Best PlacesLaton, CA Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Laton, 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.
Laton ranks 42,490th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on transit by a wide margin, and air quality ranks lowest.
The best neighborhoods in Laton
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.
Laton's strengths and weaknesses
Where Laton ranks high
- TransitBetter than 94% of towns
- Cell coverageBetter than 93% of towns
- Nice weatherabout 139 pleasant days a year, better than 89% of towns
- Short commute20.7 minutes each way, better than 85% of towns
- Big-city accessBetter than 83% of towns
Where Laton ranks low
- Air qualityBetter than only 1% of towns
- Voter turnoutBetter than only 3% of towns
- Educational attainmentBetter than only 3% of towns
- Healthcare accessBetter than only 3% of towns
- Heat safetyBetter than only 4% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Laton
A household needs to earn about $97,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Laton home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That runs well above the area's median income of $77,144, 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 Laton's effective rate of 0.49%, 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 Laton
Laton 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 Laton.
Who works in Laton, and how
Work in Laton centers on agriculture & forestry and health care & social. Unemployment runs well above the national rate, and employment has held roughly flat.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 78%
- Work from home 6%
- Transit, walk, or bike 16%
Life in Laton
Laton has more parkland per resident than 97% of towns. That concentrates in some parts of Laton and thins out in others, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Laton, month by month
Laton 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 Laton
The nearest airport, Fresno Yosemite International, is about 24 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Norman Y Mineta San Jose International, about 138 miles away.
The best schools in and around Laton
Schools across Laton average a D, better than 5% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Meadow Lane ElementaryC · 30% proficient
- Fipps PrimaryD+ · 23% proficient
- Hamilton ElementaryD+ · 22% proficient
Top middle schools
- Liberty MiddleB− · 40% proficient
- Riverdale ElementaryD+ · 26% proficient
- John F. Kennedy Junior HighD · 21% proficient
Top high schools
- Kingsburg HighB− · 44% proficient
- Lemoore HighC+ · 35% proficient
- Riverdale HighC · 32% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Laton school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Laton 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 Laton against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Laton
Is Laton a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Laton ranks 42,490th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on transit, cell coverage, and the weather, 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 Laton expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $388,354. The overall cost of living runs about 17% above the national average. Set against a $77,144 median income, cost of living beats 16% of towns.
Is Laton safe?
Laton is safer than 28% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $419 per resident a year.
Compare Laton with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Laton. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Laton 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.
Laton detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Laton: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Laton: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Laton: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Laton: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Laton 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.