Heber, California.
Typical home $400,258 (+4.6% in a year). El Centro, CA metro.
to buy the typical home at today's mortgage rate — +$1,127 (+116%) since Jan 2020.
- 1 year
- Up $17,474 +5%
- $382,784$400,258 since Sep 2025
- 5 years
- Up $84,916 +27%
- $315,342$400,258 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.
- Heber$2,101
- 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 Heber, CA rose 4.6% over the past year — faster than the nation's +1.2%.
Living in Heber, Imperial County, California
Heber, in Imperial County, had 6,896 people in the 2020 census. Half its households earn more than $72,028 a year and half less, against $57,681 across Imperial County; 11% of its people live below the poverty line. Unemployment in Imperial County was 21.9% in August 2026, and the county had 1.2% more jobs in 2025 than the year before. The most residents work in schools and health care, then shops.
Written by AI Claude Sonnet 5.5 wrote this on 23 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 It can be wrong or out of date.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. Heber is a small community in Imperial County with a young population, and household incomes here run above the county's. Homes are priced well above what incomes alone might suggest, and a four-year degree is held by a minority of adults. The desert climate means winters are mild and summers are among the hottest in the country, with very little rain and almost no snow.
Work. Many residents work in schools, hospitals and social care, in shops, in manufacturing, and in restaurants and hotels. Farming is close to the surface of the local economy: Fresh Harvest and Lamco Harvest, both farm labor contractors, are among the largest workplaces in town, along with Heber Elementary Schools. Joblessness across Imperial County is high compared with most of the country and has barely shifted from a year ago, though the county added a few more jobs last year. Most people get to work in a fairly short commute, and few work from home.
Things to do. Stark Field, a stadium, is a short drive away and is the nearest place on the list for an outing. The Alamo River and the New River are both a longer drive away, and they are the best known of the waterways in the area. Brock Reservoir, also a longer drive, is another place to head for water in an otherwise dry landscape.
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- 1,815households
- 24%of adults have a degree
- 11%below the poverty line
- 20 mintypical commute
- 5%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 43°; warmest in July, with highs near 107° and lows near 78°. About 3 inches of rain a year, and little or no snow.
Average daily high and low, 1991–2020, at the El Centro Ssw weather station, 3 miles away (NOAA).
Largest workplaces in Heber
- Lamco HarvestFarm labor contractors434
- Heber Elementary SchoolsSchool district169FTE
- Fresh HarvestFarm labor contractors and crew liders138
- El Toro Land & CattleBeef cattle ranching or farming55
Staff on average in 2025, as each workplace reported it to OSHA with its injury records: 3 workplaces with 20 or more staff, 627 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
- EarthquakesRelatively high
- Inland floodingRelatively 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 Heber’s census tracts, against the rest of the country; all of them together, relatively moderate. 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.
Heber home values
Zillow measures a city over its municipal boundary. Against the state and national figures, mid-tier homes, smoothed and seasonally adjusted.
- Heber$400,258
- 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.
Zip codes with a Heber address
A different geography, not a breakdown. The figure above covers the municipality; these zips cover everywhere the Post Office calls Heber — often including townships beyond the city limits. Both come straight from Zillow, and they are not expected to average out.