Best PlacesGranite Bay, CA Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Granite Bay, 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.
Granite Bay ranks 594th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on high incomes by a wide margin, and childcare costs are the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Granite Bay
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.
Granite Bay's strengths and weaknesses
Where Granite Bay ranks high
- Household income$179,255 median, better than 99% of towns
- Educational attainmentBetter than 98% of towns
- Health outlookBetter than 96% of towns
- Cost of living vs incomeBetter than 96% of towns
- BikingBetter than 95% of towns
Where Granite Bay ranks low
- Cheap childcare$1,572 a month, better than only 2% of towns
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than only 8% of towns
- Cheap car insuranceBetter than only 15% of towns
- State fiscal healthBetter than only 19% of towns
- Air qualityBetter than only 22% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Granite Bay
A household needs to earn about $293,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Granite Bay home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That runs well above the area's median income of $179,255, 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 Granite Bay's effective rate of 0.71%, 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 Granite Bay
Granite Bay runs older 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 Granite Bay.
Who works in Granite Bay, and how
Work in Granite Bay centers on health care & social and professional & technical. Unemployment is close to the national rate, and employment has held roughly flat.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 70%
- Work from home 26%
- Transit, walk, or bike 4%
Life in Granite Bay
Granite Bay has more restaurants and bars per resident than 78% of towns. That concentrates in some parts of Granite Bay and thins out in others, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Granite Bay, month by month
Granite Bay sees roughly 152 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 97 degrees. January highs sit near 58, with lows near 41. The comfortable stretch runs April through June, September, and October.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 58° | 48° | 41° |
| April | 75° | 60° | 49° |
| July | 97° | 78° | 63° |
| October | 80° | 65° | 52° |
Flying in and out of Granite Bay
Sacramento International sits about 22 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 Granite Bay
Schools across Granite Bay average an A−, better than 89% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Oakhills ElementaryA+ · 80% proficient
- Greenhills ElementaryA · 68% proficient
- Maidu ElementaryB+ · 55% proficient
Top middle schools
- Ridgeview ElementaryA+ · 69% proficient
- Willma Cavitt Junior HighA · 67% proficient
- Excelsior ElementaryA− · 53% proficient
Top high schools
- Del Oro HighA− · 61% proficient
- Granite Bay HighB+ · 58% proficient
- Golden Sierra Junior Senior HighC− · 27% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Granite Bay school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Granite Bay 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 Granite Bay against the other 50,332 towns.
Who Granite Bay suits
Remote workers
Cost of living against local pay beats 96% of towns, internet is fast and widely advertised, and 26% already work from home.
Retirees
The weather beats 93% of towns and health care access beats 92%.
Common questions about living in Granite Bay
Is Granite Bay a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Granite Bay ranks 594th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on high incomes, an educated workforce, and population health, and lowest on childcare costs and taxes. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Granite Bay expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $1,133,161. The overall cost of living runs about 33% above the national average. Set against a $179,255 median income, cost of living beats 96% of towns.
Is Granite Bay safe?
Yes, Granite Bay is safer than 68% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $261 per resident a year.
What is the weather like in Granite Bay?
July highs average about 97 degrees, and January highs near 58 with lows near 41. That works out to about 152 pleasant days a year, more than 93% of towns.
Is Granite Bay good for families?
Schools beat 89% of towns, crime safety beats 68%, and childcare runs $1,572 a month.
Compare Granite Bay with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Granite Bay. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Granite Bay 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.
Granite Bay detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Granite Bay: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Granite Bay: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Granite Bay: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Granite Bay: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Granite Bay 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.