Best PlacesLittle Shasta, CA Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Little Shasta, 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.
Little Shasta ranks 38,909th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on the weather by a wide margin, and civic engagement ranks lowest.
The best neighborhoods in Little Shasta
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.
Little Shasta's strengths and weaknesses
Where Little Shasta ranks high
- Nice weatherabout 149 pleasant days a year, better than 92% of towns
- Air qualityBetter than 74% of towns
- QuietBetter than 63% of towns
- Low property taxBetter than 62% of towns
- Cell coverageBetter than 61% of towns
Where Little Shasta ranks low
- Voter turnoutBetter than only 5% of towns
- Internet speedBetter than only 7% of towns
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than only 8% of towns
- Big-city accessBetter than only 11% of towns
- Cost of living vs incomeBetter than only 12% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Little Shasta
A household needs to earn about $62,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Little Shasta home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is only a little above the area's median income of $58,363; the gap is small, which keeps homes within reach of local pay.
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 Little Shasta's effective rate of 0.63%, 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 Little Shasta
Little Shasta's age mix sits close to the national median.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Little Shasta.
Who works in Little Shasta, and how
Work in Little Shasta centers on health care & social and retail trade. Unemployment is low, and employment has held roughly flat.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 89%
- Work from home 8%
- Transit, walk, or bike 4%
Life in Little Shasta
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Little Shasta.
What the weather is like in Little Shasta, month by month
Little Shasta sees roughly 149 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 97 degrees. January highs sit near 49, with lows near 26. The comfortable stretch runs May, June, August, and September.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 49° | 37° | 26° |
| April | 68° | 50° | 33° |
| July | 97° | 77° | 55° |
| October | 72° | 53° | 35° |
Flying in and out of Little Shasta
The nearest airport, Rogue Valley International/Medford, is about 49 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Sacramento International, about 216 miles away.
The best schools in and around Little Shasta
Schools across Little Shasta average a C+, better than 52% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Montague ElementaryC · 33% proficient
- Willow Creek ElementaryD+ · 22% proficient
Top high schools
- Yreka HighB+ · 58% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Little Shasta school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Little Shasta 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 Little Shasta against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Little Shasta
Is Little Shasta a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Little Shasta ranks 38,909th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on the weather, clean air, and quiet, and lowest on civic engagement and internet speeds. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Little Shasta expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $241,476. The overall cost of living runs about 1% below the national average. Set against a $58,363 median income, cost of living beats 12% of towns.
Is Little Shasta safe?
Yes, Little Shasta is safer than 56% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $298 per resident a year.
Compare Little Shasta with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Little Shasta. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Little Shasta 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.
Little Shasta detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Little Shasta: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Little Shasta: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Little Shasta: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Little Shasta: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Little Shasta 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.