Best PlacesCantil, CA Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Cantil, 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.
Cantil ranks 48,858th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on the weather by a wide margin, and education levels rank lowest.
The best neighborhoods in Cantil
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.
Cantil's strengths and weaknesses
Where Cantil ranks high
- Nice weatherabout 188 pleasant days a year, better than 99% of towns
- Big-city accessBetter than 91% of towns
- QuietBetter than 82% of towns
- Low property taxBetter than 73% of towns
- Short commute25.5 minutes each way, better than 60% of towns
Where Cantil ranks low
- Educational attainmentBetter than only 1% of towns
- Air qualityBetter than only 1% of towns
- Local economyBetter than only 1% of towns
- Voter turnoutBetter than only 2% of towns
- Healthcare accessBetter than only 2% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Cantil
A household needs to earn about $65,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Cantil home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That runs well above the area's median income of $46,558, 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 Cantil's effective rate of 0.54%, and insurance is estimated at 0.4% of home value a year.
Who lives in Cantil
Cantil's age mix sits close to the national median, 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 Cantil.
Who works in Cantil, and how
Work in Cantil centers on retail trade and other services. Unemployment runs well above the national rate, and the job base is shrinking.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 74%
- Work from home 21%
- Transit, walk, or bike 5%
Life in Cantil
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Cantil.
What the weather is like in Cantil, month by month
Cantil sees roughly 188 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 100 degrees. January highs sit near 58, with lows near 37. The comfortable stretch runs April, May, and October.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 58° | 46° | 37° |
| April | 74° | 61° | 50° |
| July | 100° | 87° | 74° |
| October | 80° | 66° | 53° |
Flying in and out of Cantil
The nearest airport, Meadows Field, is about 60 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Bob Hope, about 79 miles away.
The best schools in and around Cantil
Schools across Cantil average a C, better than 48% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Piute Mountain ElementaryD · 19% proficient
- Inyokern ElementaryD− · 15% proficient
Top middle schools
- James Monroe MiddleD · 20% proficient
Top high schools
- Kern Valley HighA · 75% proficient
- Burroughs HighB · 47% proficient
- Tehachapi HighC+ · 40% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Cantil school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Cantil 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 Cantil against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Cantil
Is Cantil a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Cantil ranks 48,858th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on the weather, big-city access, and quiet, and lowest on education levels and air quality. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Cantil expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $258,200. The overall cost of living runs about 0% above the national average. Set against a $46,558 median income, cost of living beats 3% of towns.
Is Cantil safe?
Cantil is safer than 6% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $695 per resident a year.
Compare Cantil with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Cantil. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Cantil 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.
Cantil detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Cantil: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Cantil: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Cantil: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Cantil: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Cantil 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.