Best PlacesFairfield, CA Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Fairfield, 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.
Fairfield ranks 290th of 445 U.S. cities on the BestNeighborhood index. The coast is about 44 minutes away. Its strengths are few empty homes and clean air. The cost shows up in long commutes, taxes, and cell coverage.
The best neighborhoods in Fairfield
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 Fairfield
The parts of Fairfield, ranked by the BestNeighborhood standard score across every neighborhood, highest scoring first. Each note says how that part differs from the rest of the city.
Cordelia Junction
Local pay stretches further, incomes run higher, and more adults hold degrees.
Central Fairfield
Streets are more walkable, though crime runs higher.
Tolenas
Homes cost less, though health care is harder to reach.
Fairfield shows why a single number is not enough. Some neighborhoods score in the bottom 6% of the country and others in the top 8%. Pick the area first, then the home.
Fairfield's strengths and weaknesses
Fairfield lands in the middle because its strengths and weaknesses roughly balance. Few empty homes, clean air, and high incomes carry most of that.
The drawbacks are real but narrow. Long commutes, taxes, and cell coverage hold the score down. That one depends almost entirely on which part you pick, which is what the map below settles.
Where Fairfield ranks high
- Low vacancyBetter than 89% of cities
- Air qualityBetter than 88% of cities
- Household income$109,402 median, better than 80% of cities
- Nice weatherabout 162 pleasant days a year, better than 77% of cities
- Big-city accessBetter than 75% of cities
Where Fairfield ranks low
- Short commute31.2 minutes each way, better than only 13% of cities
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than only 15% of cities
- Cell coverageBetter than only 17% of cities
- Cheap childcare$1,462 a month, better than only 17% of cities
- Voter turnoutBetter than only 17% of cities
What it costs to buy a home in Fairfield
A household needs to earn about $158,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Fairfield home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That runs well above the area's median income of $109,402, 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 Fairfield's effective rate of 0.74%, and insurance is estimated at 0.4% of home value a year.
Renting versus buying
At today's prices, buying tends to cost more than renting for about the first 9 years, then pulls ahead as rent keeps rising and the mortgage builds equity. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Fairfield
Fairfield's age mix sits close to the national median, and households here run larger than average.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Fairfield.
Who works in Fairfield, and how
Work in Fairfield centers on health care & social and retail trade. Unemployment is close to the national rate, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 83%
- Work from home 12%
- Transit, walk, or bike 5%
Life in Fairfield
Fairfield has more restaurants and bars per resident than 69% of cities and more parkland per resident than 83% of cities. The coast is about 44 minutes away. Dining, parks, and nightlife concentrates in some parts of Fairfield and thins out in others, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Fairfield, month by month
Fairfield sees roughly 162 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 93 degrees. January highs sit near 61, with lows near 38. The comfortable stretch runs April through October.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 61° | 48° | 38° |
| April | 75° | 59° | 45° |
| July | 93° | 72° | 57° |
| October | 83° | 64° | 48° |
Flying in and out of Fairfield
San Francisco Bay Oakland International sits about 38 miles away. It is a medium hub and boarded 4.5 million passengers in 2025, with 64 nonstop destinations.
The best schools in and around Fairfield
Schools across Fairfield average a C, better than 31% of cities.
Top high schools
- Public Safety AcademyB+ · 55% proficient
- Angelo Rodriguez HighB+ · 51% proficient
- Armijo HighC+ · 35% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Fairfield school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Fairfield 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 Fairfield against the other 444 cities.
Who Fairfield suits
Common questions about living in Fairfield
Is Fairfield a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Fairfield ranks 290th of 445 cities. It scores highest on few empty homes, clean air, and high incomes, and lowest on long commutes and taxes. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Fairfield expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $607,976. The overall cost of living runs about 22% above the national average. Set against a $109,402 median income, cost of living beats 47% of cities.
Is Fairfield safe?
Fairfield is safer than 48% of cities. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $436 per resident a year.
What is the weather like in Fairfield?
July highs average about 93 degrees, and January highs near 61 with lows near 38. That works out to about 162 pleasant days a year, more than 77% of cities.
What are the best neighborhoods in Fairfield?
Using the default rankings, the highest-scoring areas are Cordelia Junction, Central Fairfield, and Tolenas. The ranked list and the re-weightable map above let you re-sort them for your own priorities.
Is Fairfield good for families?
Schools beat 31% of cities, crime safety beats 48%, and childcare runs $1,462 a month.
Is Fairfield good for remote workers?
Cost of living against local pay beats 47% of cities, though advertised internet speeds beat only 28% of cities. About 12% of workers already work from home.
Compare Fairfield with other cities
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Fairfield. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Fairfield 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.
Fairfield detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Fairfield: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Fairfield: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Fairfield: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Fairfield: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Fairfield 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.