Chualar (Spanish for "Pigweed grove") is an unincorporated community and census-designated place (CDP) in the Salinas Valley of Monterey County, California, United States. Chualar is located southeast of Salinas, at an elevation of .
On December 4, 2019, a levee near Chualar was partially breached at 2 pm. Highway 101 was shut down due to the broken levee. Children were stranded at the local school with a few teachers overnight. The levee break also caused a nursing home to be evacuated.
Chualar was once owned by the Johnson family. They ran cattle on their 15,000+ acre ranch.
Demographics
Chualar first appeared as a census designated place in the 2000 U.S. census.
0.0% of residents lived in urban areas, while 100.0% lived in rural areas.
The Census reported that the whole population lived in households. There were 252 households, out of which 148 (58.7%) had children under the age of 18 living in them, 173 (68.7%) were married-couple households, 15 (6.0%) were cohabiting couple households, 34 (13.5%) had a female householder with no spouse or partner present, and 30 (11.9%) had a male householder with no spouse or partner present. 15 households (6.0%) were one person, and 5 (2.0%) were one person aged 65 or older. The average household size was 4.7.
The age distribution was 377 people (31.8%) under the age of 18, 116 people (9.8%) aged 18 to 24, 350 people (29.5%) aged 25 to 44, 241 people (20.3%) aged 45 to 64, and 101 people (8.5%) who were 65 years of age or older.
2010 census
The 2010 United States census reported that Chualar had a population of 1,190. The population density was . The racial makeup of Chualar was 337 (28.3%) White, 1 (0.1%) African American, 2 (0.2%) Native American, 11 (0.9%) Asian, 0 (0.0%) Pacific Islander, 827 (69.5%) from other races, and 12 (1.0%) from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 1,151 persons (96.7%).
The Census reported that 1,190 people (100% of the population) lived in households, 0 (0%) lived in non-institutionalized group quarters, and 0 (0%) were institutionalized.
There were 245 households, out of which 179 (73.1%) had children under the age of 18 living in them, 160 (65.3%) were opposite-sex married couples living together, 49 (20.0%) had a female householder with no husband present, 22 (9.0%) had a male householder with no wife present. There were 17 (6.9%) unmarried opposite-sex partnerships, and 4 (1.6%) same-sex married couples or partnerships. 9 households (3.7%) were made up of individuals, and 5 (2.0%) had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 4.86. There were 231 families (94.3% of all households); the average family size was 4.79.
The population was spread out, with 429 people (36.1%) under the age of 18, 137 people (11.5%) aged 18 to 24, 330 people (27.7%) aged 25 to 44, 235 people (19.7%) aged 45 to 64, and 59 people (5.0%) who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 26.6 years. For every 100 females, there were 103.1 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 95.1 males.
There were 251 housing units at an average density of , of which 112 (45.7%) were owner-occupied, and 133 (54.3%) were occupied by renters. The homeowner vacancy rate was 0%; the rental vacancy rate was 1.5%. 553 people (46.5% of the population) lived in owner-occupied housing units and 637 people (53.5%) lived in rental housing units.