposure · low0%
98/100California 9%United States 43%Oct 2025–Sep 2026National Drought Mitigation Center (University of Nebraska–Lincoln), USDA and NOAAYolo County value
Public EV charging ports · high21.7 /10k
97/100California 17.4 /10kUnited States 7.6 /10kOct 2026U.S. Department of EnergyYolo County value
Distance to an Amtrak station · low5 mi
95/100California 10 miUnited States 43 mi2026Federal Aviation Administration · Bureau of Transportation Statistics · U.S. Census BureauYolo County value
Hospital quality rating · high4.5
94/100California 3.1United States 3.2Jul 2026Centers for Medicare & Medicaid ServicesYolo County value
Injury deaths · low55 /100k
93/100California 67 /100kUnited States 87 /100k2019-2023University of Wisconsin Population Health InstituteYolo County value
Primary care physicians · high119 /100k
92/100California 83 /100kUnited States 76 /100k2022University of Wisconsin Population Health InstituteYolo County value

Weaknesses

High school diploma or higher · low86.5%
6/100California 84.7%United States 89.6%2020-2024U.S. Census Bureau Census table B15003
Students per teacher · high21.0×
6/100California 21.7×United States 15.2×2024National Center for Education StatisticsYolo County value
Hot days · high95 days
11/100California 66 daysUnited States 42 days2016-2025NOAA National Centers for Environmental InformationYolo County value
Mental health care shortage · high18.0
11/100California 5.1United States 9.9Oct 2026Health Resources and Services AdministrationYolo County value
Home price to income ratio · high5.2×
12/100California 7.4×United States 4.1×2020-2024U.S. Census Bureau Census table B25077
New business applications · low8.8 /1k
13/100California 14.1 /1kUnited States 16.6 /1k2025U.S. Census BureauYolo County value

Trends

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

PopulationRising
7,197 (2015-2019) → 7,583 (2020-2024)
+5.4%5 yearsCensus table B01003US 328,329,953 → 340,003,797
New homes permittedWorsening
13.3 /1k (2021) → 1.8 /1k (Sep 2025–Aug 2026)
−86%5 yearsUS 5.2 /1k → 4.2 /1k
Bachelor's degree or higherImproving
21.2% (2015-2019) → 31.7% (2020-2024)
+10 pts5 yearsCensus table B15003US 32.1% → 35.7%
Median household incomeImproving
$87,050 (2015-2019) → $122,951 (2020-2024)
+41%5 yearsCensus table B19013US $65,712 → $81,604
Average commute timeImproving
34.8 min (2015-2019) → 22.9 min (2020-2024)
−34%5 yearsCensus table B08013US 26.9 min → 26.4 min
High school diploma or higherImproving
79.8% (2015-2019) → 86.5% (2020-2024)
+6.7 pts5 yearsCensus table B15003US 88.0% → 89.6%

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, Winters, California improved on 3 of 11 measures with a comparison and declined on 0. 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−11.9 min34.8 min → 22.9 min
Bachelor's++10 points21.2% → 31.7%
Household income+41%$87,050 → $122,951

Declined0

No measure declined by more than its margin of error.

All 11 measures

Change of every measure of Winters, California between two periods about five years apart
Measure	Before	After	Change	Reading	Favourable vs peers
Average commute time	34.8 min2015-2019	22.9 min2020-2024	−11.9 min	Improved	99%
Bachelor's degree or higher	21.2%2015-2019	31.7%2020-2024	+10 points	Improved	91%
Broadband subscriptions	89.0%2015-2019	92.4%2020-2024	+3.4 points	Within the margin of error	22%
Effective property tax rate	0.77%2015-2019	0.69%2020-2024	−0.1 points	Within the margin of error	33%
High school diploma or higher	79.8%2015-2019	86.5%2020-2024	+6.7 points	Within the margin of error	88%
Home price to income ratio	4.6×2015-2019	5.2×2020-2024	+0.6×	Within the margin of error	43%
Income inequality (Gini index)	0.4012015-2019	0.4142020-2024	+0.013	Within the margin of error	39%
Median household income	$87,0502015-2019	$122,9512020-2024	+41%	Improved	75%
Poverty rate	8.2%2015-2019	8.8%2020-2024	+0.6 points	Within the margin of error	38%
Rent as share of income	25.5%2015-2019	21.5%2020-2024	−4 points	Within the margin of error	79%
Rent-burdened households	32.4%2015-2019	36.0%2020-2024	+3.6 points	Within the margin of error	43%

