Best Places95661, CA Best Neighborhoods

2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026

Every neighborhood inside ZIP code 95661, scored on 40 measures of daily life and ranked to fit what matters to you. Local pay runs high here, and housing takes the biggest bite out of it. To work out which city fits you best, start with the best places to live tool.

See the map of best neighborhoods

95661 ranks 5,681st of 33,110 U.S. zip codes on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on biking by a wide margin, and childcare costs are the weak spot.

#5,681
of 33,110 zip codes
BestNeighborhood rank
Defaults weight crime safety, affordability, schools, and weather highest: the things hardest to change after a move
N/A
of 33,110 zip codes
Your rank
Set your priorities to see your rank

The best neighborhoods in 95661

Map of the best neighborhoods in the 95661 area, with better matches in green and worse matches in red
Click the map to explore
National median
Worse match Better match
Colorblind friendly off
Popular priorities:

BestNeighborhood is the only ranking that scores 40 measures of daily life neighborhood by neighborhood and lets you re-weight every one of them yourself.

95661's strengths and weaknesses

Top 10%Biking
Each measure against the national median. Bars to the right beat the median; bars to the left fall short. Percentiles compare 95661 with other zip codes.

Where 95661 ranks high

  • BikingBetter than 94% of zip codes
  • Nice weatherabout 150 pleasant days a year, better than 89% of zip codes
  • Household income$115,950 median, better than 88% of zip codes
  • Cell coverageBetter than 88% of zip codes
  • Disaster safetyBetter than 88% of zip codes

Where 95661 ranks low

  • Cheap childcare$1,572 a month, better than only 4% of zip codes
  • Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than only 10% of zip codes
  • QuietBetter than only 11% of zip codes
  • State fiscal healthBetter than only 20% of zip codes
  • Cheap car insuranceBetter than only 21% of zip codes

What it costs to buy a home in 95661

A household needs to earn about $182,000 a year to comfortably buy the median 95661 home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That runs well above the area's median income of $115,950, so buying stretches a typical household.

Income to buy the median home
$182,000
a year, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate
Estimated monthly payment
$4,256
principal, interest, tax, and insurance on a $703,343 home
Median rent
$2,169
a month, across all home sizes

Where the monthly payment goes

Principal & interest$3,586
Property tax$435
Homeowners insurance$234

Assumes a 20% down payment, a 6.6% 30-year fixed rate, and a 28% share of income going to the payment. The rate is the 2026-07-23 30-year fixed average, series MORTGAGE30US from the St. Louis Fed, which publishes Freddie Mac's weekly survey. Against the median home value, property tax uses 95661's effective rate of 0.74%, and insurance is estimated at 0.4% of home value a year.

Renting versus buying

At today's prices and rents, renting stays cheaper than buying across the first 10 years here, so the case for buying rests on staying much longer or on prices rising faster than assumed. The chart tracks the running cost of each.

Cumulative cost of renting versus owning the median home, first 10 years. Illustrative estimate.

Who lives in 95661

95661 runs older than the country.

Median age
46
older than the U.S. median of 41
Residents 65 and older
23%
versus 18% nationally
Average household
2.4
below the U.S. average of 2.6

Residents by age

Under 1819%
18 to 3420%
35 to 4919%
50 to 6419%
65 and older22%

Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for 95661.


Who works in 95661, and how

Work in 95661 centers on health care & social and retail trade. Unemployment is close to the national rate, and jobs are growing.

Work from home
24%
above the national average
Unemployment
5.2%
above the national average
Job growth
+1.6%
/y 2019-2023, slower than the national pace

Largest industries

Health care & social16%
Retail trade13%
Professional & technical10%
Education9%
Finance & insurance8%

How people get to work

  • Drive or carpool 71%
  • Work from home 24%
  • Transit, walk, or bike 5%

Life in 95661

95661 has more restaurants and bars per resident than 86% of zip codes and more parkland per resident than 87% of zip codes. Dining, parks, and nightlife concentrates in some parts of 95661 and thins out in others, which the map shows.

Places to eat and drink
287
restaurants, bars, and fast food, about 87.4 per 10,000 residents, more than 86% of zip codes
Coffee shops
42
about 12.8 per 10,000 residents, more than 87% of zip codes
Parkland
287 acres
about 8.7 acres per 1,000 residents, more than 87% of zip codes

What the weather is like in 95661, month by month

95661 sees roughly 150 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 97 degrees. January highs sit near 58, with lows near 41. The comfortable stretch runs April through June, September, and October.

