Best PlacesGarey, CA Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Garey, scored on 40 measures of daily life and ranked to fit what matters to you. Local pay runs high here, and housing takes the biggest bite out of it. To work out which city fits you best, start with the best places to live tool.
Garey ranks 3,540th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on the weather by a wide margin, and civic engagement ranks lowest.
The best neighborhoods in Garey
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.
Garey's strengths and weaknesses
Where Garey ranks high
- Nice weatherabout 207 pleasant days a year, better than 99% of towns
- Low vacancyBetter than 98% of towns
- Local economyBetter than 97% of towns
- Air qualityBetter than 96% of towns
- Household income$126,890 median, better than 94% of towns
Where Garey ranks low
- Voter turnoutBetter than only 1% of towns
- Cheap childcare$1,613 a month, better than only 2% of towns
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than only 8% of towns
- Internet speedBetter than only 9% of towns
- Tree shadeBetter than only 9% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Garey
A household needs to earn about $215,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Garey home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That runs well above the area's median income of $126,890, 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 Garey'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 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 Garey
Garey 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 Garey.
Who works in Garey, and how
Work in Garey centers on agriculture & forestry and retail trade. Unemployment is low, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 77%
- Work from home 20%
- Transit, walk, or bike 3%
Life in Garey
The coast is about 33 minutes away. Distance to the water changes a lot across Garey, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Garey, month by month
Garey sees roughly 207 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 75 degrees. January highs sit near 66, with lows near 40. The comfortable stretch runs April through November.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 66° | 52° | 40° |
| April | 70° | 56° | 45° |
| July | 75° | 62° | 54° |
| October | 79° | 61° | 49° |
Flying in and out of Garey
The nearest airport, Santa Maria Public/Capt G Allan Hancock Field, is about 8 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Bob Hope, about 121 miles away.
Garey 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 Garey against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Garey
Is Garey a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Garey ranks 3,540th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on the weather, few empty homes, and a strong job market, and lowest on civic engagement and childcare costs. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Garey expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $829,600. The overall cost of living runs about 13% above the national average. Set against a $126,890 median income, cost of living beats 91% of towns.
Is Garey safe?
Garey is safer than 44% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $323 per resident a year.
Compare Garey with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Garey. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Garey 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.
Garey detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Garey: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Garey: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Garey: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Garey: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Garey 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.