Best PlacesLower Lake, CA Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Lower Lake, 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.
Lower Lake ranks 43,470th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on transit by a wide margin, and disaster risk is the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Lower Lake
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.
Lower Lake's strengths and weaknesses
Where Lower Lake ranks high
- TransitBetter than 92% of towns
- Air qualityBetter than 90% of towns
- Big-city accessBetter than 88% of towns
- BikingBetter than 83% of towns
- QuietBetter than 80% of towns
Where Lower Lake ranks low
- Disaster safetyBetter than only 5% of towns
- School gradeD, better than only 5% of towns
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than only 8% of towns
- Voter turnoutBetter than only 11% of towns
- Local economyBetter than only 13% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Lower Lake
A household needs to earn about $108,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Lower Lake home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That runs well above the area's median income of $68,828, 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 Lower Lake's effective rate of 0.56%, 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 Lower Lake
Lower Lake 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 Lower Lake.
Who works in Lower Lake, and how
Work in Lower Lake centers on health care & social and construction. Unemployment sits above the national rate, and the job base is shrinking.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 87%
- Work from home 8%
- Transit, walk, or bike 5%
Life in Lower Lake
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Lower Lake.
What the weather is like in Lower Lake, month by month
Lower Lake sees roughly 115 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 86 degrees. January highs sit near 61, with lows near 38. The comfortable stretch runs April through October.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 61° | 48° | 38° |
| April | 72° | 56° | 42° |
| July | 86° | 65° | 51° |
| October | 81° | 60° | 45° |
Flying in and out of Lower Lake
The nearest airport, Charles M Schulz/Sonoma County, is about 29 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Sacramento International, about 57 miles away.
The best schools in and around Lower Lake
Schools across Lower Lake average a D, better than 5% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Cobb Mountain ElementaryC · 32% proficient
- Burns ValleyD · 19% proficient
- Lower Lake ElementaryD · 17% proficient
Top middle schools
- Middletown MiddleC · 32% proficient
- Highlands AcademyD+ · 25% proficient
Top high schools
- Carle (william C.) High (continuation)D+ · 25% proficient
- Kelseyville HighD · 22% proficient
- Middletown HighD · 20% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Lower Lake school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Lower Lake 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 Lower Lake against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Lower Lake
Is Lower Lake a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Lower Lake ranks 43,470th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on transit, clean air, and big-city access, and lowest on disaster risk and the schools. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Lower Lake expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $427,182. The overall cost of living runs about 18% above the national average. Set against a $68,828 median income, cost of living beats 17% of towns.
Is Lower Lake safe?
Lower Lake is safer than 13% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $532 per resident a year.
Compare Lower Lake with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Lower Lake. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Lower Lake 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.
Lower Lake detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Lower Lake: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Lower Lake: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Lower Lake: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Lower Lake: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Lower Lake 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.