Best PlacesBrownsville, CA Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Brownsville, 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.
Brownsville ranks 48,976th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on quiet by a wide margin, and summer heat is the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Brownsville
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.
Brownsville's strengths and weaknesses
Where Brownsville ranks high
- QuietBetter than 93% of towns
- Nice weatherabout 150 pleasant days a year, better than 93% of towns
- TransitBetter than 90% of towns
- Big-city accessBetter than 81% of towns
- Voter turnoutBetter than 75% of towns
Where Brownsville ranks low
- Heat safetyBetter than only 2% of towns
- Short commute40.9 minutes each way, better than only 4% of towns
- Cost of living vs incomeBetter than only 5% of towns
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than only 8% of towns
- Disaster safetyBetter than only 8% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Brownsville
A household needs to earn about $83,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Brownsville home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That runs well above the area's median income of $49,519, 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 Brownsville's effective rate of 0.64%, 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 Brownsville
Brownsville 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 Brownsville.
Who works in Brownsville, and how
Work in Brownsville centers on other services and construction. Unemployment sits above the national rate, and the job base is shrinking.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 84%
- Work from home 12%
- Transit, walk, or bike 4%
Life in Brownsville
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Brownsville.
What the weather is like in Brownsville, month by month
Brownsville sees roughly 150 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 100 degrees. January highs sit near 59, with lows near 41. The comfortable stretch runs March through May and October.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 59° | 50° | 41° |
| April | 77° | 62° | 48° |
| July | 100° | 83° | 66° |
| October | 82° | 66° | 51° |
Flying in and out of Brownsville
Sacramento International sits about 55 miles away. It is a medium hub and boarded 6.8 million passengers in 2025, with 85 nonstop destinations.
The best schools in and around Brownsville
Schools across Brownsville average a D+, better than 13% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Yuba Feather ElementaryD · 20% proficient
- Dobbins ElementaryD− · 16% proficient
Top middle schools
- Foothill IntermediateD · 20% proficient
Top high schools
- Marysville HighC− · 30% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Brownsville school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Brownsville 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 Brownsville against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Brownsville
Is Brownsville a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Brownsville ranks 48,976th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on quiet, the weather, and transit, and lowest on summer heat and long commutes. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Brownsville expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $324,830. The overall cost of living runs about 2% below the national average. Set against a $49,519 median income, cost of living beats 5% of towns.
Is Brownsville safe?
Brownsville is safer than 14% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $523 per resident a year.
Compare Brownsville with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Brownsville. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Brownsville 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.
Brownsville detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Brownsville: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Brownsville: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Brownsville: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Brownsville: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Brownsville 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.