Best PlacesLebec, CA Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Lebec, 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.
Lebec ranks 49,446th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on the weather by a wide margin, and disaster risk is the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Lebec
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.
Lebec's strengths and weaknesses
Where Lebec ranks high
- Nice weatherabout 179 pleasant days a year, better than 98% of towns
- Big-city accessBetter than 94% of towns
- TransitBetter than 93% of towns
- Educational attainmentBetter than 80% of towns
- BikingBetter than 57% of towns
Where Lebec ranks low
- Disaster safetyBetter than only 1% of towns
- Air qualityBetter than only 1% of towns
- Housing crash safetyBetter than only 2% of towns
- Crime safetyBetter than only 4% of towns
- Local economyBetter than only 5% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Lebec
A household needs to earn about $110,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Lebec home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That runs well above the area's median income of $59,962, 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 Lebec's effective rate of 0.71%, 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 9 years, then pulls ahead as rent keeps rising and the mortgage builds equity. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Lebec
Lebec 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 Lebec.
Who works in Lebec, and how
Work in Lebec centers on manufacturing and health care & social. Unemployment runs well above the national rate, and the job base is shrinking.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 82%
- Work from home 16%
- Transit, walk, or bike 2%
Life in Lebec
Lebec has more restaurants and bars per resident than 98% of towns. That concentrates in some parts of Lebec and thins out in others, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Lebec, month by month
Lebec sees roughly 179 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 91 degrees. January highs sit near 54, with lows near 38. The comfortable stretch runs May, June, September, and October.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 54° | 44° | 38° |
| April | 66° | 53° | 43° |
| July | 91° | 78° | 66° |
| October | 76° | 63° | 54° |
Flying in and out of Lebec
The nearest airport, Meadows Field, is about 42 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Bob Hope, about 54 miles away.
The best schools in and around Lebec
Schools across Lebec average a C−, better than 25% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Gorman ElementaryD+ · 23% proficient
- General Shafter ElementaryD+ · 22% proficient
- Bear Mountain ElementaryD · 20% proficient
Top middle schools
- El Tejon ElementaryD+ · 25% proficient
- Haven Drive MiddleF · 11% proficient
Top high schools
- Ridgeview HighA+ · 95% proficient
- Arvin HighB+ · 57% proficient
- Tehachapi HighC+ · 40% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Lebec school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Lebec 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 Lebec against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Lebec
Is Lebec a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Lebec ranks 49,446th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on the weather, big-city access, and transit, and lowest on disaster risk and air quality. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Lebec expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $424,333. The overall cost of living runs about 11% above the national average. Set against a $59,962 median income, cost of living beats 9% of towns.
Is Lebec safe?
Lebec is safer than 4% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $785 per resident a year.
Compare Lebec with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Lebec. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Lebec 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.
Lebec detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Lebec: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Lebec: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Lebec: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Lebec: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Lebec 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.