Best PlacesBethel Island, CA Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Bethel Island, 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.
Bethel Island ranks 40,905th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on big-city access by a wide margin, and childcare costs are the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Bethel Island
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.
Bethel Island's strengths and weaknesses
Where Bethel Island ranks high
- Big-city accessBetter than 96% of towns
- Nice weatherabout 161 pleasant days a year, better than 95% of towns
- Internet speedBetter than 82% of towns
- QuietBetter than 80% of towns
- Health outlookBetter than 79% of towns
Where Bethel Island ranks low
- Cheap childcare$1,928 a month, better than only 1% of towns
- Local economyBetter than only 1% of towns
- Educational attainmentBetter than only 4% of towns
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than only 8% of towns
- Tree shadeBetter than only 10% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Bethel Island
A household needs to earn about $175,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Bethel Island home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That runs well above the area's median income of $84,007, 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 Bethel Island's effective rate of 0.98%, 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 Bethel Island
Bethel Island runs older than the country.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Bethel Island.
Who works in Bethel Island, and how
Work in Bethel Island centers on construction and health care & social. Unemployment runs well above the national rate, and employment has held roughly flat.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 74%
- Work from home 18%
- Transit, walk, or bike 7%
Life in Bethel Island
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Bethel Island.
What the weather is like in Bethel Island, month by month
Bethel Island sees roughly 161 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 92 degrees. January highs sit near 61, with lows near 41. The comfortable stretch runs March through November.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 61° | 51° | 41° |
| April | 75° | 60° | 48° |
| July | 92° | 72° | 58° |
| October | 82° | 65° | 52° |
Flying in and out of Bethel Island
The nearest airport, Stockton Metro, is about 24 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is San Francisco Bay Oakland International, about 38 miles away.
The best schools in and around Bethel Island
Schools across Bethel Island average a C+, better than 50% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Knightsen ElementaryD · 20% proficient
- Melville S. Jacobson ElementaryD · 20% proficient
Top middle schools
- Earle E. Williams MiddleD · 21% proficient
- Riverview MiddleF · 10% proficient
Top high schools
- Merrill F. West HighC+ · 36% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Bethel Island school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Bethel Island 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 Bethel Island against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Bethel Island
Is Bethel Island a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Bethel Island ranks 40,905th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on big-city access, the weather, and fast internet, and lowest on childcare costs and a weak job market. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Bethel Island expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $651,712. The overall cost of living runs about 28% above the national average. Set against a $84,007 median income, cost of living beats 18% of towns.
Is Bethel Island safe?
Bethel Island is safer than 11% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $577 per resident a year.
Compare Bethel Island with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Bethel Island. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Bethel Island 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.
Bethel Island detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Bethel Island: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Bethel Island: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Bethel Island: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Bethel Island: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Bethel Island 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.