Best PlacesFerndale, CA Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Ferndale, 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.
Ferndale ranks 32,375th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on walkability by a wide margin, and disaster risk is the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Ferndale
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.
Ferndale's strengths and weaknesses
Where Ferndale ranks high
- WalkabilityBetter than 95% of towns
- Nice weatherabout 153 pleasant days a year, better than 93% of towns
- BikingBetter than 86% of towns
- Low property taxBetter than 86% of towns
- Air qualityBetter than 86% of towns
Where Ferndale ranks low
- Disaster safetyBetter than only 4% of towns
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than only 8% of towns
- Crime safetyBetter than only 10% of towns
- Big-city accessBetter than only 10% of towns
- Cheap childcare$1,269 a month, better than only 12% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Ferndale
A household needs to earn about $144,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Ferndale home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That runs well above the area's median income of $84,090, 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 Ferndale's effective rate of 0.42%, 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 Ferndale
Ferndale 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 Ferndale.
Who works in Ferndale, and how
Work in Ferndale centers on education and health care & social. Unemployment is low, and employment has held roughly flat.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 77%
- Work from home 19%
- Transit, walk, or bike 4%
Life in Ferndale
The coast is about 12 minutes away. Distance to the water changes a lot across Ferndale, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Ferndale, month by month
Ferndale sees roughly 153 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 65 degrees. January highs sit near 55, with lows near 42. The comfortable stretch runs June through September.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 55° | 47° | 42° |
| April | 58° | 50° | 44° |
| July | 65° | 57° | 52° |
| October | 65° | 54° | 47° |
Flying in and out of Ferndale
The nearest airport, California Redwood Coast- Humboldt County, is about 29 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Sacramento International, about 192 miles away.
The best schools in and around Ferndale
Schools across Ferndale average a D+, better than 16% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Ferndale ElementaryC− · 27% proficient
- Linell K. Walker ElementaryD · 20% proficient
- Loleta ElementaryD− · 11% proficient
Top middle schools
- Monument MiddleD− · 17% proficient
- Fortuna MiddleD− · 15% proficient
Top high schools
- Fortuna Union HighD · 22% proficient
- Ferndale HighD · 19% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Ferndale school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Ferndale 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 Ferndale against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Ferndale
Is Ferndale a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Ferndale ranks 32,375th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on walkability, the weather, and biking, and lowest on disaster risk and taxes. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Ferndale expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $580,796. The overall cost of living runs about 10% above the national average. Set against a $84,090 median income, cost of living beats 46% of towns.
Is Ferndale safe?
Ferndale is safer than 10% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $605 per resident a year.
Compare Ferndale with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Ferndale. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Ferndale 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.
Ferndale detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Ferndale: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Ferndale: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Ferndale: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Ferndale: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Ferndale 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.