Best PlacesAlta, CA Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Alta, 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.
Alta ranks 33,002nd of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on transit by a wide margin, and childcare costs are the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Alta
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.
Alta's strengths and weaknesses
Where Alta ranks high
- TransitBetter than 91% of towns
- Educational attainmentBetter than 90% of towns
- Nice weatherabout 142 pleasant days a year, better than 90% of towns
- Heat safetyBetter than 89% of towns
- Tree shadeBetter than 87% of towns
Where Alta ranks low
- Cheap childcare$1,572 a month, better than only 2% of towns
- Short commute43.6 minutes each way, better than only 2% of towns
- Internet speedBetter than only 4% of towns
- Disaster safetyBetter than only 7% of towns
- QuietBetter than only 7% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Alta
A household needs to earn about $129,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Alta home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That runs well above the area's median income of $101,462, so buying stretches a typical household.
Where the monthly payment goes
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 Alta's effective rate of 0.61%, 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.
Who lives in Alta
Alta runs older than the country.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Alta.
Who works in Alta, and how
Work in Alta centers on health care & social and public administration. Unemployment sits above the national rate, and the job base is shrinking.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 61%
- Work from home 37%
- Transit, walk, or bike 2%
Life in Alta
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Alta.
What the weather is like in Alta, month by month
Alta sees roughly 142 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 81 degrees. January highs sit near 48, with lows near 33. The comfortable stretch runs June through October.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 48° | 39° | 33° |
| April | 57° | 47° | 38° |
| July | 81° | 72° | 64° |
| October | 66° | 56° | 48° |
Flying in and out of Alta
Sacramento International sits about 56 miles away. It is a medium hub and boarded 6.8 million passengers in 2025, with 85 nonstop destinations.
The best schools in and around Alta
Schools across Alta average a B−, better than 56% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Deer Creek ElementaryB · 50% proficient
- Alta-dutch Flat ElementaryC+ · 37% proficient
Top middle schools
- Seven Hills IntermediateB · 45% proficient
Top high schools
- Colfax HighB · 48% proficient
- Nevada Union HighC · 34% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Alta school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Alta 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 Alta against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Alta
Is Alta a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Alta ranks 33,002nd of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on transit, an educated workforce, and the weather, and lowest on childcare costs and long commutes. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Alta expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $505,259. The overall cost of living runs about 15% above the national average. Set against a $101,462 median income, cost of living beats 73% of towns.
Is Alta safe?
Yes, Alta is safer than 82% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $216 per resident a year.
Compare Alta with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Alta. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Alta 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.
Alta detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Alta: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Alta: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Alta: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Alta: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Alta detail on related sites:
- CrimeGrade: neighborhood crime rates behind the crime safety score.
- ISPreports.org: provider by provider internet availability and advertised speeds.
- CoverageWatch: the car insurance premiums behind the cheap car insurance score.
Federal and public data:
- 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.
- NOAA Global Surface Summary of the Day: the daily station record behind the monthly temperatures and the pleasant-day count.
- FAA Passenger Boarding Data: airport size and annual passenger counts.
- Freddie Mac Primary Mortgage Market Survey: the 30-year fixed rate used in the cost-to-buy estimate.
- FBI Crime Data Explorer: reported offenses behind the tangible crime cost estimate.
- U.S. EPA Air Quality System: five year average air quality index.
- FEMA National Risk Index: expected annual loss from natural hazards.
- CDC PLACES: disease burden, preventable risk, and barriers to care.
- National Center for Education Statistics: school enrollment and assessment inputs behind the school grade.
- FCC National Broadband Map: internet and wireless availability.
- U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics: employment and job growth behind the local economy score.
- Religious activity uses a proprietary religious signal measurement.
Your priorities
Move a slider to say how much a measure matters. Zero turns it off.