Best PlacesKings County, CA Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in Kings County, scored on 40 measures of daily life and ranked to fit what matters to you. The averages are not the whole story, and the strongest areas score well above them. To work out which city fits you best, start with the best places to live tool.
Kings County ranks 2,270th of 3,144 U.S. counties on the BestNeighborhood index. It ranks low mainly on air quality and civic engagement. It does better on cell coverage, which keeps it off the bottom.
The best neighborhoods in Kings County
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.
The best areas in Kings County
The parts of Kings County, ranked by the BestNeighborhood standard score across every neighborhood, highest scoring first. Each note says how that part differs from the rest of the county.
Hanford
Local pay stretches further, more adults hold degrees, and more residents vote.
Lemoore & Armona
More households have young kids.
Corcoran
Health care is harder to reach and incomes run lower.
Avenal
It is quieter, though schools score lower.
Scores across Kings County run from about the 2nd to the 86th percentile nationally. The map is where that becomes a choice of area.
Kings County's strengths and weaknesses
Kings County lands in the middle because its strengths and weaknesses roughly balance. Cell coverage is the standout, in the top 3% of counties. Transit and biking follow.
The one real hole is air quality, near the bottom of the country. Civic engagement and education levels also cost it ground. That varies block to block rather than evenly, and the map below shows where.
Where Kings County ranks high
- Cell coverageBetter than 97% of counties
- TransitBetter than 91% of counties
- BikingBetter than 89% of counties
- Big-city accessBetter than 88% of counties
- Nice weatherabout 139 pleasant days a year, better than 88% of counties
Where Kings County ranks low
- Air qualityBetter than only 1% of counties
- Voter turnoutBetter than only 1% of counties
- Educational attainmentBetter than only 2% of counties
- Healthcare accessBetter than only 3% of counties
- Tree shadeBetter than only 6% of counties
What it costs to buy a home in Kings County
A household needs to earn about $82,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Kings County home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That runs well above the area's median income of $73,174, 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 Kings County's effective rate of 0.74%, 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 8 years, then pulls ahead as rent keeps rising and the mortgage builds equity. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Kings County
Kings County runs younger 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 Kings County.
Who works in Kings County, and how
Work in Kings County centers on agriculture & forestry and health care & social. Unemployment runs well above the national rate, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 90%
- Work from home 6%
- Transit, walk, or bike 4%
Life in Kings County
Kings County has fewer places to eat and drink per resident than most counties and less parkland per resident than most counties. Dining, parks, and nightlife concentrates in some parts of Kings County and thins out in others, which the map shows.
Is Kings County growing, and who is moving in?
Kings County has grown about 4% over the last decade. The largest inbound stream comes from Bakersfield, CA.
Where new residents come from
Where people leaving Kings County go
Move counts are the latest county-to-county migration flows, each county grouped into its metro.
What the weather is like in Kings County, month by month
Kings County sees roughly 139 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 102 degrees. January highs sit near 61, with lows near 38. The comfortable stretch runs March through May and October.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 61° | 48° | 38° |
| April | 80° | 63° | 47° |
| July | 102° | 85° | 64° |
| October | 84° | 65° | 48° |
Flying in and out of Kings County
The nearest airport, Fresno Yosemite International, is about 36 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Norman Y Mineta San Jose International, about 144 miles away.
The best schools in and around Kings County
Schools across Kings County average a C, better than 36% of counties.
Top elementary schools
- Kings River-hardwick ElementaryA− · 57% proficient
- Jefferson AcademyA− · 57% proficient
- Island ElementaryB+ · 50% proficient
Top middle schools
- Liberty MiddleB− · 40% proficient
- Pioneer MiddleC+ · 38% proficient
- Woodrow Wilson Junior HighC+ · 36% proficient
Top high schools
- Lemoore Middle College HighB · 50% proficient
- Kingsburg HighB− · 44% proficient
- Corcoran HighC+ · 40% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Kings County school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Kings County 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 Kings County against the other 3,143 counties.
Who Kings County suits
Remote workers
Internet is fast and widely advertised and 6% already work from home.
Common questions about living in Kings County
Is Kings County a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Kings County ranks 2,270th of 3,144 counties. It scores highest on cell coverage, transit, and biking, and lowest on air quality and civic engagement. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Kings County expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $316,438. The overall cost of living runs about 4% above the national average. Set against a $73,174 median income, cost of living beats 17% of counties.
Is Kings County safe?
Kings County is safer than 49% of counties. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $390 per resident a year.
What is the weather like in Kings County?
July highs average about 102 degrees, and January highs near 61 with lows near 38. That works out to about 139 pleasant days a year, more than 88% of counties.
What are the best neighborhoods in Kings County?
Using the default rankings, the highest-scoring areas are Hanford, Lemoore & Armona, and Corcoran. The ranked list and the re-weightable map above let you re-sort them for your own priorities.
Is Kings County good for families?
Schools beat 36% of counties, crime safety beats 49%, and childcare runs $960 a month.
Is Kings County good for remote workers?
Cost of living against local pay beats 17% of counties, and the fastest advertised internet here beats 72% of counties. About 6% of workers already work from home.
Compare Kings County with other counties
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Kings County. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Kings County 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.
Kings County detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Kings County: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Kings County: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Kings County: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Kings County: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Kings County 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.
- U.S. Census Bureau Population Estimates Program: population growth and net migration behind the population-change section.
- 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.