Best PlacesLaytonville, CA Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Laytonville, scored on 40 measures of daily life and ranked to fit what matters to you. The coast is close, and the measures below put a number on how close. To work out which city fits you best, start with the best places to live tool.
Laytonville ranks 49,573rd of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on transit by a wide margin, and summer heat is the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Laytonville
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.
Laytonville's strengths and weaknesses
Where Laytonville ranks high
- TransitBetter than 93% of towns
- Low property taxBetter than 89% of towns
- Voter turnoutBetter than 83% of towns
- Nice weatherabout 123 pleasant days a year, better than 82% of towns
- BikingBetter than 75% of towns
Where Laytonville ranks low
- Heat safetyBetter than only 1% of towns
- Cost of living vs incomeBetter than only 3% of towns
- Household income$36,621 median, better than only 3% of towns
- Local economyBetter than only 4% of towns
- Internet speedBetter than only 4% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Laytonville
A household needs to earn about $101,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Laytonville home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That runs well above the area's median income of $36,621, 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 Laytonville's effective rate of 0.39%, 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 Laytonville
Laytonville 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 Laytonville.
Who works in Laytonville, and how
Work in Laytonville centers on retail trade and professional & technical. Unemployment runs well above the national rate, and the job base is shrinking.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 84%
- Work from home 14%
- Transit, walk, or bike 2%
Life in Laytonville
The coast is about 39 minutes away. Distance to the water changes a lot across Laytonville, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Laytonville, month by month
Laytonville sees roughly 123 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 98 degrees. January highs sit near 60, with lows near 38. The comfortable stretch runs April through June and August through October.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 60° | 47° | 38° |
| April | 74° | 57° | 42° |
| July | 98° | 76° | 56° |
| October | 82° | 61° | 45° |
Flying in and out of Laytonville
The nearest airport, Redding Regional, is about 85 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Sacramento International, about 123 miles away.
The best schools in and around Laytonville
Schools across Laytonville average a C, better than 50% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- SherwoodC · 31% proficient
- Blosser Lane ElementaryD+ · 25% proficient
- Laytonville ElementaryD+ · 23% proficient
Top middle schools
- Baechtel Grove MiddleF · 8% proficient
Top high schools
- Laytonville HighA · 75% proficient
- Willits HighC+ · 35% proficient
- Fort Bragg HighC · 33% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Laytonville school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Laytonville 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 Laytonville against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Laytonville
Is Laytonville a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Laytonville ranks 49,573rd of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on transit, low property taxes, and civic engagement, and lowest on summer heat and the cost of living against local pay. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Laytonville expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $408,563. The overall cost of living runs about 7% above the national average. Set against a $36,621 median income, cost of living beats 3% of towns.
Is Laytonville safe?
Laytonville is safer than 4% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $797 per resident a year.
Compare Laytonville with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Laytonville. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Laytonville 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.
Laytonville detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Laytonville: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Laytonville: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Laytonville: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Laytonville: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Laytonville 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.