Rio Dell, California.
Typical home $297,331 (-0.2% in a year). Eureka-Arcata, CA metro.
to buy the typical home at today's mortgage rate — +$332 (+27%) since Jan 2020.
- 1 year
- Down $644 -0%
- $297,975$297,331 since Sep 2025
- 5 years
- Down $61,347 -17%
- $358,678$297,331 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.
- Rio Dell$1,561
- California$3,997
- United States$1,922
At the last five years' pace, prices here aren't rising.
Typical home values in Rio Dell, CA fell 0.2% over the past year — slower than the nation's +1.2%.
Living in Rio Dell, Humboldt County, California
Rio Dell is a city of 3,379 people in Humboldt County. Unemployment in Humboldt County was 5.6% in August 2026, and the county had 0.8% more jobs in 2025 than the year before. The most people in Humboldt County 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 It can be wrong or out of date.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. Rio Dell is a small city on the Eel River side of Humboldt County, in the redwood country of Northern California. Incomes in the county run below the state's typical level, and a notable share of residents live below the poverty line. Few adults hold a four-year degree, and homes here cost less than in much of coastal California.
Work. Most residents work in schools, hospitals and social care, in shops, in restaurants and hotels, or in professional and business services. The trip to work is a fairly short one. Across Humboldt County, the largest workplaces include California State Polytechnic University-Humboldt and St. Joseph Hospital in Eureka, along with several California Department of Transportation facilities. Unemployment in the county is a little lower than a year ago, and the number of jobs has grown slightly.
Things to do. Yager Creek runs in or beside town, and the Van Duzen River is a short drive away for time by the water. Headwaters Forest Reserve, also a short drive off, protects old redwood groves. Humboldt Redwoods State Park is a longer drive away, and the Ferndale Museum is a short drive away for a look at local history. Winters are cool and wet, and summers stay mild, so the woods and rivers are open to visitors through most of the year.
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- 1,480households
- 11%of adults have a degree
- 18%below the poverty line
- 20 mintypical commute
What people in Humboldt County work in
Employed residents by industry, from the Census survey. Humboldt County had 52,251 jobs in 2025, 0.8% more than the year before (Bureau of Labor Statistics).
Weather through the year
Coldest in December, with highs near 55° and lows near 42°; warmest in September, with highs near 72° and lows near 52°. About 48 inches of rain and melted snow a year.
Average daily high and low, 1991–2020, at the Scotia weather station, a mile away (NOAA).
Largest workplaces in Humboldt County
- California State Polytechnic University-HumboldtUniversity or college1,189
- St. Joseph Hospital - EurekaGeneral hospital818FTE
- College of the RedwoodsTwo-year college472
- Eureka City SchoolsSchool district461FTE
- CAL FireCal fire420
- MAD River Community HospitalGeneral hospital415FTE
- Humboldt Sawmill CoBoards, wood, made from logs or bolts313
- Danco BuildersMultifamily building construction general contractors301
Staff on average in 2025, as each workplace reported it to OSHA with its injury records: 93 workplaces with 20 or more staff, 10,058 people in all across the county; Rio Dell has one of its own. Colleges come from IPEDS (NCES, 2023–24), hospitals 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
- Inland floodingVery high
- EarthquakesVery high
- LandslidesRelatively moderate
- WildfireRelatively moderate
FEMA’s National Risk Index (December 2025) rates the risk each natural hazard poses to the people, buildings and farms in Rio Dell’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 Humboldt County and the Eureka-Arcata, CA metro.
Rio Dell home values
Zillow measures a city over its municipal boundary. Against the state and national figures, mid-tier homes, smoothed and seasonally adjusted.
- Rio Dell$297,331
- California$761,538
- United States$366,157
Sellers are cutting prices on about 1 in 3 Rio Dell 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.
- Rio Dell30.87%
- United States26.36%
Homes for sale
Active for-sale inventory. More supply hands power to buyers.
- Rio Dell22
New listings per month
Sellers arriving at the market.
- Rio Dell6
Zip codes with a Rio Dell address
A different geography, not a breakdown. The figure above covers the municipality; these zips cover everywhere the Post Office calls Rio Dell — often including townships beyond the city limits. Both come straight from Zillow, and they are not expected to average out.