El Centro, CA
What a day in El Centro actually feels like
Homicide and firearm deaths from CDC vital statistics, plus heat, cars and commute. These are metro-wide death rates, not a neighborhood safety score — the FBI warns against ranking cities by crime.
- Homicide deaths
- 5.5 per 100,000
- US average 6.5. CDC NVSS via County Health Rankings (CDC NVSS 2017–2023 (CHR 2025 release)).
- Firearm deaths
- 7 per 100,000
- US average 13.4. Includes homicide, suicide and accidents.
- July
- 103°F typical high
- Hot enough that it's a planning constraint.
- January nights
- 41°F typical low
- Mild by US standards.
- Sun
- 276 sunny days a year
- NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals.
- Getting around
- Plan on a car per adult.
- Editorial car-dependence score, not a transit map.
- Average commute
- 22 minutes each way
- Mean one-way. Your job may be nothing like the mean.
- Size
- El Centro metro
- 179k people in the CBSA.
Death rates are CDC National Vital Statistics, compiled by County Health Rankings, population-weighted across counties in this metro. They are not FBI Uniform Crime Reports and they are not a verdict on a particular block. Climate is NOAA. Commute and car-dependence are modelled metro traits.