Best PlacesDunnigan, CA Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Dunnigan, 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.
Dunnigan ranks 41,638th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on cell coverage by a wide margin, and childcare costs are the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Dunnigan
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.
Dunnigan's strengths and weaknesses
Where Dunnigan ranks high
- Cell coverageBetter than 96% of towns
- Big-city accessBetter than 91% of towns
- Nice weatherabout 137 pleasant days a year, better than 88% of towns
- Low vacancyBetter than 76% of towns
- Health outlookBetter than 75% of towns
Where Dunnigan ranks low
- Cheap childcare$1,520 a month, better than only 2% of towns
- Voter turnoutBetter than only 3% of towns
- Heat safetyBetter than only 6% of towns
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than only 8% of towns
- Local economyBetter than only 8% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Dunnigan
A household needs to earn about $173,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Dunnigan home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That runs well above the area's median income of $76,302, 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 Dunnigan's effective rate of 0.68%, 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 Dunnigan
Dunnigan 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 Dunnigan.
Who works in Dunnigan, and how
Work in Dunnigan centers on manufacturing and agriculture & forestry. Unemployment runs well above the national rate, and employment has held roughly flat.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 66%
- Work from home 5%
- Transit, walk, or bike 28%
Life in Dunnigan
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Dunnigan.
What the weather is like in Dunnigan, month by month
Dunnigan sees roughly 137 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 97 degrees. January highs sit near 59, with lows near 39. The comfortable stretch runs April through June, September, and October.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 59° | 49° | 39° |
| April | 76° | 61° | 46° |
| July | 97° | 77° | 60° |
| October | 82° | 65° | 48° |
Flying in and out of Dunnigan
Sacramento International sits about 25 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 Dunnigan
Schools across Dunnigan average a C−, better than 35% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Esparto ElementaryD− · 15% proficient
Top middle schools
- Esparto MiddleD− · 14% proficient
Top high schools
- Woodland Senior HighC+ · 40% proficient
- Esparto HighD− · 16% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Dunnigan school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Dunnigan 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 Dunnigan against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Dunnigan
Is Dunnigan a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Dunnigan ranks 41,638th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on cell coverage, big-city access, and the weather, and lowest on childcare costs and civic engagement. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Dunnigan expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $671,374. The overall cost of living runs about 17% above the national average. Set against a $76,302 median income, cost of living beats 22% of towns.
Is Dunnigan safe?
Dunnigan is safer than 9% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $597 per resident a year.
Compare Dunnigan with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Dunnigan. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Dunnigan 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.
Dunnigan detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Dunnigan: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Dunnigan: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Dunnigan: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Dunnigan: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Dunnigan 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.