Best PlacesBig Bar, CA Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Big Bar, 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.
Big Bar ranks 47,848th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on quiet by a wide margin, and cell coverage ranks lowest.
The best neighborhoods in Big Bar
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.
Big Bar's strengths and weaknesses
Where Big Bar ranks high
- QuietBetter than 97% of towns
- TransitBetter than 89% of towns
- Short commute20.9 minutes each way, better than 84% of towns
- Nice weatherabout 119 pleasant days a year, better than 79% of towns
- Tree shadeBetter than 78% of towns
Where Big Bar ranks low
- Cell coverageBetter than only 1% of towns
- Cost of living vs incomeBetter than only 3% of towns
- Disaster safetyBetter than only 5% of towns
- Local economyBetter than only 6% of towns
- Internet speedBetter than only 7% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Big Bar
A household needs to earn about $82,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Big Bar home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That runs well above the area's median income of $47,715, 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 Big Bar's effective rate of 0.60%, 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 Big Bar
Big Bar runs older 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 Big Bar.
Who works in Big Bar, and how
Work in Big Bar centers on retail trade and transportation & warehousing. Unemployment runs well above the national rate, and the job base is shrinking.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 71%
- Work from home 27%
- Transit, walk, or bike 2%
Life in Big Bar
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Big Bar.
What the weather is like in Big Bar, month by month
Big Bar sees roughly 119 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 95 degrees. January highs sit near 47, with lows near 32. The comfortable stretch runs May through September.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 47° | 37° | 32° |
| April | 68° | 51° | 39° |
| July | 95° | 75° | 57° |
| October | 70° | 52° | 40° |
Flying in and out of Big Bar
The nearest airport, California Redwood Coast- Humboldt County, is about 46 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Sacramento International, about 168 miles away.
The best schools in and around Big Bar
Schools across Big Bar average a B−, better than 64% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Hayfork ElementaryB · 45% proficient
- Weaverville ElementaryB− · 43% proficient
- Burnt Ranch ElementaryC+ · 37% proficient
Top high schools
- Hayfork HighB+ · 52% proficient
- Trinity HighC− · 27% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Big Bar school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Big Bar 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 Big Bar against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Big Bar
Is Big Bar a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Big Bar ranks 47,848th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on quiet, transit, and short commutes, and lowest on cell coverage and the cost of living against local pay. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Big Bar expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $323,161. The overall cost of living runs about 1% below the national average. Set against a $47,715 median income, cost of living beats 3% of towns.
Is Big Bar safe?
Big Bar is safer than 8% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $627 per resident a year.
Compare Big Bar with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Big Bar. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Big Bar 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.
Big Bar detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Big Bar: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Big Bar: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Big Bar: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Big Bar: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Big Bar 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.