Best PlacesCarnelian Bay, CA Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Carnelian Bay, 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.
Carnelian Bay ranks 4,070th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on heat safety by a wide margin, and childcare costs are the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Carnelian Bay
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.
Carnelian Bay's strengths and weaknesses
Where Carnelian Bay ranks high
- Heat safetyBetter than 98% of towns
- BikingBetter than 98% of towns
- Health outlookBetter than 98% of towns
- Educational attainmentBetter than 97% of towns
- Household income$147,129 median, better than 97% of towns
Where Carnelian Bay ranks low
- Cheap childcare$1,572 a month, better than only 2% of towns
- Housing crash safetyBetter than only 2% of towns
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than only 8% of towns
- Low vacancyBetter than only 10% of towns
- Air qualityBetter than only 10% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Carnelian Bay
A household needs to earn about $241,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Carnelian Bay home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That runs well above the area's median income of $147,129, 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 Carnelian Bay's effective rate of 0.56%, and insurance is estimated at 0.4% of home value a year.
Who lives in Carnelian Bay
Carnelian Bay'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 Carnelian Bay.
Who works in Carnelian Bay, and how
Work in Carnelian Bay centers on professional & technical and education. Unemployment is low, and employment has held roughly flat.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 48%
- Work from home 49%
- Transit, walk, or bike 3%
Life in Carnelian Bay
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Carnelian Bay.
What the weather is like in Carnelian Bay, month by month
Carnelian Bay sees roughly 99 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 85 degrees. January highs sit near 43, with lows near 16. The comfortable stretch runs June through August.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 43° | 28° | 16° |
| April | 58° | 40° | 24° |
| July | 85° | 63° | 41° |
| October | 65° | 43° | 25° |
Flying in and out of Carnelian Bay
The nearest airport, Reno/Tahoe International, is about 26 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Sacramento International, about 88 miles away.
The best schools in and around Carnelian Bay
Schools across Carnelian Bay average a B, better than 73% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Tahoe Lake ElementaryB · 50% proficient
- Kings Beach ElementaryC+ · 38% proficient
Top middle schools
- North Tahoe MiddleB− · 42% proficient
Top high schools
- North Tahoe HighA− · 62% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Carnelian Bay school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Carnelian Bay 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 Carnelian Bay against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Carnelian Bay
Is Carnelian Bay a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Carnelian Bay ranks 4,070th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on heat safety, biking, and population health, and lowest on childcare costs and an overheated housing market. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Carnelian Bay expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $953,366. The overall cost of living runs about 47% above the national average. Set against a $147,129 median income, cost of living beats 84% of towns.
Is Carnelian Bay safe?
Carnelian Bay is safer than 47% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $339 per resident a year.
Compare Carnelian Bay with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Carnelian Bay. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Carnelian Bay 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.
Carnelian Bay detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Carnelian Bay: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Carnelian Bay: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Carnelian Bay: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Carnelian Bay: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Carnelian Bay 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.