Brawley, California.
Typical home $358,731 (+3.8% in a year), asking rent $1,600 . El Centro, CA metro.
to buy the typical home at today's mortgage rate — +$993 (+112%) since Jan 2020.
- 1 year
- Up $13,294 +4%
- $345,437$358,731 since Sep 2025
- 5 years
- Up $72,640 +25%
- $286,091$358,731 since Sep 2021
Monthly payment to buy the typical home
Home value × that month's 30-year mortgage rate, 20% down, principal and interest. This is the line households feel: prices and rates compound each other.
- Brawley$1,883
- California$3,997
- United States$1,922
At the last five years' pace, a typical home here doubles in price every 15 years.
Typical home values in Brawley, CA rose 3.8% over the past year — faster than the nation's +1.2%.
Living in Brawley, Imperial County, California
Brawley is a city of 26,416 people in Imperial County. Half its households earn more than $59,311 a year and half less, against $57,681 across Imperial County; 21% of its people live below the poverty line. 52% of its homes are lived in by their owners and 48% are rented. Unemployment in Brawley was 18.8% in August 2026, and Imperial County had 1.2% more jobs in 2025 than the year before. The most residents work in schools and health care, then farming.
Written by AI Claude Sonnet 5.5 wrote this on 24 October 2026 from the figures here, a list of nearby places and what it knows. It can be wrong or out of date.
What it’s like
The place. Brawley is a city in Imperial County with a younger population than most of the country, and incomes just above the county's. More households here rent their homes than across much of the country, and a notable share of residents live below the poverty line. Few adults hold a four-year degree, and unemployment is high, about where it stood a year earlier.
Work. Many residents work in schools, hospitals and social care, in farming, in government, or in shops. Pioneers Mem. Hospital, Brawley Elementary Schools and Vons are among the largest workplaces in town. The typical commute is short, and a small share of people work from home. Across Imperial County, the number of jobs grew slightly last year.
Things to do. Summers are very hot and winters are mild, with almost no snow and very little rain, so the cooler months suit time outdoors. The Sonny Bono Salton Sea National Wildlife Refuge, a protected area, is a longer drive away. Lake Cahuilla, a lake, and the Buzzards Peak Wilderness, another protected area, are also a longer drive from town.
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- 7,881households
- 16%of adults have a degree
- 21%below the poverty line
- 18 mintypical commute
- 11%work from home
What residents work in
Employed residents by industry, from the Census survey. Imperial County had 67,955 jobs in 2025, 1.2% more than the year before (Bureau of Labor Statistics).
Weather through the year
Coldest in December, with highs near 70° and lows near 40°; warmest in July, with highs near 108° and lows near 77°. About 2 inches of rain a year, and little or no snow.
Average daily high and low, 1991–2020, at the Brawley Southwest weather station, 2 miles away (NOAA).
Largest workplaces in Brawley
- Imperial Valley RespiteSelf-help organizations for disabled persons, the elderly, and persons diagnosed with intellectual and developmental disabilities1,238
- El DON Farm LaborAgriculture production or harvesting crews1,035
- Pioneers Mem. HospitalGeneral hospital733FTE
- Brawley Elementary SchoolsSchool district426FTE
- Brawley Union High SchoolsSchool district180FTE
- VonsSupermarkets and other grocery stores85
- Fortrex - 0707 One World BeefJanitorial services84
- Five CrownsSorting, grading, cleaning, and packing of fruits and vegetables74
Staff on average in 2025, as each workplace reported it to OSHA with its injury records: 15 workplaces with 20 or more staff, 3,990 people in all. Hospitals come from their Medicare cost reports (CMS, 2023) and school districts from the Common Core of Data (NCES, 2023–24); FTE marks full-time equivalent staff. Not listed: many offices and banks, which need not report to OSHA; military bases, whose staff OPM withholds; and, in about half the states, city and county governments.
Natural hazards
- EarthquakesVery high
- Inland floodingRelatively high
- Heat wavesRelatively moderate
FEMA’s National Risk Index (December 2025) rates the risk each natural hazard poses to the people, buildings and farms in Brawley’s census tracts, against the rest of the country; all of them together, very high. It is meant for planning, not a substitute for a local risk assessment or a flood map: FEMA’s index.
From the U.S. Census Bureau’s 2020 census and its American Community Survey (2020–2024 five-year estimates), and the Bureau of Labor Statistics. A survey, so each figure has a margin of error, and figures it is not sure of are left out. More on Imperial County and the El Centro, CA metro.
Brawley home values
Zillow measures a city over its municipal boundary. Against the state and national figures, mid-tier homes, smoothed and seasonally adjusted.
- Brawley$358,731
- California$761,538
- United States$366,157
Sellers are cutting prices on about 1 in 7 Brawley listings — the market is roughly in balance.
When this market ran hot
Each cell is that month's year-on-year home-value growth. Read left to right, top row is the latest year — the 2021–22 band is the boom.
Market heat, inside the city limits
Share of listings with a price cut
The early-warning dial: sellers cut when buyers stop reaching. Rising cuts cool a market months before prices notice.
- Brawley15.31%
- United States26.90%
Homes for sale
Active for-sale inventory. More supply hands power to buyers.
- Brawley37
New listings per month
Sellers arriving at the market.
- Brawley11
Zip codes with a Brawley address
A different geography, not a breakdown. The figure above covers the municipality; these zips cover everywhere the Post Office calls Brawley — often including townships beyond the city limits. Both come straight from Zillow, and they are not expected to average out.