Best PlacesDeath Valley, CA Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Death Valley, 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.
Death Valley ranks 36,177th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on short commutes by a wide margin, and summer heat is the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Death Valley
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.
Death Valley's strengths and weaknesses
Where Death Valley ranks high
- Short commute7.9 minutes each way, better than 99% of towns
- Nice weatherabout 199 pleasant days a year, better than 99% of towns
- QuietBetter than 97% of towns
- Educational attainmentBetter than 94% of towns
- BikingBetter than 93% of towns
Where Death Valley ranks low
- Heat safetyBetter than only 1% of towns
- Voter turnoutBetter than only 1% of towns
- Air qualityBetter than only 1% of towns
- Tree shadeBetter than only 2% of towns
- Internet speedBetter than only 5% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Death Valley
A household needs to earn about $29,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Death Valley home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $67,188, so a typical household can afford the median home outright.
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 Death Valley's effective rate of 0.75%, and insurance is estimated at 0.4% of home value a year.
Renting versus buying
At today's prices, buying tends to cost more than renting for about the first 3 years, then pulls ahead as rent keeps rising and the mortgage builds equity. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Death Valley
Death Valley 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 Death Valley.
Who works in Death Valley, and how
Work in Death Valley centers on public administration and hospitality & food. Unemployment is low, and the job base is shrinking.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 68%
- Work from home 17%
- Transit, walk, or bike 16%
Life in Death Valley
Death Valley has more restaurants and bars per resident than 99% of towns. That concentrates in some parts of Death Valley and thins out in others, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Death Valley, month by month
Death Valley sees roughly 199 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 117 degrees. January highs sit near 66, with lows near 44. The comfortable stretch runs November through March.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 66° | 55° | 44° |
| April | 91° | 79° | 66° |
| July | 117° | 104° | 90° |
| October | 91° | 78° | 65° |
Flying in and out of Death Valley
Harry Reid International sits about 99 miles away. It is a large hub and boarded 26.5 million passengers in 2025, with 204 nonstop destinations.
The best schools in and around Death Valley
Schools across Death Valley average a D+, better than 17% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Lo-inyo ElementaryC · 30% proficient
- Bishop ElementaryC− · 30% proficient
- Beatty Elementary SchoolC− · 29% proficient
Top middle schools
- Amargosa Valley Middle SchoolC · 32% proficient
- Beatty Middle SchoolC− · 29% proficient
- Rosemary Clarke Middle SchoolC− · 28% proficient
Top high schools
- Bishop Union HighC+ · 40% proficient
- Pahrump Valley High SchoolC− · 25% proficient
- Big Pine HighD+ · 25% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Death Valley school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Death Valley 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 Death Valley against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Death Valley
Is Death Valley a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Death Valley ranks 36,177th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on short commutes, the weather, and quiet, and lowest on summer heat and civic engagement. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Death Valley expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $109,900. The overall cost of living runs about 8% above the national average. Set against a $67,188 median income, cost of living beats 21% of towns.
Is Death Valley safe?
Death Valley is safer than 13% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $533 per resident a year.
Compare Death Valley with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Death Valley. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Death Valley 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.
Death Valley detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Death Valley: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Death Valley: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Death Valley: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Death Valley: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Death Valley 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.