Best PlacesFort Bragg, CA Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Fort Bragg, 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.
Fort Bragg ranks 41,814th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on walkability by a wide margin, and summer heat is the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Fort Bragg
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 Bragg's strengths and weaknesses
Where Fort Bragg ranks high
- WalkabilityBetter than 98% of towns
- BikingBetter than 97% of towns
- TransitBetter than 95% of towns
- Short commute17.3 minutes each way, better than 94% of towns
- Nice weatherabout 122 pleasant days a year, better than 81% of towns
Where Fort Bragg ranks low
- Heat safetyBetter than only 1% of towns
- Cost of living vs incomeBetter than only 7% of towns
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than only 8% of towns
- Crime safetyBetter than only 8% of towns
- Disaster safetyBetter than only 9% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Fort Bragg
A household needs to earn about $142,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Fort Bragg home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That runs well above the area's median income of $62,709, 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 Bragg'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 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 Bragg
Fort Bragg 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 Bragg.
Who works in Fort Bragg, and how
Work in Fort Bragg centers on health care & social and retail trade. Unemployment is close to the national rate, and the job base is shrinking.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 83%
- Work from home 10%
- Transit, walk, or bike 7%
Life in Fort Bragg
Fort Bragg has more restaurants and bars per resident than 88% of towns. The coast is about 2 minutes away. That concentrates in some parts of Fort Bragg and thins out in others, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Fort Bragg, month by month
Fort Bragg sees roughly 122 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 98 degrees. January highs sit near 60, with lows near 38. The comfortable stretch runs April through June and August through October.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 60° | 47° | 38° |
| April | 74° | 57° | 42° |
| July | 98° | 76° | 56° |
| October | 82° | 61° | 45° |
Flying in and out of Fort Bragg
The nearest airport, Charles M Schulz/Sonoma County, is about 83 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Sacramento International, about 129 miles away.
The best schools in and around Fort Bragg
Schools across Fort Bragg average a C−, better than 26% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Dana Gray ElementaryB · 50% proficient
- Mendocino K-8C · 35% proficient
- Three Rivers CharterC · 35% proficient
Top middle schools
- Baechtel Grove MiddleF · 8% proficient
Top high schools
- Mendocino HighB · 50% proficient
- Willits HighC+ · 35% proficient
- Fort Bragg HighC · 33% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Fort Bragg school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Fort Bragg 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 Bragg against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Fort Bragg
Is Fort Bragg a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Fort Bragg ranks 41,814th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on walkability, biking, and transit, and lowest on summer heat and the cost of living against local pay. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Fort Bragg expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $555,563. The overall cost of living runs about 20% above the national average. Set against a $62,709 median income, cost of living beats 7% of towns.
Is Fort Bragg safe?
Fort Bragg is safer than 8% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $656 per resident a year.
Compare Fort Bragg with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Fort Bragg. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Fort Bragg 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 Bragg detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Fort Bragg: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Fort Bragg: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Fort Bragg: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Fort Bragg: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Fort Bragg 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.