Best PlacesFort Bidwell, CA Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Fort Bidwell, 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.
Fort Bidwell ranks 41,094th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on quiet by a wide margin, and internet speeds rank lowest.
The best neighborhoods in Fort Bidwell
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.
Fort Bidwell's strengths and weaknesses
Where Fort Bidwell ranks high
- QuietBetter than 94% of towns
- Air qualityBetter than 89% of towns
- Healthcare accessBetter than 79% of towns
- Crime safetyBetter than 75% of towns
- Local economyBetter than 71% of towns
Where Fort Bidwell ranks low
- Internet speedBetter than only 1% of towns
- Big-city accessBetter than only 3% of towns
- Cell coverageBetter than only 7% of towns
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than only 8% of towns
- Low vacancyBetter than only 10% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Fort Bidwell
A household needs to earn about $64,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Fort Bidwell home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That runs well above the area's median income of $52,595, 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 Fort Bidwell's effective rate of 0.73%, 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 Fort Bidwell
Fort Bidwell 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 Fort Bidwell.
Who works in Fort Bidwell, and how
Work in Fort Bidwell centers on agriculture & forestry and retail trade. Unemployment is low, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 63%
- Work from home 33%
- Transit, walk, or bike 5%
Life in Fort Bidwell
Fort Bidwell has more restaurants and bars per resident than 99% of towns. That concentrates in some parts of Fort Bidwell and thins out in others, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Fort Bidwell, month by month
Fort Bidwell sees roughly 88 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 90 degrees. January highs sit near 41, with lows near 19. The comfortable stretch runs June through September.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 41° | 29° | 19° |
| April | 60° | 44° | 29° |
| July | 90° | 70° | 46° |
| October | 66° | 45° | 27° |
Flying in and out of Fort Bidwell
The nearest airport, Rogue Valley International/Medford, is about 144 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Sacramento International, about 231 miles away.
The best schools in and around Fort Bidwell
Schools across Fort Bidwell average a C+, better than 47% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Surprise Valley ElementaryC · 35% proficient
Top middle schools
- Modoc MiddleD · 20% proficient
Top high schools
- Surprise Valley HighB− · 42% proficient
- Modoc HighD− · 17% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Fort Bidwell school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Fort Bidwell 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 Fort Bidwell against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Fort Bidwell
Is Fort Bidwell a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Fort Bidwell ranks 41,094th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on quiet, clean air, and health care access, and lowest on internet speeds and distance from a big city. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Fort Bidwell expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $246,535. The overall cost of living runs about 9% below the national average. Set against a $52,595 median income, cost of living beats 12% of towns.
Is Fort Bidwell safe?
Yes, Fort Bidwell is safer than 75% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $251 per resident a year.
Compare Fort Bidwell with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Fort Bidwell. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Fort Bidwell 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.
Fort Bidwell detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Fort Bidwell: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Fort Bidwell: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Fort Bidwell: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Fort Bidwell: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Fort Bidwell 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.