Clayton, California.
Typical home $1,026,888 (+1.8% in a year), asking rent $4,985 . San Francisco-Oakland-Berkeley, CA metro.
to buy the typical home at today's mortgage rate — +$2,534 (+89%) since Jan 2020.
- 1 year
- Up $18,191 +2%
- $1,008,697$1,026,888 since Sep 2025
- 5 years
- Up $35,838 +4%
- $991,051$1,026,888 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.
- Clayton$5,390
- California$3,997
- United States$1,922
At the last five years' pace, a typical home here doubles in price every 98 years.
Typical home values in Clayton, CA rose 1.8% over the past year — faster than the nation's +1.2%.
Living in Clayton, Contra Costa County, California
Clayton is a city of 11,070 people in Contra Costa County. Half its households earn more than $175,707 a year and half less, against $127,229 across Contra Costa County; 2% of its people live below the poverty line. 89% of its homes are lived in by their owners and 11% are rented. Unemployment in Contra Costa County was 5.0% in August 2026, and the county had 0.1% more jobs in 2025 than the year before. The most residents work in schools and health care, then professional services.
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 It can be wrong or out of date.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. Clayton is a small city where most homes are lived in by their owners, and incomes run well above the county's. Very few residents live below the poverty line, and a large share of adults hold a four-year degree. Homes here are valued well above what is typical across much of the country, and the population is somewhat older than in many places.
Work. Residents work mostly in schools, hospitals and social care, in professional and business services, in banks, insurance and property, and in shops. Across Contra Costa County, West Contra Costa Unified and Contra Costa Regional Medical Center are among the largest workplaces. Commutes are on the long side, and a good number of residents work from home.
Things to do. The Sacramento River and the San Joaquin River are both a short drive away, for time by the water. A longer drive brings you to San Francisco, where the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art and the USS Hornet, a museum ship, are among the places to visit. Winters are cool and mild, summers are warm, and snow is rare, so outings are comfortable for much of the year.
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- 3,982households
- 59%of adults have a degree
- 2%below the poverty line
- 36 mintypical commute
- 22%work from home
What residents work in
Employed residents by industry, from the Census survey. Contra Costa County had 374,448 jobs in 2025, 0.1% more than the year before (Bureau of Labor Statistics).
Weather through the year
Coldest in December, with highs near 53° and lows near 41°; warmest in August, with highs near 83° and lows near 61°. About 1 inches of snow and 26 inches of rain and melted snow a year.
Average daily high and low, 1991–2020, at the Mount Diablo Junction weather station, 4 miles away (NOAA).
Largest workplaces in Contra Costa County
- West Contra Costa UnifiedSchool district2,751FTE
- Contra Costa Regional Medical CenterGeneral hospital2,584FTE
- San Ramon Valley UnifiedSchool district2,519FTE
- 24 Hour Home CareSenior citizens centers2,496
- Mt. Diablo UnifiedSchool district2,466FTE
- John Muir Medical Center - WCGeneral hospital2,143FTE
- Antioch UnifiedSchool district1,552FTE
- JT Thorpe and SonRefractory fireproofing1,523
Staff on average in 2025, as each workplace reported it to OSHA with its injury records: 573 workplaces with 20 or more staff, 81,677 people in all across the county; Clayton has one of its own. School districts come from the Common Core of Data (NCES, 2023–24) and hospitals from their Medicare cost reports (CMS, 2023); 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
- WildfireRelatively high
- EarthquakesRelatively high
- LandslidesRelatively moderate
- Inland floodingrelatively high in parts of ClaytonRelatively moderate
- Heat wavesRelatively moderate
FEMA’s National Risk Index (December 2025) rates the risk each natural hazard poses to the people, buildings and farms in Clayton’s census tracts, against the rest of the country; all of them together, relatively 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 Contra Costa County and the San Francisco-Oakland-Berkeley, CA metro.
Clayton home values
Zillow measures a city over its municipal boundary. Against the state and national figures, mid-tier homes, smoothed and seasonally adjusted.
- Clayton$1,026,888
- California$761,538
- United States$366,157
Sellers are cutting prices on about 1 in 3 Clayton 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.
- Clayton30.88%
- United States26.90%
Homes for sale
Active for-sale inventory. More supply hands power to buyers.
- Clayton42
New listings per month
Sellers arriving at the market.
- Clayton13
Zip codes with a Clayton address
A different geography, not a breakdown. The figure above covers the municipality; these zips cover everywhere the Post Office calls Clayton — often including townships beyond the city limits. Both come straight from Zillow, and they are not expected to average out.