Gualala, California.
Typical home $611,789 (-3.3% in a year). Ukiah, CA metro.
to buy the typical home at today's mortgage rate — +$985 (+44%) since Jan 2020.
- 1 year
- Down $21,027 -3%
- $632,816$611,789 since Sep 2025
- 5 years
- Down $135,888 -18%
- $747,677$611,789 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.
- Gualala$3,211
- California$3,997
- United States$1,922
At the last five years' pace, prices here aren't rising.
Typical home values in Gualala, CA fell 3.3% over the past year — slower than the nation's +1.2%.
Living in Gualala, Mendocino County, California
The Census does not count Gualala on its own, so the figures here are Mendocino County's. Half the county's households earn more than $68,092 a year and half less; 15% of the county's people live below the poverty line. 62% of the county's homes are lived in by their owners and 38% are rented. Unemployment in Mendocino County was 5.6% in August 2026, and the county had 0.3% fewer jobs in 2025 than the year before. The most people in Mendocino County work in schools and health care, then shops.
Written by AI Claude Haiku 5.5 wrote this on 22 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 It can be wrong or out of date.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. Gualala is a small town on the Pacific coast of Mendocino County in northern California. Across the county, most homes are lived in by their owners, and residents tend to be older than the typical American. Winters are mild and wet rather than snowy, and summers can turn hot.
Work. Across Mendocino County, most jobs are in schools, hospitals and social care, shops, restaurants and hotels, and professional and business services. Unemployment has eased over the past year, though the county had slightly fewer jobs in the most recent year. A smaller share of adults hold a four-year degree than in many parts of the country, and commutes are short compared with those in large cities.
Things to do. The Gualala River is a short drive away, and Bowling Ball Beach, known for its round rock formations, is also close by. Hendy Woods State Park, a protected area of redwood trees, is a longer drive away. Fort Ross, a historic fort, is further still.
Report a mistake
- 34,842households
- 44.1median age
- 25%of adults have a degree
- 15%below the poverty line
- 22 mintypical commute
- 12%work from home
What people in Mendocino County work in
Employed residents by industry, from the Census survey. Mendocino County had 31,998 jobs in 2025, 0.3% fewer than the year before (Bureau of Labor Statistics).
Weather through the year
Coldest in December, with highs near 59° and lows near 38°; warmest in July, with highs near 94° and lows near 55°. About 42 inches of rain a year, and little or no snow.
Average daily high and low, 1991–2020, at the Cloverdale weather station, 25 miles away (NOAA).
Largest workplaces in Mendocino County
- Ukiah UnifiedSchool district680FTE
- Adventist Health Ukiah ValleyGeneral hospital567FTE
- CAL FireCal fire466
- Mendocino CollegeTwo-year college422
- Ahhm-one Marcela DR DeptsGeneral medical and surgical hospitals315
- Fort Bragg UnifiedSchool district245FTE
- Adventist Health Mendocino CoastCritical access hospital230FTE
- Howard Memorial HospitaCritical access hospital229FTE
Staff on average in 2025, as each workplace reported it to OSHA with its injury records: 65 workplaces with 20 or more staff, 5,318 people in all. School districts come from the Common Core of Data (NCES, 2023–24), hospitals from their Medicare cost reports (CMS, 2023) and colleges from IPEDS (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
- LandslidesRelatively high
- EarthquakesRelatively high
- WildfireRelatively high
- DroughtRelatively high
- Inland floodingRelatively high
FEMA’s National Risk Index (December 2025) rates the risk each natural hazard poses to the people, buildings and farms across Mendocino County, 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 Mendocino County and the Ukiah, CA metro.
Gualala home values
Zillow measures a city over its municipal boundary. Against the state and national figures, mid-tier homes, smoothed and seasonally adjusted.
- Gualala$611,789
- California$761,538
- United States$366,157
Sellers are cutting prices on about 1 in 5 Gualala 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.
- Gualala22.16%
- United States26.90%
Homes for sale
Active for-sale inventory. More supply hands power to buyers.
- Gualala28
New listings per month
Sellers arriving at the market.
- Gualala7
Zip codes with a Gualala address
A different geography, not a breakdown. The figure above covers the municipality; these zips cover everywhere the Post Office calls Gualala — often including townships beyond the city limits. Both come straight from Zillow, and they are not expected to average out.