Best PlacesForesthill, CA Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Foresthill, scored on 40 measures of daily life and ranked to fit what matters to you. This page is for people who live here or already know they want to. To work out which city fits you best, start with the best places to live tool.
Foresthill ranks 16,029th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on few empty homes by a wide margin, and childcare costs are the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Foresthill
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.
Foresthill's strengths and weaknesses
Where Foresthill ranks high
- Low vacancyBetter than 90% of towns
- Household income$108,704 median, better than 89% of towns
- Nice weatherabout 134 pleasant days a year, better than 87% of towns
- Big-city accessBetter than 86% of towns
- Tree shadeBetter than 77% of towns
Where Foresthill ranks low
- Cheap childcare$1,572 a month, better than only 2% of towns
- Short commute39.8 minutes each way, better than only 6% of towns
- Air qualityBetter than only 7% of towns
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than only 8% of towns
- Disaster safetyBetter than only 17% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Foresthill
A household needs to earn about $140,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Foresthill home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That runs well above the area's median income of $108,704, 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 Foresthill's effective rate of 0.66%, 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 Foresthill
Foresthill runs older than the country.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Foresthill.
Who works in Foresthill, and how
Work in Foresthill centers on other services and finance & insurance. Unemployment is close to the national rate, and employment has held roughly flat.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 85%
- Work from home 12%
- Transit, walk, or bike 3%
Life in Foresthill
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Foresthill.
What the weather is like in Foresthill, month by month
Foresthill sees roughly 134 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 94 degrees. January highs sit near 56, with lows near 40. The comfortable stretch runs April through June, September, and October.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 56° | 47° | 40° |
| April | 69° | 57° | 48° |
| July | 94° | 81° | 67° |
| October | 76° | 64° | 53° |
Flying in and out of Foresthill
Sacramento International sits about 44 miles away. It is a medium hub and boarded 6.8 million passengers in 2025, with 85 nonstop destinations.
The best schools in and around Foresthill
Schools across Foresthill average a C+, better than 51% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Foresthill DivideC · 35% proficient
- Colfax ElementaryC− · 27% proficient
Top high schools
- Colfax HighB · 48% proficient
- Foresthill HighB · 47% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Foresthill school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Foresthill 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 Foresthill against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Foresthill
Is Foresthill a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Foresthill ranks 16,029th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on few empty homes, high incomes, and the weather, and lowest on childcare costs and long commutes. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Foresthill expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $546,809. The overall cost of living runs about 16% above the national average. Set against a $108,704 median income, cost of living beats 67% of towns.
Is Foresthill safe?
Yes, Foresthill is safer than 71% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $320 per resident a year.
Compare Foresthill with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Foresthill. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Foresthill 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.
Foresthill detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Foresthill: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Foresthill: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Foresthill: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Foresthill: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Foresthill 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.