Best PlacesIone, CA Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Ione, scored on 40 measures of daily life and ranked to fit what matters to you. This page is for people who live here or already know they want to. To work out which city fits you best, start with the best places to live tool.
Ione ranks 16,155th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on few empty homes by a wide margin, and taxes are the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Ione
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.
Ione's strengths and weaknesses
Where Ione ranks high
- Low vacancyBetter than 94% of towns
- Nice weatherabout 147 pleasant days a year, better than 91% of towns
- Cell coverageBetter than 91% of towns
- Big-city accessBetter than 91% of towns
- WalkabilityBetter than 90% of towns
Where Ione ranks low
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than only 8% of towns
- Voter turnoutBetter than only 14% of towns
- Heat safetyBetter than only 17% of towns
- Tree shadeBetter than only 17% of towns
- Internet speedBetter than only 19% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Ione
A household needs to earn about $124,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Ione home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That runs well above the area's median income of $89,656, 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 Ione's effective rate of 0.76%, 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 10 years, then pulls ahead as rent keeps rising and the mortgage builds equity. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Ione
Ione's age mix sits close to the national median.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Ione.
Who works in Ione, and how
Work in Ione centers on public administration and construction. Unemployment sits above the national rate, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 87%
- Work from home 10%
- Transit, walk, or bike 3%
Life in Ione
Ione has more restaurants and bars per resident than 76% of towns. That concentrates in some parts of Ione and thins out in others, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Ione, month by month
Ione sees roughly 147 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 97 degrees. January highs sit near 58, with lows near 37. The comfortable stretch runs April through June, September, and October.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 58° | 46° | 37° |
| April | 71° | 57° | 43° |
| July | 97° | 80° | 61° |
| October | 79° | 63° | 49° |
Flying in and out of Ione
The nearest airport, Stockton Metro, is about 34 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Sacramento International, about 43 miles away.
The best schools in and around Ione
Schools across Ione average a C−, better than 21% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Cosumnes River ElementaryA− · 58% proficient
- Jackson ElementaryC− · 30% proficient
- Ione ElementaryD+ · 23% proficient
Top middle schools
- Katherine L. Albiani MiddleA · 61% proficient
- Ione Junior HighD · 23% proficient
- Jackson Junior HighD · 22% proficient
Top high schools
- Pleasant Grove HighA− · 66% proficient
- Argonaut HighC+ · 35% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Ione school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Ione 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 Ione against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Ione
Is Ione a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Ione ranks 16,155th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on few empty homes, the weather, and cell coverage, and lowest on taxes and civic engagement. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Ione expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $475,473. The overall cost of living runs about 6% above the national average. Set against a $89,656 median income, cost of living beats 55% of towns.
Is Ione safe?
Ione is safer than 50% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $342 per resident a year.
Compare Ione with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Ione. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Ione 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.
Ione detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Ione: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Ione: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Ione: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Ione: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Ione 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.