Best PlacesBalls Ferry, CA Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Balls Ferry, 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.
Balls Ferry ranks 38,224th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. Summer heat pulls hardest against it, while it scores best on few empty homes.
The best neighborhoods in Balls Ferry
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.
Balls Ferry's strengths and weaknesses
Where Balls Ferry ranks high
- Low vacancyBetter than 81% of towns
- Nice weatherabout 116 pleasant days a year, better than 78% of towns
- Low property taxBetter than 66% of towns
- Local economyBetter than 65% of towns
- Crime safetyBetter than 60% of towns
Where Balls Ferry ranks low
- Heat safetyBetter than only 1% of towns
- Disaster safetyBetter than only 8% of towns
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than only 8% of towns
- Educational attainmentBetter than only 10% of towns
- Internet speedBetter than only 13% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Balls Ferry
A household needs to earn about $86,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Balls Ferry home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That runs well above the area's median income of $72,481, 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 Balls Ferry's effective rate of 0.59%, 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 Balls Ferry
Balls Ferry 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 Balls Ferry.
Who works in Balls Ferry, and how
Work in Balls Ferry centers on professional & technical and education. Unemployment is close to the national rate, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 84%
- Work from home 13%
- Transit, walk, or bike 3%
Life in Balls Ferry
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Balls Ferry.
What the weather is like in Balls Ferry, month by month
Balls Ferry sees roughly 116 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 103 degrees. January highs sit near 61, with lows near 38. The comfortable stretch runs April, May, and October.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 61° | 49° | 38° |
| April | 76° | 62° | 47° |
| July | 103° | 86° | 67° |
| October | 83° | 66° | 50° |
Flying in and out of Balls Ferry
The nearest airport, Redding Regional, is about 8 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Sacramento International, about 124 miles away.
The best schools in and around Balls Ferry
Schools across Balls Ferry average a C+, better than 46% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Millville ElementaryA− · 57% proficient
- Plum Valley ElementaryB · 50% proficient
- Prairie ElementaryB · 48% proficient
Top middle schools
- West Cottonwood Junior HighB− · 40% proficient
- Evergreen MiddleB− · 39% proficient
- Pacheco ElementaryC− · 29% proficient
Top high schools
- Foothill HighB · 49% proficient
- Anderson HighC+ · 38% proficient
- Red Bluff HighC− · 27% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Balls Ferry school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Balls Ferry 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 Balls Ferry against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Balls Ferry
Is Balls Ferry a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Balls Ferry ranks 38,224th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on few empty homes, the weather, and low property taxes, and lowest on summer heat and disaster risk. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Balls Ferry expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $340,328. The overall cost of living runs about 3% above the national average. Set against a $72,481 median income, cost of living beats 28% of towns.
Is Balls Ferry safe?
Yes, Balls Ferry is safer than 60% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $293 per resident a year.
Compare Balls Ferry with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Balls Ferry. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Balls Ferry 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.
Balls Ferry detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Balls Ferry: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Balls Ferry: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Balls Ferry: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Balls Ferry: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Balls Ferry 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.