Moving to
Discovery Bay.

All Discovery Bay data Compare Discovery Bay

14,911people live here $147,117median household income▲ 82% above US $3,029median rent per month▲ 114% above US $832,000median home value▲ 150% above US

Discovery Bay is an unincorporated community in Contra Costa County, CA. It has no city government: the county runs it, and the Census counts it as its own place.

What it's like to live in Discovery Bay

Discovery Bay is an unincorporated community in California with household incomes running above the national average. Those factors carry real weight for anyone weighing where to move next.

The tradeoffs are worth naming plainly. Discovery Bay deals with rent well above the national average, home prices well above the national average, long average commutes, and air quality that falls short of national benchmarks.

The good

Higher-than-average incomes

The not so good

Rent well above the national average
High home prices
Long commutes
Air quality concerns
Shrinking population
High student-teacher ratio

How Discovery Bay compares

Median household income

Discovery Bay$147,117

California avg$99,122

US$80,734

Median rent (per month)

Discovery Bay$3,029

California avg$2,036

US$1,413

Median home value

Discovery Bay$832,000

California avg$734,700

US$332,700

What it takes to move to Discovery Bay

Based on Discovery Bay's median rent, home value and household income

To rent

$6,058

up front: first month plus a typical one-month deposit

Income to keep rent under 30%: $121,160 a year
72% of Discovery Bay renters spend 30% or more of their income on rent

To buy

$166,400

a 20% down payment on the median home

With 10% down: $83,200
Homes cost 5.7× the typical local household income (US: 4.1×)

Moving costs, closing costs and taxes not included.

The details

Cost of living▲ 114% above US

$3,029/mo median rent

Rent is expensive here, at $3,029 a month median and well above the national average. This is the kind of city where housing costs deserve serious budgeting before committing to a move. Home prices are steep, with a median around $832,000. Renting first to get a feel for the city before buying is often the more practical route.

Median home value $832,000 · 72% of renters cost-burdened

Job market

4.8% county unemployment

Unemployment in Contra Costa County is 4.8%, somewhat above the national average of 4.3%. Lining up work before the move is the safer route. That's the county-wide rate; BLS doesn't measure a place this size on its own.

Contra Costa County (county-wide)

Safety

252 violent crimes per 100k, whole jurisdiction

Discovery Bay doesn't have its own police department, so there's no crime rate for it alone. The figures shown are for the Contra Costa County Sheriff's Office jurisdiction as a whole, which runs below the national average for violent crime and covers many communities. Individual neighborhoods can differ a lot from that overall rate.

Property crime 929/100k · Policed by Contra Costa County Sheriff's Office (county-wide rate) · 2025 data

Getting around▲ 70% above US

44 min average commute

Commutes run long, averaging 44.1 minutes, and that's just the average, meaning a lot of people are doing significantly more. This isn't a city where living far from the office is a comfortable bet. 8 in 10 workers drive to work; 22% work from home.

How workers get to work

Drive alone

66%

Work from home

22%

Carpool

9.2%

Other

1.7%

Walk

0.5%

Public transit

0.2%

Climate

Summers are hot and humid, with highs regularly hitting 91°F, and winters are chilly but manageable, with lows around 42°F. It's a dry climate with limited rainfall.

Average month

High °FLow °FPrecip (in)

30-year averages, 1991–2020

Education & workforceNear US average

33% bachelor's degree or higher

Education levels run about average, with 33% college-educated. It's a mix of white-collar and blue-collar work, which can be an asset or a limitation depending on the field.

Schools

3 public schools inside the boundary

There are 3 public schools inside the boundary and 1 private school. The student-to-teacher ratio is 23:1, above the national average of 16:1.

Parks & recreation

The nearest national park or historic site is Eugene O'Neill National Historic Site (24 miles away). There are 8 national parks and sites within a day's drive.

Bottom line

Discovery Bay's strongest point is household incomes running above the national average; the main tradeoffs are rent well above the national average and home prices well above the national average. A year of median rent ($3,029/mo) equals 25% of the median household income here, more than the 21% typical nationwide. It tends to suit remote workers (22% of workers here already work from home). It may be a harder fit for renters on a tight budget and people who dread long commutes.

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