Best PlacesHinkley, CA Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Hinkley, scored on 40 measures of daily life and ranked to fit what matters to you. Several measures below read low, and the ranked lists name which ones. To work out which city fits you best, start with the best places to live tool.
Hinkley ranks 49,494th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on the weather by a wide margin, and air quality ranks lowest.
The best neighborhoods in Hinkley
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.
Hinkley's strengths and weaknesses
Where Hinkley ranks high
- Nice weatherabout 178 pleasant days a year, better than 98% of towns
- Big-city accessBetter than 91% of towns
- TransitBetter than 90% of towns
- Cell coverageBetter than 80% of towns
- BikingBetter than 76% of towns
Where Hinkley ranks low
- Air qualityBetter than only 1% of towns
- Crime safetyBetter than only 2% of towns
- Tree shadeBetter than only 2% of towns
- Short commute43.3 minutes each way, better than only 3% of towns
- Local economyBetter than only 3% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Hinkley
A household needs to earn about $56,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Hinkley home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $62,990, so a typical household can afford the median home outright.
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 Hinkley's effective rate of 0.67%, 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 5 years, then pulls ahead as rent keeps rising and the mortgage builds equity. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Hinkley
Hinkley 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 Hinkley.
Who works in Hinkley, and how
Work in Hinkley centers on retail trade and manufacturing. Unemployment runs well above the national rate, and the job base is shrinking.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 69%
- Work from home 24%
- Transit, walk, or bike 8%
Life in Hinkley
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Hinkley.
What the weather is like in Hinkley, month by month
Hinkley sees roughly 178 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 108 degrees. January highs sit near 63, with lows near 36. The comfortable stretch runs March through May, October, and November.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 63° | 48° | 36° |
| April | 84° | 67° | 51° |
| July | 108° | 92° | 75° |
| October | 87° | 69° | 54° |
Flying in and out of Hinkley
The nearest airport, San Bernardino International, is about 58 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Ontario International, about 65 miles away.
The best schools in and around Hinkley
Schools across Hinkley average a D, better than 4% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Skyline North ElementaryF · 10% proficient
- Lenwood ElementaryF · 8% proficient
Top middle schools
- Barstow Stem AcademyC+ · 36% proficient
- Barstow Junior HighF · 7% proficient
Top high schools
- Barstow HighC− · 28% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Hinkley school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Hinkley 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 Hinkley against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Hinkley
Is Hinkley a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Hinkley ranks 49,494th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on the weather, big-city access, and transit, and lowest on air quality and crime. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Hinkley expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $216,749. The overall cost of living runs about 0% below the national average. Set against a $62,990 median income, cost of living beats 13% of towns.
Is Hinkley safe?
Hinkley is safer than 2% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $943 per resident a year.
Compare Hinkley with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Hinkley. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Hinkley 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.
Hinkley detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Hinkley: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Hinkley: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Hinkley: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Hinkley: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Hinkley 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.