Best PlacesFresno, CA Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in the Fresno metro, scored on 40 measures of daily life and ranked to fit what matters to you. The averages are not the whole story, and the strongest areas score well above them. To work out which city fits you best, start with the best places to live tool.
Photo by Qymekkam, CC BY-SA 3.0, via commons
Fresno ranks 333rd of 387 U.S. metro areas on the BestNeighborhood index. It ranks low mainly on air quality and civic engagement. It does better on the weather, which keeps it off the bottom.
The best neighborhoods in the Fresno metro
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.
The best areas in Fresno
The towns and districts of the Fresno metro, ranked by the BestNeighborhood standard score across every neighborhood in each, highest scoring first. Each note says how that part differs from the rest of the metro.
Coarsegold
More adults hold degrees, local pay stretches further, and incomes run higher.
Oakhurst, Auberry & Prather
Health care is easier to reach and more residents vote.
Clovis
Crime runs lower, though homes cost more.
Mendota
More households have young kids, though biking is worse.
Selma, Reedley & Sanger
Transit reaches fewer jobs.
Madera & Chowchilla
Disaster risk is higher and prices have run up more.
Downtown Fresno
Streets are more walkable, though it is noisier.
Coalinga, Kerman & Huron
Schools score lower and health outcomes score lower.
Caruthers & Riverdale
Scores close to Coalinga, Kerman & Huron, except that the air is dirtier here.
Fresno shows why a single number is not enough. Some neighborhoods score in the bottom 1% of the country and others in the top 1%. Pick the area first, then the home.
Fresno's strengths and weaknesses
Fresno ranks near the bottom because several of the basics fall short at once. The weather, cell coverage, and biking carry most of that.
The weak spots are broad rather than narrow: air quality, civic engagement, and thin health care access all drag on the score. Those are area averages, and the map below shows which parts run well above them.
Where Fresno ranks high
- Nice weatherabout 157 pleasant days a year, better than 89% of metro areas
- Cell coverageBetter than 86% of metro areas
- BikingBetter than 85% of metro areas
- Low vacancyBetter than 84% of metro areas
- WalkabilityBetter than 84% of metro areas
Where Fresno ranks low
- Air qualityBetter than only 2% of metro areas
- Voter turnoutBetter than only 3% of metro areas
- Healthcare accessBetter than only 4% of metro areas
- Educational attainmentBetter than only 4% of metro areas
- Heat safetyBetter than only 7% of metro areas
What it costs to buy a home in Fresno
A household needs to earn about $99,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Fresno home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That runs well above the area's median income of $80,640, 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 Fresno's effective rate of 0.74%, 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 Fresno
Fresno 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 Fresno.
Who works in Fresno, and how
Work in Fresno centers on health care & social and education. Unemployment runs well above the national rate, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 85%
- Work from home 10%
- Transit, walk, or bike 5%
Life in Fresno
Fresno has fewer places to eat and drink per resident than most metro areas and less parkland per resident than most metro areas. Dining, parks, and nightlife concentrates in some parts of Fresno and thins out in others, which the map shows.
Is Fresno growing, and who is moving in?
Fresno has grown about 7% over the last decade. The largest inbound stream comes from Los Angeles, CA.
Where new residents come from
Where people leaving Fresno go
Move counts are the latest county-to-county migration flows, each county grouped into its metro.
What the weather is like in Fresno, month by month
Fresno sees roughly 157 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 102 degrees. January highs sit near 61, with lows near 40. The comfortable stretch runs March through May, October, and November.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 61° | 50° | 40° |
| April | 79° | 64° | 51° |
| July | 102° | 86° | 70° |
| October | 83° | 68° | 54° |
Flying in and out of Fresno
The nearest airport, Fresno Yosemite International, is about 4 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Norman Y Mineta San Jose International, about 125 miles away.
The best schools in and around Fresno
Schools across Fresno average a C, better than 25% of metro areas.
Top elementary schools
- Clay ElementaryA · 63% proficient
- Riverview ElementaryB+ · 51% proficient
- Pine Ridge ElementaryB · 50% proficient
Top middle schools
- Sherman Thomas Stem AcademyA+ · 70% proficient
- Glacier Point MiddleB+ · 50% proficient
- Dairyland ElementaryB+ · 48% proficient
Top high schools
- University HighA · 79% proficient
- Reedley Middle College HighA · 69% proficient
- Yosemite HighA− · 63% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Fresno school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Fresno 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 Fresno against the other 386 metro areas.
Who Fresno suits
Common questions about living in Fresno
Is Fresno a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Fresno ranks 333rd of 387 metro areas. It scores highest on the weather, cell coverage, and biking, and lowest on air quality and civic engagement. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Fresno expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $382,519. The overall cost of living runs about 5% above the national average. Set against a $80,640 median income, cost of living beats 8% of metro areas.
Is Fresno safe?
Fresno is safer than 17% of metro areas. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $469 per resident a year.
What is the weather like in Fresno?
July highs average about 102 degrees, and January highs near 61 with lows near 40. That works out to about 157 pleasant days a year, more than 89% of metro areas.
What are the best neighborhoods in Fresno?
Using the default rankings, the highest-scoring areas are Coarsegold, Oakhurst, Auberry & Prather, and Clovis. The ranked list and the re-weightable map above let you re-sort them for your own priorities.
Is Fresno good for families?
Schools beat 25% of metro areas, crime safety beats 17%, and childcare runs $1,354 a month.
Is Fresno good for remote workers?
Cost of living against local pay beats 8% of metro areas, though advertised internet speeds beat only 45% of metro areas. About 10% of workers already work from home.
Compare Fresno with other metro areas
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Fresno. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Fresno 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.
Fresno detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Fresno: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Fresno: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Fresno: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Fresno: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Fresno 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.
- U.S. Census Bureau Population Estimates Program: population growth and net migration behind the population-change section.
- 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.