Average daily high, mean, and low in degrees Fahrenheit, NOAA station data 2016 to 2025.
Show the monthly temperatures
MonthAvg highAvgAvg low
January58°48°41°
April75°60°49°
July97°78°63°
October80°65°52°

Flying in and out of 95661

Sacramento International sits about 19 miles away. It is a medium hub and boarded 6.8 million passengers in 2025, with 85 nonstop destinations.

Nearest airport
SMF
Sacramento International, about 19 miles
Airport size
Medium hub
36th-busiest in the US, 85 nonstop destinations
Average drive
27 min
from the area, with no traffic

The best schools in and around 95661

Schools across 95661 average a B−, better than 63% of zip codes.

Top elementary schools

Top middle schools

Top high schools

Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every 95661 school and its grade on SchoolGrade.


95661 measure by measure

Cards are ordered by how much each measure matters to you, so the ones you weighted highest come first. Expand to see every measure. Percentages compare 95661 against the other 33,109 zip codes.


Who 95661 suits

Families

Schools beat 63% of zip codes.

See the families priority ↑

Remote workers

Cost of living against local pay beats 74% of zip codes, internet is fast and widely advertised, and 24% already work from home.

See the remote-work priority ↑

Retirees

The weather beats 89% of zip codes and health care access beats 67%.

See the retirees priority ↑


Common questions about living in 95661

Is 95661 a good place to live?

Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, 95661 ranks 5,681st of 33,110 zip codes. It scores highest on biking, the weather, and high incomes, and lowest on childcare costs and taxes. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.

Is 95661 expensive to live in?

The median home is worth $703,343. The overall cost of living runs about 18% above the national average. Set against a $115,950 median income, cost of living beats 74% of zip codes.

Is 95661 safe?

95661 is safer than 37% of zip codes. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $384 per resident a year.

What is the weather like in 95661?

July highs average about 97 degrees, and January highs near 58 with lows near 41. That works out to about 150 pleasant days a year, more than 89% of zip codes.

Is 95661 good for families?

Schools beat 63% of zip codes, crime safety beats 37%, and childcare runs $1,572 a month.


Compare 95661 with other zip codes


Sources and methodology

Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to 95661. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in 95661 represents the same real quantity as a 60 anywhere else, and the ranking is a weighted average of those absolutes. The map colors come from a national scale calibrated against a population weighted random sample of 5,000 neighborhoods. That absolute scoring is what no other places-to-live ranking does: it puts a single neighborhood, a town, a metro, and a state on one scale, so the same 40 measures answer both which metro to move to and which street inside it to buy on. Read the full methodology.

95661 detail on BestNeighborhood maps:

  1. Walk Grade for 95661: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
  2. Noise in 95661: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
  3. Conservative vs liberal map of 95661: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
  4. Mobile and cell coverage in 95661: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.

95661 detail on related sites:

  1. CrimeGrade: neighborhood crime rates behind the crime safety score.
  2. ISPreports.org: provider by provider internet availability and advertised speeds.
  3. CoverageWatch: the car insurance premiums behind the cheap car insurance score.

Federal and public data:

  1. U.S. Census Bureau American Community Survey: income, home value, rent, vacancy, commute time and mode, educational attainment, home age, age structure, household type, industry, and race.
  2. NOAA Global Surface Summary of the Day: the daily station record behind the monthly temperatures and the pleasant-day count.
  3. FAA Passenger Boarding Data: airport size and annual passenger counts.
  4. Freddie Mac Primary Mortgage Market Survey: the 30-year fixed rate used in the cost-to-buy estimate.
  5. FBI Crime Data Explorer: reported offenses behind the tangible crime cost estimate.
  6. U.S. EPA Air Quality System: five year average air quality index.
  7. FEMA National Risk Index: expected annual loss from natural hazards.
  8. CDC PLACES: disease burden, preventable risk, and barriers to care.
  9. National Center for Education Statistics: school enrollment and assessment inputs behind the school grade.
  10. FCC National Broadband Map: internet and wireless availability.
  11. U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics: employment and job growth behind the local economy score.
  12. Religious activity uses a proprietary religious signal measurement.