Best PlacesKelsey, CA Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Kelsey, 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.
Kelsey ranks 33,384th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on quiet by a wide margin, and childcare costs are the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Kelsey
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.
Kelsey's strengths and weaknesses
Where Kelsey ranks high
- QuietBetter than 97% of towns
- Nice weatherabout 142 pleasant days a year, better than 90% of towns
- Big-city accessBetter than 87% of towns
- Voter turnoutBetter than 87% of towns
- Local economyBetter than 84% of towns
Where Kelsey ranks low
- Cheap childcare$1,556 a month, better than only 2% of towns
- Housing crash safetyBetter than only 6% of towns
- Internet speedBetter than only 7% of towns
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than only 8% of towns
- Short commute37.6 minutes each way, better than only 8% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Kelsey
A household needs to earn about $125,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Kelsey home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That runs well above the area's median income of $77,971, 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 Kelsey's effective rate of 0.70%, 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 Kelsey
Kelsey runs older than the country.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Kelsey.
Who works in Kelsey, and how
Work in Kelsey centers on construction and health care & social. Unemployment is low, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 80%
- Work from home 16%
- Transit, walk, or bike 4%
Life in Kelsey
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Kelsey.
What the weather is like in Kelsey, month by month
Kelsey sees roughly 142 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 91 degrees. January highs sit near 53, 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 | 53° | 46° | 41° |
| April | 65° | 55° | 47° |
| July | 91° | 80° | 70° |
| October | 73° | 64° | 57° |
Flying in and out of Kelsey
Sacramento International sits about 44 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 Kelsey
Schools across Kelsey average a C, better than 31% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Camino ElementaryB− · 43% proficient
- Georgetown ElementaryC− · 28% proficient
- Louisiana Schnell ElementaryC− · 28% proficient
Top middle schools
- Edwin Markham MiddleC · 35% proficient
Top high schools
- El Dorado HighB− · 45% proficient
- Golden Sierra Junior Senior HighC− · 27% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Kelsey school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Kelsey 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 Kelsey against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Kelsey
Is Kelsey a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Kelsey ranks 33,384th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on quiet, the weather, and big-city access, and lowest on childcare costs and an overheated housing market. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Kelsey expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $484,095. The overall cost of living runs about 17% above the national average. Set against a $77,971 median income, cost of living beats 28% of towns.
Is Kelsey safe?
Kelsey is safer than 40% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $377 per resident a year.
Compare Kelsey with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Kelsey. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Kelsey 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.
Kelsey detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Kelsey: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Kelsey: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Kelsey: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Kelsey: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Kelsey 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.