Upper Lake, California.
Typical home $309,442 (-0.7% in a year). Clearlake, CA metro.
to buy the typical home at today's mortgage rate — +$542 (+50%) since Jan 2020.
- 1 year
- Down $2,171 -1%
- $311,613$309,442 since Sep 2025
- 5 years
- Down $59,380 -16%
- $368,822$309,442 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.
- Upper Lake$1,624
- California$3,997
- United States$1,922
At the last five years' pace, prices here aren't rising.
Typical home values in Upper Lake, CA fell 0.7% over the past year — slower than the nation's +1.2%.
Living in Upper Lake, Lake County, California
Upper Lake, in Lake County, had 1,095 people in the 2020 census. 94% of its homes are lived in by their owners and 6% are rented. Unemployment in Lake County was 7.2% in August 2026, and the county had 1.4% more jobs in 2025 than the year before. The most people in Lake 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 It can be wrong or out of date.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. Upper Lake is a very small community on the northwest side of Clear Lake, where almost everyone owns the home they live in. Residents are somewhat older than in many places, and fewer adults hold a four-year degree than across much of the country. Winters are cool and mild by national standards, summers get hot, and a good deal of rain falls over the year.
Work. Many residents work in schools, hospitals and social care, with shops, the building trades and government close behind. Across Lake County, the largest workplaces include the California Department of Transportation facilities, Konocti Unified and Adventist Health Clearlake. Unemployment in the county is higher than in much of the country and has barely changed from a year earlier, while the number of jobs has edged up. A typical commute is a fairly long one, and few people work from home.
Things to do. Clear Lake, the big lake nearby, is a short drive away, as are Blue Lakes, a pair of lakes that make a pleasant outing. Berryessa Snow Mountain National Monument, a protected area of rugged public land, is also a short drive away. For a longer trip, Mendocino National Forest is a longer drive away, and Scotts Creek runs in or beside town for a quiet walk close to home.
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- 14%of adults have a degree
- 26 mintypical commute
- 7%work from home
What people in Lake County work in
Employed residents by industry, from the Census survey. Lake County had 17,762 jobs in 2025, 1.4% more than the year before (Bureau of Labor Statistics).
Weather through the year
Coldest in December, with highs near 57° and lows near 36°; warmest in July, with highs near 94° and lows near 56°. About 35 inches of rain and melted snow a year.
Average daily high and low, 1991–2020, at the Ukiah Municipal Airport weather station, 16 miles away (NOAA).
Largest workplaces in Lake County
- Konocti UnifiedSchool district457FTE
- 18TH AVE DeptsGeneral medical and surgical hospitals438
- Adventist Health ClearlakeCritical access hospital417FTE
- Calpine GeysersFossil fuel electric power generation281
- WalmartDiscount department stores241
- Twin Pine Casino & HotelHotels, casino235
- Sutter Lakeside HospitalCritical access hospital228FTE
- Kelseyville UnifiedSchool district210FTE
Staff on average in 2025, as each workplace reported it to OSHA with its injury records: 35 workplaces with 20 or more staff, 3,738 people in all across the county; Upper Lake has two of its own. School districts come 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
- WildfireVery high
- Inland floodingVery high
- LandslidesRelatively high
- EarthquakesRelatively high
- Volcanic activityRelatively moderate
- DroughtRelatively moderate
FEMA’s National Risk Index (December 2025) rates the risk each natural hazard poses to the people, buildings and farms in Upper Lake’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 Lake County and the Clearlake, CA metro.
Upper Lake home values
Zillow measures a city over its municipal boundary. Against the state and national figures, mid-tier homes, smoothed and seasonally adjusted.
- Upper Lake$309,442
- 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.
- Upper Lake16
New listings per month
Sellers arriving at the market.
Not enough data to draw this yet.
Zip codes with a Upper Lake address
A different geography, not a breakdown. The figure above covers the municipality; these zips cover everywhere the Post Office calls Upper Lake — often including townships beyond the city limits. Both come straight from Zillow, and they are not expected to average out.
Zip codes in Upper Lake
| Zip activate to sort by Zip | Place activate to sort by Place | Population sorted descending, activate to sort ascending | Rent activate to sort by Rent | Home value activate to sort by Home value |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 95485 | Upper Lake | 3,242 | — | $308,789 |
| 95469 | Potter Valley | 1,315 | — | $402,331 |