Best PlacesEl Macero, CA Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around El Macero, scored on 40 measures of daily life and ranked to fit what matters to you. This page is for people who live here or already know they want to. To work out which city fits you best, start with the best places to live tool.
El Macero ranks 409th of 2,098 U.S. cities on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on biking by a wide margin, and childcare costs are the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in El Macero
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 El Macero
The parts of El Macero, ranked by the BestNeighborhood standard score across every neighborhood, highest scoring first.
Wildhorse & Slide Hill Park
Willowcreek, Rose Creek & Richmond American Homes
El Macero Estates & Mace Ranch
Rancho Yolo
Interland-University Research Park
Scores across El Macero run from about the 18th to the 99th percentile nationally. The map is where that becomes a choice of area.
El Macero's strengths and weaknesses
Where El Macero ranks high
- BikingBetter than 99% of cities
- Educational attainmentBetter than 97% of cities
- Health outlookBetter than 93% of cities
- TransitBetter than 90% of cities
- Nice weatherabout 174 pleasant days a year, better than 87% of cities
Where El Macero ranks low
- Cheap childcare$1,549 a month, better than only 12% of cities
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than only 14% of cities
- QuietBetter than only 16% of cities
- Tree shadeBetter than only 20% of cities
- Internet speedBetter than only 22% of cities
What it costs to buy a home in El Macero
A household needs to earn about $227,000 a year to comfortably buy the median El Macero home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That runs well above the area's median income of $130,826, 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 El Macero's effective rate of 0.86%, 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 El Macero
El Macero runs younger than the country.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for El Macero.
Who works in El Macero, and how
Work in El Macero 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 60%
- Work from home 26%
- Transit, walk, or bike 14%
Life in El Macero
El Macero has more parkland per resident than 93% of cities. That concentrates in some parts of El Macero and thins out in others, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in El Macero, month by month
El Macero sees roughly 174 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 El Macero
Sacramento International sits about 12 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 El Macero
Schools across El Macero average an A−, better than 83% of cities.
Top middle schools
- John Knight MiddleD · 23% proficient
Top high schools
- Davis Senior HighA+ · 89% proficient
- Dixon HighC+ · 40% proficient
- Woodland Senior HighC+ · 40% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every El Macero school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
El Macero 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 El Macero against the other 2,097 cities.
Who El Macero suits
Common questions about living in El Macero
Is El Macero a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, El Macero ranks 409th of 2,098 cities. It scores highest on biking, an educated workforce, and population health, and lowest on childcare costs and taxes. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is El Macero expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $861,234. The overall cost of living runs about 30% above the national average. Set against a $130,826 median income, cost of living beats 60% of cities.
Is El Macero safe?
El Macero is safer than 31% of cities. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $390 per resident a year.
What is the weather like in El Macero?
July highs average about 95 degrees, and January highs near 58 with lows near 42. That works out to about 174 pleasant days a year, more than 87% of cities.
What are the best neighborhoods in El Macero?
Using the default rankings, the highest-scoring areas are Wildhorse & Slide Hill Park, Willowcreek, Rose Creek & Richmond American Homes, and El Macero Estates & Mace Ranch. The ranked list and the re-weightable map above let you re-sort them for your own priorities.
Compare El Macero with other cities
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to El Macero. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in El Macero 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.
El Macero detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for El Macero: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in El Macero: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of El Macero: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in El Macero: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
El Macero 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.