Best PlacesButtonwillow, CA Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Buttonwillow, 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.
Buttonwillow ranks 46,285th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on the weather by a wide margin, and civic engagement ranks lowest.
The best neighborhoods in Buttonwillow
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.
Buttonwillow's strengths and weaknesses
Where Buttonwillow ranks high
- Nice weatherabout 176 pleasant days a year, better than 98% of towns
- WalkabilityBetter than 96% of towns
- Big-city accessBetter than 87% of towns
- BikingBetter than 82% of towns
- Cell coverageBetter than 76% of towns
Where Buttonwillow ranks low
- Voter turnoutBetter than only 1% of towns
- Educational attainmentBetter than only 1% of towns
- Healthcare accessBetter than only 1% of towns
- Air qualityBetter than only 1% of towns
- Cost of living vs incomeBetter than only 3% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Buttonwillow
A household needs to earn about $67,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Buttonwillow home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That runs well above the area's median income of $49,887, 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 Buttonwillow's effective rate of 0.70%, and insurance is estimated at 0.4% of home value a year.
Renting versus buying
At today's prices, buying tends to cost more than renting for about the first 8 years, then pulls ahead as rent keeps rising and the mortgage builds equity. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Buttonwillow
Buttonwillow runs younger 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 Buttonwillow.
Who works in Buttonwillow, and how
Work in Buttonwillow centers on agriculture & forestry and hospitality & food. Unemployment is close to the national rate, and the job base is shrinking.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 93%
- Work from home 3%
- Transit, walk, or bike 4%
Life in Buttonwillow
Buttonwillow has more restaurants and bars per resident than 93% of towns. That concentrates in some parts of Buttonwillow and thins out in others, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Buttonwillow, month by month
Buttonwillow sees roughly 176 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 102 degrees. January highs sit near 63, with lows near 40. The comfortable stretch runs March through May, October, and November.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 63° | 51° | 40° |
| April | 80° | 65° | 51° |
| July | 102° | 88° | 73° |
| October | 84° | 69° | 55° |
Flying in and out of Buttonwillow
The nearest airport, Meadows Field, is about 23 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Bob Hope, about 104 miles away.
The best schools in and around Buttonwillow
Schools across Buttonwillow average a C, better than 53% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Rio Bravo ElementaryB · 45% proficient
- Maple ElementaryD+ · 25% proficient
- John L. Prueitt ElementaryF · 10% proficient
Top middle schools
- Rio Bravo-greeley ElementaryC+ · 38% proficient
- Thomas Jefferson MiddleF · 6% proficient
Top high schools
- Shafter HighA · 75% proficient
- Wasco HighC− · 30% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Buttonwillow school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Buttonwillow 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 Buttonwillow against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Buttonwillow
Is Buttonwillow a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Buttonwillow ranks 46,285th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on the weather, walkability, and big-city access, and lowest on civic engagement and education levels. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Buttonwillow expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $261,134. The overall cost of living runs about 4% above the national average. Set against a $49,887 median income, cost of living beats 3% of towns.
Is Buttonwillow safe?
Buttonwillow is safer than 21% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $445 per resident a year.
Compare Buttonwillow with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Buttonwillow. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Buttonwillow 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.
Buttonwillow detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Buttonwillow: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Buttonwillow: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Buttonwillow: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Buttonwillow: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Buttonwillow 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.