Best PlacesBig Bend, CA Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Big Bend, 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 Bend ranks 47,094th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on quiet by a wide margin, and a weak job market ranks lowest.
The best neighborhoods in Big Bend
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 Bend's strengths and weaknesses
Where Big Bend ranks high
- QuietBetter than 97% of towns
- Tree shadeBetter than 77% of towns
- Nice weatherabout 114 pleasant days a year, better than 77% of towns
- Low property taxBetter than 59% of towns
- Housing crash safetyBetter than 47% of towns
Where Big Bend ranks low
- Local economyBetter than only 1% of towns
- Cell coverageBetter than only 1% of towns
- Internet speedBetter than only 3% of towns
- Voter turnoutBetter than only 7% of towns
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than only 8% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Big Bend
A household needs to earn about $82,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Big Bend home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That runs well above the area's median income of $61,933, 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 Bend's effective rate of 0.66%, 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 Bend
Big Bend runs older than the country.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Big Bend.
Who works in Big Bend, and how
Work in Big Bend centers on public administration and health care & social. Unemployment runs well above the national rate, and the job base is shrinking.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 90%
- Work from home 6%
- Transit, walk, or bike 4%
Life in Big Bend
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Big Bend.
What the weather is like in Big Bend, month by month
Big Bend sees roughly 114 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 92 degrees. January highs sit near 47, with lows near 28. The comfortable stretch runs May through September.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 47° | 36° | 28° |
| April | 65° | 49° | 35° |
| July | 92° | 72° | 52° |
| October | 69° | 51° | 37° |
Flying in and out of Big Bend
The nearest airport, Redding Regional, is about 41 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Sacramento International, about 162 miles away.
The best schools in and around Big Bend
Schools across Big Bend average a C, better than 43% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Shasta LakeC− · 28% proficient
- Mccloud ElementaryD+ · 25% proficient
- Burney ElementaryD · 20% proficient
Top high schools
- Central Valley HighB+ · 53% proficient
- Foothill HighB · 49% proficient
- Burney Junior-senior HighD · 23% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Big Bend school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Big Bend 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 Bend against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Big Bend
Is Big Bend a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Big Bend ranks 47,094th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on quiet, tree cover, and the weather, and lowest on a weak job market and cell coverage. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Big Bend expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $321,080. The overall cost of living runs about 1% above the national average. Set against a $61,933 median income, cost of living beats 14% of towns.
Is Big Bend safe?
Big Bend is safer than 24% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $428 per resident a year.
Compare Big Bend with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Big Bend. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Big Bend 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 Bend detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Big Bend: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Big Bend: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Big Bend: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Big Bend: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Big Bend 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.