Best PlacesBlue Lake, CA Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Blue Lake, scored on 40 measures of daily life and ranked to fit what matters to you. The coast is close, and the measures below put a number on how close. To work out which city fits you best, start with the best places to live tool.
Blue Lake ranks 36,697th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on short commutes by a wide margin, and crime is the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Blue Lake
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.
Blue Lake's strengths and weaknesses
Where Blue Lake ranks high
- Short commute17.2 minutes each way, better than 95% of towns
- BikingBetter than 94% of towns
- TransitBetter than 94% of towns
- WalkabilityBetter than 92% of towns
- Air qualityBetter than 87% of towns
Where Blue Lake ranks low
- Crime safetyBetter than only 7% of towns
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than only 8% of towns
- Big-city accessBetter than only 8% of towns
- Local economyBetter than only 9% of towns
- Disaster safetyBetter than only 9% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Blue Lake
A household needs to earn about $129,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Blue Lake home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That runs well above the area's median income of $61,638, 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 Blue Lake's effective rate of 0.65%, 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 Blue Lake
Blue Lake 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 Blue Lake.
Who works in Blue Lake, and how
Work in Blue Lake centers on health care & social and public administration. Unemployment runs well above the national rate, and the job base is shrinking.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 69%
- Work from home 20%
- Transit, walk, or bike 10%
Life in Blue Lake
The coast is about 21 minutes away. Distance to the water changes a lot across Blue Lake, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Blue Lake, month by month
Blue Lake sees roughly 120 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 65 degrees. January highs sit near 58, with lows near 40. The comfortable stretch runs June through September.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 58° | 49° | 40° |
| April | 59° | 50° | 42° |
| July | 65° | 57° | 51° |
| October | 65° | 53° | 44° |
Flying in and out of Blue Lake
The nearest airport, California Redwood Coast- Humboldt County, is about 9 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Sacramento International, about 198 miles away.
The best schools in and around Blue Lake
Schools across Blue Lake average a C+, better than 55% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Green Point ElementaryA+ · 75% proficient
- Trinidad UnionB · 48% proficient
- Arcata ElementaryC · 33% proficient
Top middle schools
- Sunny Brae MiddleB− · 42% proficient
Top high schools
- Arcata HighB+ · 58% proficient
- Mckinleyville HighD+ · 25% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Blue Lake school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Blue Lake 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 Blue Lake against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Blue Lake
Is Blue Lake a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Blue Lake ranks 36,697th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on short commutes, biking, and transit, and lowest on crime and taxes. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Blue Lake expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $504,767. The overall cost of living runs about 13% above the national average. Set against a $61,638 median income, cost of living beats 11% of towns.
Is Blue Lake safe?
Blue Lake is safer than 7% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $693 per resident a year.
Compare Blue Lake with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Blue Lake. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Blue Lake 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.
Blue Lake detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Blue Lake: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Blue Lake: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Blue Lake: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Blue Lake: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Blue Lake 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.