Best PlacesElk, CA Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Elk, scored on 40 measures of daily life and ranked to fit what matters to you. The coast is close, and the measures below put a number on how close. To work out which city fits you best, start with the best places to live tool.
Elk ranks 46,865th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on transit by a wide margin, and summer heat is the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Elk
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.
Elk's strengths and weaknesses
Where Elk ranks high
- TransitBetter than 92% of towns
- QuietBetter than 84% of towns
- Tree shadeBetter than 84% of towns
- Nice weatherabout 124 pleasant days a year, better than 82% of towns
- Educational attainmentBetter than 78% of towns
Where Elk ranks low
- Heat safetyBetter than only 2% of towns
- Cost of living vs incomeBetter than only 3% of towns
- Crime safetyBetter than only 5% of towns
- Cell coverageBetter than only 6% of towns
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than only 8% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Elk
A household needs to earn about $187,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Elk home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That runs well above the area's median income of $60,350, 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 Elk's effective rate of 0.61%, 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 Elk
Elk 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 Elk.
Who works in Elk, and how
Work in Elk centers on agriculture & forestry and health care & social. Unemployment sits above the national rate, and the job base is shrinking.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 72%
- Work from home 16%
- Transit, walk, or bike 12%
Life in Elk
The coast is about 6 minutes away. Distance to the water changes a lot across Elk, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Elk, month by month
Elk sees roughly 124 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 98 degrees. January highs sit near 60, with lows near 38. The comfortable stretch runs April through June and August through October.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 60° | 47° | 38° |
| April | 74° | 57° | 42° |
| July | 98° | 76° | 56° |
| October | 82° | 61° | 45° |
Flying in and out of Elk
The nearest airport, Charles M Schulz/Sonoma County, is about 66 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Sacramento International, about 117 miles away.
The best schools in and around Elk
Schools across Elk average a C+, better than 43% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Mendocino K-8C · 35% proficient
- Manchester ElementaryD+ · 25% proficient
Top high schools
- Mendocino HighB · 50% proficient
- Fort Bragg HighC · 33% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Elk school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Elk 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 Elk against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Elk
Is Elk a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Elk ranks 46,865th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on transit, quiet, and tree cover, and lowest on summer heat and the cost of living against local pay. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Elk expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $735,181. The overall cost of living runs about 38% above the national average. Set against a $60,350 median income, cost of living beats 3% of towns.
Is Elk safe?
Elk is safer than 5% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $748 per resident a year.
Compare Elk with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Elk. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Elk 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.
Elk detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Elk: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Elk: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Elk: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Elk: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Elk 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.