Best PlacesAuburn, CA Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Auburn, scored on 40 measures of daily life and ranked to fit what matters to you. This page is for people who live here or already know they want to. To work out which city fits you best, start with the best places to live tool.
Auburn ranks 1,154th of 2,098 U.S. cities on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores best on the weather, and air quality ranks lowest.
The best neighborhoods in Auburn
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.
Auburn's strengths and weaknesses
Where Auburn ranks high
- Nice weatherabout 152 pleasant days a year, better than 84% of cities
- Healthcare accessBetter than 78% of cities
- QuietBetter than 72% of cities
- Voter turnoutBetter than 64% of cities
- Low property taxBetter than 62% of cities
Where Auburn ranks low
- Air qualityBetter than only 11% of cities
- Cell coverageBetter than only 12% of cities
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than only 14% of cities
- Cheap childcare$1,502 a month, better than only 14% of cities
- State infrastructureBetter than only 24% of cities
What it costs to buy a home in Auburn
A household needs to earn about $183,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Auburn home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That runs well above the area's median income of $103,319, 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 Auburn's effective rate of 0.76%, 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 Auburn
Auburn 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 Auburn.
Who works in Auburn, and how
Work in Auburn centers on health care & social and construction. Unemployment is close to the national rate, and employment has held roughly flat.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 74%
- Work from home 20%
- Transit, walk, or bike 5%
Life in Auburn
Auburn has more restaurants and bars per resident than 78% of cities and more parkland per resident than 80% of cities. Dining, parks, and nightlife concentrates in some parts of Auburn and thins out in others, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Auburn, month by month
Auburn sees roughly 152 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 94 degrees. January highs sit near 56, with lows near 40. The comfortable stretch runs April through June, September, and October.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 56° | 47° | 40° |
| April | 69° | 57° | 48° |
| July | 94° | 81° | 67° |
| October | 76° | 64° | 53° |
Flying in and out of Auburn
Sacramento International sits about 32 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 Auburn
Schools across Auburn average a C+, better than 39% of cities.
Top elementary schools
- Bowman CharterB+ · 51% proficient
- Newcastle ElementaryB · 48% proficient
- Carlin C. Coppin ElementaryB− · 44% proficient
Top middle schools
- Glen Edwards MiddleC+ · 38% proficient
- Magnolia IntermediateC · 32% proficient
- Weimar HillsC− · 30% proficient
Top high schools
- Bear River HighA− · 65% proficient
- Del Oro HighA− · 61% proficient
- Colfax HighB · 48% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Auburn school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Auburn 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 Auburn against the other 2,097 cities.
Who Auburn suits
Families
Schools land around the 39th percentile and crime safety beats 60%.
Retirees
The weather beats 84% of cities, health care access beats 78%, and it is quieter than 72%.
Common questions about living in Auburn
Is Auburn a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Auburn ranks 1,154th of 2,098 cities. It scores highest on the weather, health care access, and quiet, and lowest on air quality and cell coverage. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Auburn expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $704,025. The overall cost of living runs about 20% above the national average. Set against a $103,319 median income, cost of living beats 44% of cities.
Is Auburn safe?
Yes, Auburn is safer than 60% of cities. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $303 per resident a year.
What is the weather like in Auburn?
July highs average about 94 degrees, and January highs near 56 with lows near 40. That works out to about 152 pleasant days a year, more than 84% of cities.
Is Auburn good for families?
Schools beat 39% of cities, crime safety beats 60%, and childcare runs $1,502 a month.
Compare Auburn with other cities
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Auburn. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Auburn 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.
Auburn detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Auburn: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Auburn: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Auburn: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Auburn: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Auburn 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.