Best PlacesFairmead, CA Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Fairmead, 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.
Fairmead ranks 47,926th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on the weather by a wide margin, and education levels rank lowest.
The best neighborhoods in Fairmead
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.
Fairmead's strengths and weaknesses
Where Fairmead ranks high
- Nice weatherabout 143 pleasant days a year, better than 90% of towns
- Cell coverageBetter than 88% of towns
- Big-city accessBetter than 86% of towns
- Short commute23.5 minutes each way, better than 72% of towns
- Low property taxBetter than 54% of towns
Where Fairmead ranks low
- Educational attainmentBetter than only 1% of towns
- Voter turnoutBetter than only 2% of towns
- Healthcare accessBetter than only 2% of towns
- Disaster safetyBetter than only 6% of towns
- Heat safetyBetter than only 6% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Fairmead
A household needs to earn about $116,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Fairmead home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That runs well above the area's median income of $61,202, 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 Fairmead's effective rate of 0.71%, 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 Fairmead
Fairmead runs younger than the country, 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 Fairmead.
Who works in Fairmead, and how
Work in Fairmead centers on agriculture & forestry and construction. Unemployment is close to the national rate, and employment has held roughly flat.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 88%
- Work from home 5%
- Transit, walk, or bike 8%
Life in Fairmead
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Fairmead.
What the weather is like in Fairmead, month by month
Fairmead sees roughly 143 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 101 degrees. January highs sit near 62, with lows near 38. The comfortable stretch runs March through May, September, and October.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 62° | 49° | 38° |
| April | 78° | 61° | 45° |
| July | 101° | 81° | 62° |
| October | 84° | 65° | 48° |
Flying in and out of Fairmead
The nearest airport, Merced Yosemite Regional, is about 23 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Norman Y Mineta San Jose International, about 97 miles away.
The best schools in and around Fairmead
Schools across Fairmead average a C−, better than 31% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Alview ElementaryC− · 30% proficient
Top middle schools
- Dairyland ElementaryB+ · 48% proficient
Top high schools
- Chowchilla Union HighC− · 28% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Fairmead school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Fairmead 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 Fairmead against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Fairmead
Is Fairmead a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Fairmead ranks 47,926th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on the weather, cell coverage, and big-city access, and lowest on education levels and civic engagement. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Fairmead expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $449,871. The overall cost of living runs about 5% above the national average. Set against a $61,202 median income, cost of living beats 8% of towns.
Is Fairmead safe?
Fairmead is safer than 19% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $507 per resident a year.
Compare Fairmead with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Fairmead. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Fairmead 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.
Fairmead detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Fairmead: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Fairmead: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Fairmead: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Fairmead: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Fairmead 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.