Best PlacesLakehead, CA Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Lakehead, 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.
Lakehead ranks 46,270th 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 Lakehead
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.
Lakehead's strengths and weaknesses
Where Lakehead ranks high
- Nice weatherabout 116 pleasant days a year, better than 78% of towns
- Educational attainmentBetter than 72% of towns
- Low property taxBetter than 67% of towns
- Tree shadeBetter than 64% of towns
- WalkabilityBetter than 60% of towns
Where Lakehead ranks low
- Heat safetyBetter than only 3% of towns
- Internet speedBetter than only 8% of towns
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than only 8% of towns
- Cost of living vs incomeBetter than only 9% of towns
- Housing crash safetyBetter than only 10% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Lakehead
A household needs to earn about $86,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Lakehead home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That runs well above the area's median income of $59,662, 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 Lakehead's effective rate of 0.58%, 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 7 years, then pulls ahead as rent keeps rising and the mortgage builds equity. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Lakehead
Lakehead runs older than the country, and households here run smaller than average.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Lakehead.
Who works in Lakehead, and how
Work in Lakehead centers on health care & social and retail trade. Unemployment runs well above the national rate, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 82%
- Work from home 8%
- Transit, walk, or bike 9%
Life in Lakehead
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Lakehead.
What the weather is like in Lakehead, month by month
Lakehead sees roughly 116 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 95 degrees. January highs sit near 47, with lows near 32. The comfortable stretch runs May through September.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 47° | 37° | 32° |
| April | 68° | 51° | 39° |
| July | 95° | 75° | 57° |
| October | 70° | 52° | 40° |
Flying in and out of Lakehead
The nearest airport, Redding Regional, is about 26 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Sacramento International, about 156 miles away.
The best schools in and around Lakehead
Schools across Lakehead average a C+, better than 41% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- French Gulch-whiskeytown ElementaryA− · 60% proficient
- Trinity Center ElementaryB · 50% proficient
- Shasta LakeC− · 28% proficient
Top high schools
- Shasta HighA− · 60% proficient
- Central Valley HighB+ · 53% proficient
- Dunsmuir HighB · 50% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Lakehead school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Lakehead 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 Lakehead against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Lakehead
Is Lakehead a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Lakehead ranks 46,270th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on the weather, an educated workforce, and low property taxes, and lowest on summer heat and internet speeds. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Lakehead expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $338,766. The overall cost of living runs about 4% above the national average. Set against a $59,662 median income, cost of living beats 9% of towns.
Is Lakehead safe?
Lakehead is safer than 46% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $332 per resident a year.
Compare Lakehead with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Lakehead. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Lakehead 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.
Lakehead detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Lakehead: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Lakehead: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Lakehead: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Lakehead: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Lakehead 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.