Best PlacesLone Pine, CA Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Lone Pine, 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.
Lone Pine ranks 39,244th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on short commutes by a wide margin, and air quality ranks lowest.
The best neighborhoods in Lone Pine
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.
Lone Pine's strengths and weaknesses
Where Lone Pine ranks high
- Short commute12.1 minutes each way, better than 99% of towns
- Nice weatherabout 183 pleasant days a year, better than 98% of towns
- WalkabilityBetter than 98% of towns
- BikingBetter than 93% of towns
- TransitBetter than 90% of towns
Where Lone Pine ranks low
- Air qualityBetter than only 1% of towns
- Heat safetyBetter than only 1% of towns
- Cost of living vs incomeBetter than only 3% of towns
- Household income$38,602 median, better than only 3% of towns
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than only 8% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Lone Pine
A household needs to earn about $65,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Lone Pine home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That runs well above the area's median income of $38,602, 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 Lone Pine's effective rate of 0.75%, 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 Lone Pine
Lone Pine 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 Lone Pine.
Who works in Lone Pine, and how
Work in Lone Pine centers on hospitality & food and mining & oil & gas. Unemployment is close to the national rate, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 88%
- Work from home 6%
- Transit, walk, or bike 5%
Life in Lone Pine
Lone Pine has more restaurants and bars per resident than 91% of towns. That concentrates in some parts of Lone Pine and thins out in others, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Lone Pine, month by month
Lone Pine sees roughly 183 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 117 degrees. January highs sit near 66, with lows near 44. The comfortable stretch runs November through March.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 66° | 55° | 44° |
| April | 91° | 79° | 66° |
| July | 117° | 104° | 90° |
| October | 91° | 78° | 65° |
Flying in and out of Lone Pine
The nearest airport, Bishop, is about 56 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Harry Reid International, about 166 miles away.
The best schools in and around Lone Pine
Schools across Lone Pine average a C−, better than 24% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Springville ElementaryC+ · 38% proficient
- Lo-inyo ElementaryC · 30% proficient
Top high schools
- Lone Pine HighD+ · 24% proficient
- Strathmore HighD · 20% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Lone Pine school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Lone Pine 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 Lone Pine against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Lone Pine
Is Lone Pine a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Lone Pine ranks 39,244th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on short commutes, the weather, and walkability, and lowest on air quality and summer heat. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Lone Pine expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $249,092. The overall cost of living runs about 5% above the national average. Set against a $38,602 median income, cost of living beats 3% of towns.
Is Lone Pine safe?
Lone Pine is safer than 12% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $560 per resident a year.
Compare Lone Pine with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Lone Pine. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Lone Pine 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.
Lone Pine detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Lone Pine: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Lone Pine: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Lone Pine: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Lone Pine: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Lone Pine 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.