Best PlacesArcata, CA Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Arcata, scored on 40 measures of daily life and ranked to fit what matters to you. The coast is close, and the measures below put a number on how close. To work out which city fits you best, start with the best places to live tool.
Arcata ranks 35,277th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on biking by a wide margin, and disaster risk is the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Arcata
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.
Arcata's strengths and weaknesses
Where Arcata ranks high
- BikingBetter than 99% of towns
- WalkabilityBetter than 99% of towns
- TransitBetter than 98% of towns
- Short commute18.0 minutes each way, better than 93% of towns
- Health outlookBetter than 93% of towns
Where Arcata ranks low
- Disaster safetyBetter than only 3% of towns
- Crime safetyBetter than only 6% of towns
- Cost of living vs incomeBetter than only 7% of towns
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than only 8% of towns
- Big-city accessBetter than only 8% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Arcata
A household needs to earn about $127,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Arcata home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That runs well above the area's median income of $57,206, 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 Arcata's effective rate of 0.58%, 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 Arcata
Arcata runs younger 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 Arcata.
Who works in Arcata, and how
Work in Arcata centers on education and health care & social. Unemployment sits above the national rate, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 69%
- Work from home 15%
- Transit, walk, or bike 16%
Life in Arcata
Arcata has more restaurants and bars per resident than 86% of towns and more parkland per resident than 87% of towns. The coast is about 7 minutes away. Dining, parks, and nightlife concentrates in some parts of Arcata and thins out in others, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Arcata, month by month
Arcata sees roughly 128 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 64 degrees. January highs sit near 57, with lows near 40. The comfortable stretch runs June through September.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 57° | 49° | 40° |
| April | 58° | 50° | 42° |
| July | 64° | 57° | 52° |
| October | 64° | 54° | 44° |
Flying in and out of Arcata
The nearest airport, California Redwood Coast- Humboldt County, is about 7 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Sacramento International, about 201 miles away.
The best schools in and around Arcata
Schools across Arcata average a B, better than 64% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Union Street CharterA+ · 88% proficient
- Trillium CharterA+ · 75% proficient
- Jacoby CreekA · 62% proficient
Top middle schools
- Sunny Brae MiddleB− · 42% proficient
- Catherine L. Zane MiddleD · 24% proficient
Top high schools
- Northcoast Preparatory And Performing Arts AcademyA · 68% proficient
- Arcata HighB+ · 58% proficient
- Six Rivers Charter HighB · 50% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Arcata school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Arcata 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 Arcata against the other 50,332 towns.
Who Arcata suits
Common questions about living in Arcata
Is Arcata a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Arcata ranks 35,277th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on biking, walkability, and transit, and lowest on disaster risk and crime. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Arcata expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $499,541. The overall cost of living runs about 8% above the national average. Set against a $57,206 median income, cost of living beats 7% of towns.
Is Arcata safe?
Arcata is safer than 6% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $774 per resident a year.
What is the weather like in Arcata?
July highs average about 64 degrees, and January highs near 57 with lows near 40. That works out to about 128 pleasant days a year, more than 84% of towns.
Is Arcata good for families?
Schools beat 64% of towns, crime safety beats 6%, and childcare runs $1,269 a month.
Compare Arcata with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Arcata. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Arcata 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.
Arcata detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Arcata: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Arcata: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Arcata: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Arcata: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Arcata 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.