Waterford, California.
Typical home $426,141 (+0.5% in a year). Modesto, CA metro.
to buy the typical home at today's mortgage rate — +$1,159 (+108%) since Jan 2020.
- 1 year
- Up $2,281 +1%
- $423,860$426,141 since Sep 2025
- 5 years
- Up $46,398 +12%
- $379,743$426,141 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.
- Waterford$2,237
- California$3,997
- United States$1,922
At the last five years' pace, a typical home here doubles in price every 30 years.
Typical home values in Waterford, CA rose 0.5% over the past year — slower than the nation's +1.2%.
Living in Waterford, Stanislaus County, California
Waterford is a city of 9,120 people in Stanislaus County. 56% of its homes are lived in by their owners and 44% are rented. Unemployment in Stanislaus County was 7.0% in August 2026, and the county had about as many jobs in 2025 as the year before. The most residents work in schools and health care, then manufacturing.
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 It can be wrong or out of date.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. Waterford is a small city in Stanislaus County, and its residents are younger than in most of the country. Most homes are lived in by their owners, though a good number of households rent. Winters are mild and cool, with January the coldest month, and summers are hot, with July the warmest and very little rain or snow through the year.
Work. Residents work mainly in schools, hospitals and social care, with manufacturing, farming and shops also employing many people. Fewer adults hold a four-year degree than across much of the country, and joblessness across Stanislaus County is high, with the job market about level from the year before. Among the county's largest workplaces are EJ Gallo Winery, Memorial Hospital Modesto and Kaiser Permanente, and commutes are fairly long, with only a few working from home.
Things to do. Ceres River Bluff Regional Park and Turlock Lake State Recreation Area are both a short drive away, offering riverside and lakeside open space. For a longer outing, Don Pedro Reservoir is a large reservoir a longer drive away, and the Tuolumne River is a longer drive away as well.
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- 2,581households
- 10%of adults have a degree
- 14%below the poverty line
- 28 mintypical commute
- 5%work from home
What residents work in
Employed residents by industry, from the Census survey. Stanislaus County had 199,343 jobs in 2025, about as many as the year before (Bureau of Labor Statistics).
Weather through the year
Coldest in January, with highs near 56° and lows near 39°; warmest in July, with highs near 95° and lows near 63°. About 12 inches of rain and melted snow a year.
Average daily high and low, 1991–2020, at the Modesto City County Airport weather station, 11 miles away (NOAA).
Largest workplaces in Stanislaus County
- EJ Gallo WinerySite support functions2,477
- Memorial Hospital ModestoGeneral hospital2,029FTE
- Modesto City Elementary SchoolsSchool district1,794FTE
- Modesto Medical CenterGeneral medical and surgical hospitals1,720
- Kaiser PermanenteGeneral medical and surgical hospitals1,690
- Doctors Medical Center of ModestoGeneral hospital1,651FTE
- Turlock UnifiedSchool district1,567FTE
- Modesto City High SchoolsSchool district1,547FTE
Staff on average in 2025, as each workplace reported it to OSHA with its injury records: 438 workplaces with 20 or more staff, 67,299 people in all across the county; Waterford has two of its own. Hospitals come 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
- DroughtVery high
- Inland floodingRelatively high
- WildfireRelatively high
- Heat wavesRelatively high
- Earthquakesrelatively high in parts of WaterfordRelatively moderate
- LightningRelatively moderate
FEMA’s National Risk Index (December 2025) rates the risk each natural hazard poses to the people, buildings and farms in Waterford’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 Stanislaus County and the Modesto, CA metro.
Waterford home values
Zillow measures a city over its municipal boundary. Against the state and national figures, mid-tier homes, smoothed and seasonally adjusted.
- Waterford$426,141
- California$761,538
- United States$366,157
Levy by levy, and a check of one home’s own bill, the site covers Ohio’s property tax.
Sellers are cutting prices on about 1 in 3 Waterford 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.
- Waterford31.36%
- United States26.90%
Homes for sale
Active for-sale inventory. More supply hands power to buyers.
- Waterford25
New listings per month
Sellers arriving at the market.
- Waterford10
Zip codes with a Waterford address
A different geography, not a breakdown. The figure above covers the municipality; these zips cover everywhere the Post Office calls Waterford — often including townships beyond the city limits. Both come straight from Zillow, and they are not expected to average out.