Best PlacesDorrington, CA Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Dorrington, 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.
Dorrington ranks 23,085th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on an educated workforce by a wide margin, and crime is the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Dorrington
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.
Dorrington's strengths and weaknesses
Where Dorrington ranks high
- Educational attainmentBetter than 95% of towns
- Cost of living vs incomeBetter than 95% of towns
- Healthcare accessBetter than 94% of towns
- Household income$119,803 median, better than 93% of towns
- Short commute20.4 minutes each way, better than 86% of towns
Where Dorrington ranks low
- Crime safetyBetter than only 6% of towns
- Heat safetyBetter than only 6% of towns
- Disaster safetyBetter than only 6% of towns
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than only 8% of towns
- Low vacancyBetter than only 10% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Dorrington
A household needs to earn about $131,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Dorrington home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is only a little above the area's median income of $119,803; 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 Dorrington's effective rate of 0.46%, and insurance is estimated at 0.4% of home value a year.
Who lives in Dorrington
Dorrington 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 Dorrington.
Who works in Dorrington, and how
Work in Dorrington centers on professional & technical and arts & entertainment. Unemployment is low, and the job base is shrinking.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 56%
- Work from home 37%
- Transit, walk, or bike 7%
Life in Dorrington
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Dorrington.
What the weather is like in Dorrington, month by month
Dorrington sees roughly 66 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 97 degrees. January highs sit near 57, with lows near 36. The comfortable stretch runs April through June, September, and October.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 57° | 45° | 36° |
| April | 70° | 56° | 43° |
| July | 97° | 79° | 61° |
| October | 79° | 61° | 48° |
Flying in and out of Dorrington
The nearest airport, Stockton Metro, is about 58 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Sacramento International, about 76 miles away.
The best schools in and around Dorrington
Schools across Dorrington average a B−, better than 56% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Hazel Fischer ElementaryC+ · 37% proficient
- Twain HarteC · 33% proficient
Top middle schools
- Avery MiddleC · 35% proficient
Top high schools
- Sonora HighC+ · 40% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Dorrington school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Dorrington 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 Dorrington against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Dorrington
Is Dorrington a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Dorrington ranks 23,085th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on an educated workforce, what local pay buys, and health care access, and lowest on crime and summer heat. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Dorrington expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $524,197. The overall cost of living runs about 3% above the national average. Set against a $119,803 median income, cost of living beats 95% of towns.
Is Dorrington safe?
Dorrington is safer than 6% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $708 per resident a year.
Compare Dorrington with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Dorrington. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Dorrington 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.
Dorrington detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Dorrington: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Dorrington: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Dorrington: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Dorrington: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Dorrington 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.