Best PlacesBarrett, CA Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Barrett, 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.
Barrett ranks 50,075th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on the weather by a wide margin, and noise is the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Barrett
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.
Barrett's strengths and weaknesses
Where Barrett ranks high
- Nice weatherabout 195 pleasant days a year, better than 99% of towns
- Big-city accessBetter than 90% of towns
- Health outlookBetter than 73% of towns
- Low vacancyBetter than 69% of towns
- Low property taxBetter than 57% of towns
Where Barrett ranks low
- QuietBetter than only 1% of towns
- Air qualityBetter than only 1% of towns
- Disaster safetyBetter than only 1% of towns
- Cost of living vs incomeBetter than only 3% of towns
- Educational attainmentBetter than only 4% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Barrett
A household needs to earn about $65,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Barrett home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That runs well above the area's median income of $52,642, 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 Barrett's effective rate of 0.67%, and insurance is estimated at 0.4% of home value a year.
Renting versus buying
At today's prices, buying tends to cost more than renting for about the first 4 years, then pulls ahead as rent keeps rising and the mortgage builds equity. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Barrett
Barrett runs older than the country, though fewer residents are over 65 than the national share.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Barrett.
Who works in Barrett, and how
Work in Barrett centers on retail trade and education. Unemployment runs well above the national rate, and employment has held roughly flat.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 93%
- Work from home 4%
- Transit, walk, or bike 3%
Life in Barrett
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Barrett.
What the weather is like in Barrett, month by month
Barrett sees roughly 195 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 81 degrees. January highs sit near 69, with lows near 43. Every month averages in that range.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 69° | 55° | 43° |
| April | 74° | 60° | 50° |
| July | 81° | 70° | 62° |
| October | 81° | 67° | 55° |
Flying in and out of Barrett
San Diego International sits about 46 miles away. It is a large hub and boarded 12.7 million passengers in 2025, with 121 nonstop destinations.
The best schools in and around Barrett
Schools across Barrett average a D−, better than 4% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Potrero ElementaryF · 10% proficient
Top middle schools
- Pine Valley MiddleD · 20% proficient
- Camp Lockett MiddleF · 11% proficient
Top high schools
- Mountain Empire HighD · 22% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Barrett school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Barrett 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 Barrett against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Barrett
Is Barrett a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Barrett ranks 50,075th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on the weather, big-city access, and population health, and lowest on noise and air quality. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Barrett expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $253,201. The overall cost of living runs about 20% above the national average. Set against a $52,642 median income, cost of living beats 3% of towns.
Is Barrett safe?
Barrett is safer than 16% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $484 per resident a year.
Compare Barrett with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Barrett. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Barrett 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.
Barrett detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Barrett: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Barrett: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Barrett: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Barrett: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Barrett 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.