Best PlacesAtwater, CA Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Atwater, scored on 40 measures of daily life and ranked to fit what matters to you. Several measures below read low, and the ranked lists name which ones. To work out which city fits you best, start with the best places to live tool.
Atwater ranks 1,809th of 2,098 U.S. cities on the BestNeighborhood index. Education levels pulls hardest against it, while it scores best on few empty homes.
The best neighborhoods in Atwater
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.
Atwater's strengths and weaknesses
Where Atwater ranks high
- Low vacancyBetter than 84% of cities
- Nice weatherabout 145 pleasant days a year, better than 80% of cities
- Low property taxBetter than 76% of cities
- Cell coverageBetter than 69% of cities
- TransitBetter than 59% of cities
Where Atwater ranks low
- Educational attainmentBetter than only 3% of cities
- Tree shadeBetter than only 4% of cities
- Healthcare accessBetter than only 5% of cities
- Voter turnoutBetter than only 6% of cities
- Local economyBetter than only 13% of cities
What it costs to buy a home in Atwater
A household needs to earn about $108,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Atwater home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That runs well above the area's median income of $78,522, 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 Atwater's effective rate of 0.68%, 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 Atwater
Atwater runs younger than the country, and households here run larger than average.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Atwater.
Who works in Atwater, and how
Work in Atwater centers on health care & social and retail trade. Unemployment runs well above the national rate, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 90%
- Work from home 6%
- Transit, walk, or bike 4%
Life in Atwater
Atwater has more parkland per resident than 77% of cities. That concentrates in some parts of Atwater and thins out in others, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Atwater, month by month
Atwater sees roughly 145 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 100 degrees. January highs sit near 60, with lows near 41. The comfortable stretch runs March through May and October.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 60° | 50° | 41° |
| April | 77° | 61° | 48° |
| July | 100° | 83° | 65° |
| October | 83° | 66° | 50° |
Flying in and out of Atwater
The nearest airport, Merced Yosemite Regional, is about 6 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Norman Y Mineta San Jose International, about 73 miles away.
The best schools in and around Atwater
Schools across Atwater average a C−, better than 16% of cities.
Top elementary schools
- Mcswain ElementaryC+ · 39% proficient
- Selma Herndon ElementaryD · 20% proficient
- Joe StefaniD− · 15% proficient
Top middle schools
- Rudolph Rivera MiddleD− · 17% proficient
- Livingston MiddleD− · 17% proficient
Top high schools
- Hilmar HighB− · 43% proficient
- El Capitan HighC · 33% proficient
- Atwater HighC · 31% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Atwater school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Atwater 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 Atwater against the other 2,097 cities.
Who Atwater suits
Common questions about living in Atwater
Is Atwater a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Atwater ranks 1,809th of 2,098 cities. It scores highest on few empty homes, the weather, and low property taxes, and lowest on education levels and tree cover. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Atwater expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $418,433. The overall cost of living runs about 2% below the national average. Set against a $78,522 median income, cost of living beats 25% of cities.
Is Atwater safe?
Atwater is safer than 24% of cities. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $428 per resident a year.
What is the weather like in Atwater?
July highs average about 100 degrees, and January highs near 60 with lows near 41. That works out to about 145 pleasant days a year, more than 80% of cities.
Is Atwater good for families?
Schools beat 16% of cities, crime safety beats 24%, and childcare runs $979 a month.
Compare Atwater with other cities
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Atwater. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Atwater 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.
Atwater detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Atwater: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Atwater: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Atwater: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Atwater: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Atwater 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.