Snelling, California.
Typical home $462,369 (+3.9% in a year). Merced, CA metro.
to buy the typical home at today's mortgage rate — +$1,226 (+102%) since Jan 2020.
- 1 year
- Up $17,387 +4%
- $444,982$462,369 since Sep 2025
- 5 years
- Up $56,009 +14%
- $406,360$462,369 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.
- Snelling$2,427
- California$3,997
- United States$1,922
At the last five years' pace, a typical home here doubles in price every 27 years.
Typical home values in Snelling, CA rose 3.9% over the past year — faster than the nation's +1.2%.
Living in Snelling, Merced County, California
Snelling, in Merced County, had 238 people in the 2020 census. Unemployment in Merced County was 8.9% in August 2026, and the county had 0.8% more jobs in 2025 than the year before. The most people in Merced County work in schools and health care, then shops.
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 It can be wrong or out of date.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. Snelling is a very small community in Merced County, with far fewer residents than most towns. Homes here cost more than the county's typical household income might suggest, and fewer residents hold a four-year degree than in most places. Winters are cool and mostly frost-free with little or no snow, summers get hot, and the year brings only modest rain.
Work. Residents work mainly in schools, hospitals and social care, in shops, in farming, and in manufacturing. Unemployment across Merced County is lower than it was a year ago, and the county has added a few more jobs than the year before. Among the county's largest workplaces are Merced Union High Schools, Mercy Medical Center Merced and Hilmar Cheese Company.
Things to do. Outdoor and water recreation is within a longer drive, including Lake Yosemite and Don Pedro Reservoir, both lakes good for a day by the water. For something indoors, the Castle Air Museum is also a longer drive away, and it is a museum of historic aircraft. Merced National Wildlife Refuge, a protected area, is another longer drive away for those who like to watch birds and wildlife.
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- 2%of adults have a degree
- 4%below the poverty line
What people in Merced County work in
Employed residents by industry, from the Census survey. Merced County had 85,663 jobs in 2025, 0.8% more than the year before (Bureau of Labor Statistics).
Weather through the year
Coldest in January, with highs near 54° and lows near 37°; warmest in July, with highs near 95° and lows near 62°. About 13 inches of rain a year, and little or no snow.
Average daily high and low, 1991–2020, at the Merced weather station, 17 miles away (NOAA).
Largest workplaces in Merced County
- Merced CountyCommunity health programs administration2,176
- University of California-MercedUniversity or college1,863
- Merced Union High SchoolsSchool district1,108FTE
- Mercy Medical Center MercedGeneral hospital1,100FTE
- Merced City Elementary SchoolsSchool district1,037FTE
- Hilmar Cheese CompanyDips, cheese based, manufacturing999
- Los Banos UnifiedSchool district985FTE
- Merced County Office of Education SchoolsSchool district952FTE
Staff on average in 2025, as each workplace reported it to OSHA with its injury records: 147 workplaces with 20 or more staff, 21,213 people in all across the county; Snelling has none of its own. Colleges come from IPEDS (NCES, 2023–24), school districts 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
- DroughtVery high
- Heat wavesVery high
- Inland floodingVery high
- WildfireRelatively high
- HailRelatively moderate
- EarthquakesRelatively moderate
FEMA’s National Risk Index (December 2025) rates the risk each natural hazard poses to the people, buildings and farms in Snelling’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 Merced County and the Merced, CA metro.
Snelling home values
Zillow measures a city over its municipal boundary. Against the state and national figures, mid-tier homes, smoothed and seasonally adjusted.
- Snelling$462,369
- 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 Snelling address
A different geography, not a breakdown. The figure above covers the municipality; these zips cover everywhere the Post Office calls Snelling — often including townships beyond the city limits. Both come straight from Zillow, and they are not expected to average out.