Best PlacesDavis, CA Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Davis, scored on 40 measures of daily life and ranked to fit what matters to you. The averages are not the whole story, and the strongest areas score well above them. To work out which city fits you best, start with the best places to live tool.
Davis ranks 759th of 2,098 U.S. cities on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on biking by a wide margin, and a weak job market ranks lowest.
The best neighborhoods in Davis
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.
The best areas in Davis
The parts of Davis, ranked by the BestNeighborhood standard score across every neighborhood, highest scoring first.
Covell Park
Aspen & Woods
Village Homes & West Davis Manor
Central Davis
Davis Manor
Old East Davis
Scores across Davis run from about the 23rd to the 99th percentile nationally. The map is where that becomes a choice of area.
Davis' strengths and weaknesses
Where Davis ranks high
- BikingBetter than 99% of cities
- Educational attainmentBetter than 98% of cities
- TransitBetter than 97% of cities
- Health outlookBetter than 93% of cities
- WalkabilityBetter than 90% of cities
Where Davis ranks low
- Local economyBetter than only 9% of cities
- Voter turnoutBetter than only 10% of cities
- Cost of living vs incomeBetter than only 11% of cities
- Cheap childcare$1,549 a month, better than only 12% of cities
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than only 14% of cities
What it costs to buy a home in Davis
A household needs to earn about $231,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Davis home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That runs well above the area's median income of $87,142, 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 Davis' effective rate of 0.77%, 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 Davis
Davis runs younger than the country.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Davis.
Who works in Davis, and how
Work in Davis centers on education and professional & technical. Unemployment runs well above the national rate, and employment has held roughly flat.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 46%
- Work from home 22%
- Transit, walk, or bike 32%
Life in Davis
Davis has more restaurants and bars per resident than 78% of cities and more parkland per resident than 85% of cities. Dining, parks, and nightlife concentrates in some parts of Davis and thins out in others, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Davis, month by month
Davis sees roughly 175 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 95 degrees. January highs sit near 58, with lows near 42. The comfortable stretch runs April through October.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 58° | 49° | 42° |
| April | 74° | 60° | 48° |
| July | 95° | 75° | 58° |
| October | 80° | 64° | 51° |
Flying in and out of Davis
Sacramento International sits about 13 miles away. It is a medium hub and boarded 6.8 million passengers in 2025, with 85 nonstop destinations.
The best schools in and around Davis
Schools across Davis average an A−, better than 88% of cities.
Top elementary schools
- Esparto ElementaryD− · 15% proficient
Top middle schools
- John Knight MiddleD · 23% proficient
- Winters MiddleD− · 15% proficient
- Esparto MiddleD− · 14% proficient
Top high schools
- Davis Senior HighA+ · 89% proficient
- Da Vinci Charter AcademyA · 68% proficient
- Dixon HighC+ · 40% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Davis school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Davis 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 Davis against the other 2,097 cities.
Who Davis suits
Common questions about living in Davis
Is Davis a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Davis ranks 759th of 2,098 cities. It scores highest on biking, an educated workforce, and transit, and lowest on a weak job market and civic engagement. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Davis expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $887,093. The overall cost of living runs about 27% above the national average. Set against a $87,142 median income, cost of living beats 11% of cities.
Is Davis safe?
Davis is safer than 20% of cities. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $447 per resident a year.
What is the weather like in Davis?
July highs average about 95 degrees, and January highs near 58 with lows near 42. That works out to about 175 pleasant days a year, more than 88% of cities.
What are the best neighborhoods in Davis?
Using the default rankings, the highest-scoring areas are Covell Park, Aspen & Woods, and Village Homes & West Davis Manor. The ranked list and the re-weightable map above let you re-sort them for your own priorities.
Compare Davis with other cities
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Davis. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Davis 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.
Davis detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Davis: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Davis: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Davis: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Davis: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Davis 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.