Durham, California.
Typical home $603,337 (+3.7% in a year). Chico, CA metro.
to buy the typical home at today's mortgage rate — +$1,340 (+73%) since Jan 2020.
- 1 year
- Up $21,699 +4%
- $581,638$603,337 since Sep 2025
- 5 years
- Up $26,323 +5%
- $577,014$603,337 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.
- Durham$3,167
- California$3,997
- United States$1,922
At the last five years' pace, a typical home here doubles in price every 78 years.
Typical home values in Durham, CA rose 3.7% over the past year — faster than the nation's +1.2%.
Living in Durham, Butte County, California
Durham, in Butte County, had 5,834 people in the 2020 census. 71% of its homes are lived in by their owners and 29% are rented. Unemployment in Butte County was 6.2% in August 2026, and the county had 0.6% fewer 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 It can be wrong or out of date.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. Durham is a small community in Butte County, in California's Central Valley, where most homes are lived in by their owners. Typical home values here are high for a place of its size, and a four-year degree is common among adults. Winters are mild and cool, with January the coldest month, while summers are hot, with July the warmest. Rain and melted snow are modest across the year.
Work. Many residents work in schools, hospitals and social care, and farming is also a major source of work. Among the largest workplaces in Durham are Durham Unified, the school district, along with C&C Utility and TruRoots, a beverage manufacturer. Commutes are fairly short, and a good number of people work from home. Jobs across Butte County have slipped slightly over the past year.
Things to do. Bidwell Park is a park a short drive away, and the Museum of Northern California Art is also a short drive from town. Bidwell Mansion State Historic Park, a protected area, is close by as well. For a longer outing, Lake Oroville is a reservoir a longer drive away.
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- 2,120households
- 40%of adults have a degree
- 10%below the poverty line
- 18 mintypical commute
- 17%work from home
What residents work in
Employed residents by industry, from the Census survey. Butte County had 78,544 jobs in 2025, 0.6% fewer than the year before (Bureau of Labor Statistics).
Weather through the year
Coldest in January, with highs near 56° and lows near 36°; warmest in July, with highs near 95° and lows near 61°. About 27 inches of rain and melted snow a year.
Average daily high and low, 1991–2020, at the Chico Univ Farm weather station, 5 miles away (NOAA).
Largest workplaces in Durham
- C&C UtilityUtility line, construction130
- Durham UnifiedSchool district107FTE
- Golden Brands62
- TruRootsBeverages, fruit and vegetable drinks, cocktails, and ades, manufacturing58
- FedEx FreightLess than truckload general freight trucking24
Staff on average in 2025, as each workplace reported it to OSHA with its injury records: 4 workplaces with 20 or more staff, 274 people in all. School districts come 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
- DroughtVery high
- EarthquakesRelatively high
- WildfireRelatively moderate
- Inland floodingRelatively moderate
- Heat wavesRelatively moderate
- LightningRelatively moderate
FEMA’s National Risk Index (December 2025) rates the risk each natural hazard poses to the people, buildings and farms in Durham’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 Butte County and the Chico, CA metro.
Durham home values
Zillow measures a city over its municipal boundary. Against the state and national figures, mid-tier homes, smoothed and seasonally adjusted.
- Durham$603,337
- California$761,538
- United States$366,157
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
Homes for sale
Active for-sale inventory. More supply hands power to buyers.
- Durham14
New listings per month
Sellers arriving at the market.
- Durham5
Zip codes with a Durham address
A different geography, not a breakdown. The figure above covers the municipality; these zips cover everywhere the Post Office calls Durham — often including townships beyond the city limits. Both come straight from Zillow, and they are not expected to average out.