Homes, condos and land for sale and rent in Los Banos, CA

The name Los Banos is from Spanish los baños “the baths”. It is named after a spring that feeds natural wetlands in the western San Joaquín Valley.
The Los Banos area was initially settled, according to Mexican land grant records, back in the 1840s. The first white settler in the area was Uriah Wood, who built his two-room cabin in 1859. The original site of Los Banos was located several miles from the current town center, about a mile and half west of the railroad near present-day Volta. The town was essentially a trading post and received its name when the Post Office was established and the Post Office Department designated the office “Los Banos” after the nearby creek. When the railroad arrived, Los Banos relocated to its present-day site.
The first post office opened in 1873.

Los Banos is located on the west side of the San Joaquin Valley, 26 miles (42 km) southwest of Merced, at approximately 118 ft (36 m) elevation. The city is at the intersection of California State Route 152 and California State Route 165. To the west is Interstate 5, which runs north-to-south between the Bay Area and Los Angeles, the San Luis Reservoir, and the Diablo Range.

According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of 10.1 square miles (26 km2), of which 10.0 square miles (26 km2) is land and 0.1 square miles (0.26 km2) (1.22%) is water.

Los Banos sits on the southwestern edge of extensive national and state game refuges; wetlands that support waterfowl and other wildlife habitat along a stretch of the San Joaquin river that still carries water and the Grasslands Ecological Area, home to rare California Grasslands habitat. The San Luis National Wildlife Refuge Complex includes San Luis National Wildlife Refuge which includes the Kesterson Unit, East Bear Creek, West Bear Creek and the Blue Goose Unit. Nearby are the Merced National Wildlife Refuge and the San Joaquin River National Wildlife Refuge. Fishers, hunters, birdwatchers and other recreational users flock to Los Banos year round.

Los Banos has a Mediterranean climate with cool winters and hot summers. Most of the precipitation falls in the winter months. Gusty winds are common in the late afternoon, especially in the vicinity of nearby Pacheco Pass.

There is an average of 96.9 days with highs of 90 °F (32 °C) or higher, and an average of 29.4 days with lows of 32 °F (0 °C) or lower. The record high temperature of 116 °F (47 °C) was on July 25, 1931. A record low temperature of 14 °F (−10 °C) was on January 11, 1949, and again on December 22, 1990.

The average annual rainfall is 9.95 inches (25.3 cm). There is an average of 46 days with measurable precipitation. The wettest year recorded was 1998 with 21.08 inches (53.5 cm) and the driest year was 1947 with 4.61 inches (11.7 cm). The most rainfall in one month was 8.08 inches (20.5 cm) in March 1998. The most rainfall in 24 hours was 2.40 inches (6.1 cm) on January 18, 1914. Although snow is rare, 3 in (7.6 cm) fell in January 1916 and 1.5 inches (3.8 cm) fell in January 1962.

The 2010 United States Census reported that Los Banos had a population of 35,972. The population density was 3,555.6 people per square mile (1,372.8/km²). The racial makeup of Los Banos was 20,846 (58.0%) White, 1,354 (3.8%) African American, 512 (1.4%) Native American, 1,162 (3.2%) Asian, 134 (0.4%) Pacific Islander, 10,123 (28.1%) from other races, and 1,841 (5.1%) from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 23,346 persons (64.9%).

The Census reported that 35,791 people (99.5% of the population) lived in households, 103 (0.3%) lived in non-institutionalized group quarters, and 78 (0.2%) were institutionalized.
There were 10,259 households, out of which 5,451 (53.1%) had children under the age of 18 living in them, 6,018 (58.7%) were opposite-sex married couples living together, 1,474 (14.4%) had a female householder with no husband present, 838 (8.2%) had a male householder with no wife present. There were 791 (7.7%) unmarried opposite-sex partnerships, and 78 (0.8%) same-sex married couples or partnerships. 1,551 households (15.1%) were made up of individuals and 653 (6.4%) had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 3.49. There were 8,330 families (81.2% of all households); the average family size was 3.84.

The population was spread out with 12,102 people (33.6%) under the age of 18, 3,703 people (10.3%) aged 18 to 24, 9,596 people (26.7%) aged 25 to 44, 7,494 people (20.8%) aged 45 to 64, and 3,077 people (8.6%) who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 29.8 years. For every 100 females there were 99.2 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 96.0 males.
There were 11,375 housing units at an average density of 1,124.4 per square mile (434.1/km²), of which 6,197 (60.4%) were owner-occupied, and 4,062 (39.6%) were occupied by renters. The homeowner vacancy rate was 4.1%; the rental vacancy rate was 8.4%. 20,687 people (57.5% of the population) lived in owner-occupied housing units and 15,104 people (42.0%) lived in rental housing units.

K-12 education is provided by the Los Banos Unified School District. In addition, the Los Banos Campus of Merced College has served community college students since 2007.