Best PlacesCummings, CA Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Cummings, scored on 40 measures of daily life and ranked to fit what matters to you. The coast is close, and the measures below put a number on how close. To work out which city fits you best, start with the best places to live tool.
Cummings ranks 50,013th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on quiet by a wide margin, and the cost of living against local pay is the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Cummings
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.
Cummings' strengths and weaknesses
Where Cummings ranks high
- QuietBetter than 97% of towns
- Low property taxBetter than 89% of towns
- Tree shadeBetter than 84% of towns
- Nice weatherabout 106 pleasant days a year, better than 72% of towns
- Big-city accessBetter than 47% of towns
Where Cummings ranks low
- Cost of living vs incomeBetter than only 3% of towns
- Educational attainmentBetter than only 3% of towns
- Heat safetyBetter than only 3% of towns
- Household income$36,347 median, better than only 3% of towns
- Crime safetyBetter than only 3% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Cummings
A household needs to earn about $106,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Cummings home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That runs well above the area's median income of $36,347, 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 Cummings' effective rate of 0.39%, and insurance is estimated at 0.4% of home value a year.
Who lives in Cummings
Cummings 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 Cummings.
Who works in Cummings, and how
Work in Cummings centers on hospitality & food and public administration. Unemployment runs well above the national rate, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 74%
- Work from home 24%
- Transit, walk, or bike 2%
Life in Cummings
The coast is about 39 minutes away. Distance to the water changes a lot across Cummings, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Cummings, month by month
Cummings sees roughly 106 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 98 degrees. January highs sit near 60, with lows near 38. The comfortable stretch runs April through June and August through October.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 60° | 47° | 38° |
| April | 74° | 57° | 42° |
| July | 98° | 76° | 56° |
| October | 82° | 61° | 45° |
Flying in and out of Cummings
The nearest airport, Redding Regional, is about 81 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Sacramento International, about 132 miles away.
The best schools in and around Cummings
Schools across Cummings average a C, better than 37% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Laytonville ElementaryD+ · 23% proficient
- Leggett Valley ElementaryD · 21% proficient
- Round Valley ElementaryD− · 12% proficient
Top high schools
- Laytonville HighA · 75% proficient
- Round Valley HighD+ · 25% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Cummings school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Cummings 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 Cummings against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Cummings
Is Cummings a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Cummings ranks 50,013th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on quiet, low property taxes, and tree cover, and lowest on the cost of living against local pay and education levels. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Cummings expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $428,744. The overall cost of living runs about 10% above the national average. Set against a $36,347 median income, cost of living beats 3% of towns.
Is Cummings safe?
Cummings is safer than 3% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $825 per resident a year.
Compare Cummings with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Cummings. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Cummings 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.
Cummings detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Cummings: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Cummings: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Cummings: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Cummings: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Cummings 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.