Best PlacesBodega, CA Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Bodega, scored on 40 measures of daily life and ranked to fit what matters to you. Local pay runs high here, and housing takes the biggest bite out of it. To work out which city fits you best, start with the best places to live tool.
Bodega ranks 10,063rd of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on heat safety by a wide margin, and taxes are the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Bodega
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.
Bodega's strengths and weaknesses
Where Bodega ranks high
- Heat safetyBetter than 98% of towns
- Household income$157,873 median, better than 98% of towns
- Educational attainmentBetter than 97% of towns
- Air qualityBetter than 97% of towns
- Healthcare accessBetter than 96% of towns
Where Bodega ranks low
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than only 8% of towns
- Cell coverageBetter than only 8% of towns
- Low vacancyBetter than only 10% of towns
- Disaster safetyBetter than only 10% of towns
- Crime safetyBetter than only 13% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Bodega
A household needs to earn about $386,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Bodega home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That runs well above the area's median income of $157,873, 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 Bodega'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 Bodega
Bodega runs older than the country.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Bodega.
Who works in Bodega, and how
Work in Bodega centers on professional & technical and finance & insurance. Unemployment is low, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 44%
- Work from home 44%
- Transit, walk, or bike 11%
Life in Bodega
The coast is about 20 minutes away. Distance to the water changes a lot across Bodega, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Bodega, month by month
Bodega sees roughly 163 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 63 degrees. January highs sit near 57, with lows near 46. The comfortable stretch runs July through October.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 57° | 51° | 46° |
| April | 57° | 51° | 47° |
| July | 63° | 55° | 51° |
| October | 63° | 55° | 50° |
Flying in and out of Bodega
The nearest airport, Charles M Schulz/Sonoma County, is about 13 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is San Francisco Bay Oakland International, about 60 miles away.
The best schools in and around Bodega
Schools across Bodega average a C+, better than 47% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Monte Rio ElementaryC · 30% proficient
- Tomales ElementaryC− · 25% proficient
Top high schools
- Analy HighB+ · 55% proficient
- Tomales HighD+ · 25% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Bodega school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Bodega 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 Bodega against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Bodega
Is Bodega a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Bodega ranks 10,063rd of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on heat safety, high incomes, and an educated workforce, and lowest on taxes and cell coverage. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Bodega expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $1,517,165. The overall cost of living runs about 42% above the national average. Set against a $157,873 median income, cost of living beats 92% of towns.
Is Bodega safe?
Bodega is safer than 13% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $552 per resident a year.
Compare Bodega with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Bodega. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Bodega 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.
Bodega detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Bodega: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Bodega: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Bodega: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Bodega: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Bodega 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.