Best PlacesEureka, CA Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Eureka, scored on 40 measures of daily life and ranked to fit what matters to you. Distance to the water drives a lot of the difference between one part and the next. To work out which city fits you best, start with the best places to live tool.
Eureka ranks 1,883rd of 2,098 U.S. cities on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on short commutes by a wide margin, and distance from a big city ranks lowest.
The best neighborhoods in Eureka
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 Eureka
The parts of Eureka, ranked by the BestNeighborhood standard score across every neighborhood, highest scoring first.
Cutten
South Bay & Highland Park
The West Side
Old Town
Scores across Eureka run from about the 4th to the 81st percentile nationally. The map is where that becomes a choice of area.
Eureka's strengths and weaknesses
Where Eureka ranks high
- Short commute16.1 minutes each way, better than 98% of cities
- Air qualityBetter than 91% of cities
- WalkabilityBetter than 89% of cities
- Low property taxBetter than 88% of cities
- QuietBetter than 81% of cities
Where Eureka ranks low
- Big-city accessBetter than only 1% of cities
- Disaster safetyBetter than only 2% of cities
- Crime safetyBetter than only 3% of cities
- Internet speedBetter than only 8% of cities
- Cost of living vs incomeBetter than only 10% of cities
What it costs to buy a home in Eureka
A household needs to earn about $107,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Eureka home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That runs well above the area's median income of $68,837, 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 Eureka's effective rate of 0.57%, 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 Eureka
Eureka's age mix sits close to the national median.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Eureka.
Who works in Eureka, and how
Work in Eureka centers on health care & social and retail trade. Unemployment is close to the national rate, and employment has held roughly flat.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 79%
- Work from home 12%
- Transit, walk, or bike 9%
Life in Eureka
Eureka has more restaurants and bars per resident than 83% of cities and more parkland per resident than 84% of cities. The coast is about 7 minutes away. Dining, parks, and nightlife concentrates in some parts of Eureka and thins out in others, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Eureka, month by month
Eureka sees roughly 127 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 64 degrees. January highs sit near 57, with lows near 40. The comfortable stretch runs June through September.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 57° | 49° | 40° |
| April | 58° | 50° | 42° |
| July | 64° | 57° | 52° |
| October | 64° | 54° | 44° |
Flying in and out of Eureka
The nearest airport, California Redwood Coast- Humboldt County, is about 14 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Sacramento International, about 198 miles away.
The best schools in and around Eureka
Schools across Eureka average a C−, better than 14% of cities.
Top elementary schools
- Jacoby CreekA · 62% proficient
- Garfield ElementaryA− · 60% proficient
- Freshwater ElementaryB− · 40% proficient
Top middle schools
- Catherine L. Zane MiddleD · 24% proficient
- Winship MiddleD · 23% proficient
- South Bay ElementaryD− · 17% proficient
Top high schools
- Arcata HighB+ · 58% proficient
- Academy Of The RedwoodsB+ · 55% proficient
- Eureka Senior HighC+ · 35% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Eureka school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Eureka 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 Eureka against the other 2,097 cities.
Who Eureka suits
Common questions about living in Eureka
Is Eureka a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Eureka ranks 1,883rd of 2,098 cities. It scores highest on short commutes, clean air, and walkability, and lowest on distance from a big city and disaster risk. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Eureka expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $423,613. The overall cost of living runs about 4% above the national average. Set against a $68,837 median income, cost of living beats 10% of cities.
Is Eureka safe?
Eureka is safer than 3% of cities. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $702 per resident a year.
What is the weather like in Eureka?
July highs average about 64 degrees, and January highs near 57 with lows near 40. That works out to about 127 pleasant days a year, more than 73% of cities.
What are the best neighborhoods in Eureka?
Using the default rankings, the highest-scoring areas are Cutten, South Bay & Highland Park, and The West Side. The ranked list and the re-weightable map above let you re-sort them for your own priorities.
Compare Eureka with other cities
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Eureka. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Eureka 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.
Eureka detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Eureka: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Eureka: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Eureka: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Eureka: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Eureka 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.