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2024 Compare Cities Economy:
Lake Forest, CA vs Merced, CA

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Highlights
- Household income in Merced, is 55% less than it is in Lake Forest and is 32% below the National Average.
- Lake Forest unemployment rate is 5.6%.
- Merced unemployment rate is 9.3%.

Economy
 Lake Forest, CAMerced, CAUnited States
 Unemployment Rate5.6%9.3%6.0%
 Recent Job Growth0.6%2.5%1.6%
 Future Job Growth34.8%33.3%33.5%
 Sales Taxes7.8%8.3%6.2%
 Income Taxes8.0%8.0%4.6%
 Income per Cap.$51,276$22,520$37,638
 Household Income$117,374$52,305$69,021
 Family Median Income$137,776$57,892$85,028
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 Est. Households By Income
 Lake Forest, CAMerced, CAUnited States
 Income Less Than 15K4.9%14.3%9.4%
 Income between 15K and 20K1.4%5.0%3.8%
 Income between 20K and 30K2.9%10.4%8.1%
 Income between 30K and 40K5.2%9.4%8.0%
 Income between 40K and 50K4.1%8.8%7.6%
 Income between 50K and 60K5.4%8.0%7.2%
 Income between 60K and 75K6.9%10.6%9.6%
 Income between 75K and 100K12.5%10.4%12.8%
 Income between 100K and 150K19.0%13.4%16.3%
 Income between 150K and 200K15.2%5.2%7.8%
 Income greater than 200K22.5%4.5%9.5%
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 Population By Occupation
 Lake Forest, CAMerced, CAUnited States
 Management, business, finance25.6%8.3%16.4%
 Engineering, computers, science11.3%2.9%6.5%
 Community, social services1.6%2.2%1.8%
 Legal1.4%0.5%1.2%
 Education, library5.3%7.9%6.2%
 Arts, design, media, sports, entertainment2.8%1.4%2.0%
 Healthcare practitioners and technology4.4%3.6%6.2%
 Healthcare support3.1%5.3%3.3%
 Firefighters, law enforcement1.3%3.2%2.1%
 Food preparation, serving4.4%6.2%5.4%
 Building maintenance2.5%3.8%3.6%
 Personal care3.1%3.7%2.6%
 Sales, office, administrative support20.9%18.3%20.9%
 Farming, fishing, forestry0.2%8.1%0.6%
 Construction, extraction, maintenance/repair4.3%8.7%8.1%
 Production, transportation, material moving7.8%15.8%13.1%

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Reviews for Lake Forest    15 Reviews

As a retired senior who has lived in Lake Forest (formerly El Toro) since 1977 I think LF is a great place if you can afford it. When we moved here in June '77 homes  More

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I’ve lived here for 2 years. Ok, it’s more like a 4 but there are so many idiots downplaying what it’s like here and giving Lake Forest ones and twos. There are a lot of  More

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Over 5 years ago

I've lived here for 5 and a half years and it's the worst. There's no way to describe the inherent awful nature of Lake Forest without sounding like I'm exaggerating.  More

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Reviews for Merced    44 Reviews

Merced is totally slept on - you want a little bit of everything CA has to offer, at a fraction of the price of other CA cities? Merced is the place to go. The town  More

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Over 4 years ago

Good place to live. More affordable than most of california. The city is growing and there is alot of business and growth here. Moved from the Bay area years ago and  More

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Great place to live. Lots of progress and changes coming to the city. Great place to raise a family. UC Merced is expanding and businesses are investing. Downtown is  More

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ZIPS IN LAKE FOREST, CALIFORNIA
92630 92610 92676
ZIPS IN MERCED, CALIFORNIA
95340 95348 95341

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