Best PlacesGold River, CA Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Gold River, 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.
Gold River ranks 2,558th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on biking by a wide margin, and noise is the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Gold River
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.
Gold River's strengths and weaknesses
Where Gold River ranks high
- BikingBetter than 99% of towns
- Household income$163,224 median, better than 98% of towns
- Educational attainmentBetter than 98% of towns
- Cost of living vs incomeBetter than 98% of towns
- Health outlookBetter than 96% of towns
Where Gold River ranks low
- QuietBetter than only 2% of towns
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than only 8% of towns
- Cheap childcare$1,332 a month, better than only 8% of towns
- Heat safetyBetter than only 10% of towns
- Cheap car insuranceBetter than only 14% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Gold River
A household needs to earn about $192,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Gold River home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That runs well above the area's median income of $163,224, 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 Gold River's effective rate of 0.89%, 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 Gold River
Gold River 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 Gold River.
Who works in Gold River, and how
Work in Gold River centers on public administration and professional & technical. Unemployment is low, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 54%
- Work from home 37%
- Transit, walk, or bike 9%
Life in Gold River
Gold River has more restaurants and bars per resident than 91% of towns. That concentrates in some parts of Gold River and thins out in others, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Gold River, month by month
Gold River sees roughly 147 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 96 degrees. January highs sit near 58, 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 | 58° | 48° | 40° |
| April | 74° | 60° | 47° |
| July | 96° | 77° | 60° |
| October | 80° | 64° | 50° |
Flying in and out of Gold River
Sacramento International sits about 19 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 Gold River
Schools across Gold River average a C+, better than 47% of towns.
Top middle schools
- Andrew Carnegie MiddleD+ · 25% proficient
- John Barrett MiddleD+ · 25% proficient
Top high schools
- Rio Americano HighB+ · 52% proficient
- El Camino Fundamental HighB− · 45% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Gold River school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Gold River 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 Gold River against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Gold River
Is Gold River a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Gold River ranks 2,558th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on biking, high incomes, and an educated workforce, and lowest on noise and taxes. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Gold River expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $725,585. The overall cost of living runs about 15% above the national average. Set against a $163,224 median income, cost of living beats 98% of towns.
Is Gold River safe?
Gold River is safer than 19% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $463 per resident a year.
Compare Gold River with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Gold River. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Gold River 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.
Gold River detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Gold River: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Gold River: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Gold River: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Gold River: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Gold River 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.