“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 Winters, California five years ago that improved

The places whose measures looked most like those of Winters, 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, Winters, California itself moved +6.9 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

7,583 residents (±20)

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

2,462 households (±189)

Winters, California
California share

Under $25k13%†323
$25k–50k7.6%†186
$50k–75k

Homes

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

Owners and renters

2,462 households (±189)

Winters, California
California share

Own70%1,731
Rent30%731

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

3,761 workers (±342)

Winters, California
California share

Drive alone70%2,631
Carpool6.5%†245
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 Sacramento-Roseville-Folsom, 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 Yolo County, the county holding most of Winters's residents.

Yolo County has 4,509 employer establishments, 203 for every 10,000 residents (0.82× the US rate of 248; 0.77× California's), with 74,652 paid employees at an average annual pay of $62,909. The Census Bureau also counts 14,975 nonemployer businesses, mostly sole proprietors.

Establishments: 4,509; 14,975 nonemployers
Per 10,000 residents: 203; US 248 · California 263
Paid employees: 74,652
Average annual pay: $62,909; US $68,342

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

Restaurants and other eating places	368	16.6	0.90×About typical	6,399	$25,602	45
Ambulatory health care services	305	13.7	0.66×Fewer than typical	4,076	$59,379	632
Lessors of real estate	261	11.8	0.95×About typical	1,199	$50,982	1,266
Specialty trade contractors	241	10.9	0.70×Fewer than typical	2,752	$76,438	480
Limited-service restaurants	173	7.8	0.97×About typical	3,222	$23,042	13
Truck transportation	160	7.2	1.43×More than typical	2,320	$63,271	634
Construction of buildings	150	6.8	0.89×About typical	1,229	$93,491	363
Full-service restaurants	136	6.1	0.80×Fewer than typical	2,344	$30,574	19
Automotive repair and maintenance	130	5.9	1.16×About typical	919	$53,800	164
Management, scientific and technical consulting	123	5.5	0.83×About typical	602	$81,216	922
Services to buildings and dwellings	105	4.7	0.70×Fewer than typical	780	$39,279	718
Building equipment contractors	98	4.4	0.73×Fewer than typical	1,308	$82,288	121

Rank places for an industry Open Yolo County

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

Per-resident figures divide by the population estimate of 2023: 221,962 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 $3,491 of federal contract obligations were for work performed in Winters, California: $0.46 per resident (US $1,994).

Obligations: $3,491; +1,021% vs FY2025
Per resident: $0.46; US $1,994
Sole-source: 0.0%; US 30%
Single offer: 0.0%; 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

MARIANI NUT COMPANY, INC.$1,86353%
ARSENAL WELL DRILLING INC.$1,04530%
YOLO WAYFARER CENTER (CHRISTIAN MISSION)$58317%

Spending by fiscal year

-787.3FY2017
3.1KFY2018
464.2KFY2019
21.9KFY2020
4.1KFY2022
95.8KFY2023
104.7KFY2024
311.4FY2025

Top industries (NAICS)

Other food manufacturing · 3119$1,86353%
Utility system construction · 2371$1,04530%
Residential intellectual, developmental, mental health, and substance abuse facilities · 6232$58317%

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

Winters, California's figures are part of those of Yolo County, CA ($37.4M 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: Winters is mostly in Yolo County.

See federal money in Yolo 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.

Winters, 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.

Yolo County59100% of residents

Metro area

The metro or micro area the city belongs to.

Sacramento-Roseville-Folsom, CA65

Other cities and towns in Yolo 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/0686034

Scores by category

Strengths · Weaknesses

Strengths

Weaknesses

Trends