The relationships among community characteristics and community well-being were examined for all 366 rural California communities with a population of 1,000-2,000. High proportions of Latinos and new immigrants in a community population were positively related to unemployment, percent children, and employment in agriculture, and negatively related to per capita income and educational attainment. However, the data suggest that the problems and poverty of communities with high Latino concentrations resulted from more than just recent immigration. The percentage of college graduates in the community was the strongest predictor of per capita income, while percentage of high school graduates was the strongest predictor of poverty rate, followed by unemployment and greater employment in agriculture. Eight of the 366 communities are compared with each other and the state in terms of income, poverty, education (high school and college graduates), occupational distribution, population growth (overall and for Latinos), immigration patterns, and age distribution (percent children and elderly). Appendices contain profiles of the 8 communities and data on all 366 (population size, percent Latino, percent high school graduates, percent college graduates, per capita income, and poverty rate). (TD)