Best PlacesCuyama, CA Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Cuyama, 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.
Cuyama ranks 38,315th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on quiet by a wide margin, and childcare costs are the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Cuyama
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.
Cuyama's strengths and weaknesses
Where Cuyama ranks high
- QuietBetter than 97% of towns
- Local economyBetter than 93% of towns
- Nice weatherabout 145 pleasant days a year, better than 91% of towns
- Big-city accessBetter than 88% of towns
- Cell coverageBetter than 84% of towns
Where Cuyama ranks low
- Cheap childcare$1,602 a month, better than only 2% of towns
- Disaster safetyBetter than only 7% of towns
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than only 8% of towns
- Low vacancyBetter than only 10% of towns
- Cost of living vs incomeBetter than only 11% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Cuyama
A household needs to earn about $74,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Cuyama home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is only a little above the area's median income of $66,538; the gap is small, which keeps homes within reach of local pay.
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 Cuyama's effective rate of 0.48%, 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 Cuyama
Cuyama runs older than the country.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Cuyama.
Who works in Cuyama, and how
Work in Cuyama centers on education and health care & social. Unemployment is close to the national rate, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 71%
- Work from home 21%
- Transit, walk, or bike 8%
Life in Cuyama
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Cuyama.
What the weather is like in Cuyama, month by month
Cuyama sees roughly 145 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 87 degrees. January highs sit near 65, with lows near 39. The comfortable stretch runs April through October.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 65° | 50° | 39° |
| April | 72° | 56° | 45° |
| July | 87° | 67° | 54° |
| October | 81° | 61° | 47° |
Flying in and out of Cuyama
The nearest airport, Santa Barbara Municipal, is about 37 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Bob Hope, about 94 miles away.
The best schools in and around Cuyama
Schools across Cuyama average a D+, better than 13% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Los Olivos ElementaryA · 70% proficient
- Midway ElementaryC− · 28% proficient
- Cuyama ElementaryD− · 14% proficient
Top high schools
- Cuyama Valley HighD+ · 25% proficient
- Taft Union HighD+ · 24% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Cuyama school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Cuyama 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 Cuyama against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Cuyama
Is Cuyama a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Cuyama ranks 38,315th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on quiet, a strong job market, and the weather, and lowest on childcare costs and disaster risk. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Cuyama expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $294,270. The overall cost of living runs about 16% above the national average. Set against a $66,538 median income, cost of living beats 11% of towns.
Is Cuyama safe?
Cuyama is safer than 12% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $554 per resident a year.
Compare Cuyama with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Cuyama. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Cuyama 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.
Cuyama detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Cuyama: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Cuyama: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Cuyama: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Cuyama: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Cuyama 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.