Best PlacesAlta Sierra, CA Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Alta Sierra, 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 Sierra ranks 6,845th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on civic engagement by a wide margin, and taxes are the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Alta Sierra
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 Sierra's strengths and weaknesses
Where Alta Sierra ranks high
- Voter turnoutBetter than 96% of towns
- Nice weatherabout 145 pleasant days a year, better than 91% of towns
- TransitBetter than 90% of towns
- Healthcare accessBetter than 90% of towns
- Household income$108,107 median, better than 89% of towns
Where Alta Sierra ranks low
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than only 8% of towns
- Air qualityBetter than only 9% of towns
- Cheap childcare$1,174 a month, better than only 14% of towns
- Internet speedBetter than only 17% of towns
- State fiscal healthBetter than only 19% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Alta Sierra
A household needs to earn about $143,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Alta Sierra home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That runs well above the area's median income of $108,107, 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 Sierra's effective rate of 0.72%, 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 Sierra
Alta Sierra runs older than the country, and households here run smaller than average.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Alta Sierra.
Who works in Alta Sierra, and how
Work in Alta Sierra centers on health care & social and retail trade. Unemployment is low, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 75%
- Work from home 23%
- Transit, walk, or bike 2%
Life in Alta Sierra
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Alta Sierra.
What the weather is like in Alta Sierra, month by month
Alta Sierra sees roughly 145 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 90 degrees. January highs sit near 52, with lows near 39. The comfortable stretch runs May, June, September, and October.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 52° | 45° | 39° |
| April | 64° | 54° | 47° |
| July | 90° | 80° | 71° |
| October | 72° | 63° | 56° |
Flying in and out of Alta Sierra
Sacramento International sits about 42 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 Sierra
Schools across Alta Sierra average a B−, better than 61% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Bell Hill AcademyB · 48% proficient
- Alta Sierra ElementaryB · 47% proficient
- Cottage Hill ElementaryC · 33% proficient
Top middle schools
- Magnolia IntermediateC · 32% proficient
- Lyman Gilmore MiddleD+ · 24% proficient
Top high schools
- Bear River HighA− · 65% proficient
- Colfax HighB · 48% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Alta Sierra school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Alta Sierra 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 Sierra against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Alta Sierra
Is Alta Sierra a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Alta Sierra ranks 6,845th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on civic engagement, the weather, and transit, and lowest on taxes and air quality. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Alta Sierra expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $551,817. The overall cost of living runs about 14% above the national average. Set against a $108,107 median income, cost of living beats 71% of towns.
Is Alta Sierra safe?
Yes, Alta Sierra is safer than 75% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $241 per resident a year.
Compare Alta Sierra with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Alta Sierra. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Alta Sierra 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 Sierra detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Alta Sierra: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Alta Sierra: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Alta Sierra: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Alta Sierra: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Alta Sierra 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.