Best PlacesHooker, CA Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Hooker, 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.
Hooker ranks 41,020th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. Summer heat pulls hardest against it, while it scores best on the weather.
The best neighborhoods in Hooker
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.
Hooker's strengths and weaknesses
Where Hooker ranks high
- Nice weatherabout 126 pleasant days a year, better than 83% of towns
- Low property taxBetter than 65% of towns
- Voter turnoutBetter than 60% of towns
- Short commute25.5 minutes each way, better than 60% of towns
- Household income$76,790 median, better than 59% of towns
Where Hooker ranks low
- Heat safetyBetter than only 1% of towns
- Disaster safetyBetter than only 7% of towns
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than only 8% of towns
- BikingBetter than only 8% of towns
- Internet speedBetter than only 14% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Hooker
A household needs to earn about $100,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Hooker home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That runs well above the area's median income of $76,790, 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 Hooker's effective rate of 0.60%, 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 Hooker
Hooker runs older than the country.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Hooker.
Who works in Hooker, and how
Work in Hooker centers on construction and retail trade. Unemployment runs well above the national rate, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 79%
- Work from home 18%
- Transit, walk, or bike 3%
Life in Hooker
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Hooker.
What the weather is like in Hooker, month by month
Hooker sees roughly 126 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 102 degrees. January highs sit near 60, with lows near 39. The comfortable stretch runs April, May, and October.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 60° | 48° | 39° |
| April | 77° | 62° | 47° |
| July | 102° | 85° | 66° |
| October | 84° | 66° | 51° |
Flying in and out of Hooker
The nearest airport, Redding Regional, is about 14 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Sacramento International, about 118 miles away.
The best schools in and around Hooker
Schools across Hooker average a C+, better than 44% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Evergreen ElementaryB · 46% proficient
- Bend ElementaryC · 35% proficient
- Jackson Heights ElementaryC− · 27% proficient
Top middle schools
- Evergreen MiddleB− · 39% proficient
- Vista Preparatory AcademyD · 20% proficient
Top high schools
- Red Bluff HighC− · 27% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Hooker school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Hooker 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 Hooker against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Hooker
Is Hooker a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Hooker ranks 41,020th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on the weather, low property taxes, and civic engagement, and lowest on summer heat and disaster risk. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Hooker expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $393,154. The overall cost of living runs about 0% below the national average. Set against a $76,790 median income, cost of living beats 39% of towns.
Is Hooker safe?
Hooker is safer than 34% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $412 per resident a year.
Compare Hooker with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Hooker. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Hooker 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.
Hooker detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Hooker: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Hooker: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Hooker: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Hooker: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Hooker 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.