Best PlacesMadera, CA Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Madera, 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.
Madera ranks 2,017th of 2,098 U.S. cities on the BestNeighborhood index. Education levels pulls hardest against it, while it scores best on the weather.
The best neighborhoods in Madera
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.
Madera's strengths and weaknesses
Where Madera ranks high
- Nice weatherabout 145 pleasant days a year, better than 80% of cities
- Low property taxBetter than 77% of cities
- WalkabilityBetter than 68% of cities
- Cell coverageBetter than 64% of cities
- QuietBetter than 52% of cities
Where Madera ranks low
- Educational attainmentBetter than only 1% of cities
- Healthcare accessBetter than only 1% of cities
- Voter turnoutBetter than only 3% of cities
- Tree shadeBetter than only 3% of cities
- Cost of living vs incomeBetter than only 6% of cities
What it costs to buy a home in Madera
A household needs to earn about $92,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Madera home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That runs well above the area's median income of $71,550, 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 Madera's effective rate of 0.67%, 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 8 years, then pulls ahead as rent keeps rising and the mortgage builds equity. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Madera
Madera runs younger than the country, and households here run larger than average.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Madera.
Who works in Madera, and how
Work in Madera centers on agriculture & forestry and health care & social. Unemployment runs well above the national rate, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 88%
- Work from home 8%
- Transit, walk, or bike 4%
Life in Madera
Madera has more restaurants and bars per resident than 67% of cities and more parkland per resident than 82% of cities. Dining, parks, and nightlife concentrates in some parts of Madera and thins out in others, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Madera, month by month
Madera sees roughly 145 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 101 degrees. January highs sit near 62, with lows near 38. The comfortable stretch runs March through May, September, and October.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 62° | 49° | 38° |
| April | 78° | 61° | 45° |
| July | 101° | 81° | 62° |
| October | 84° | 65° | 48° |
Flying in and out of Madera
The nearest airport, Fresno Yosemite International, is about 22 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Norman Y Mineta San Jose International, about 107 miles away.
The best schools in and around Madera
Schools across Madera average a C+, better than 45% of cities.
Top elementary schools
- Webster ElementaryB− · 44% proficient
- Sierra View ElementaryB− · 42% proficient
- Sun Empire ElementaryB− · 41% proficient
Top middle schools
- Sherman Thomas Stem AcademyA+ · 70% proficient
- Dairyland ElementaryB+ · 48% proficient
- Ranchos MiddleC+ · 37% proficient
Top high schools
- Liberty HighC+ · 40% proficient
- Minarets HighC+ · 36% proficient
- Phillip J Patino School Of EntrepreneurshipC+ · 36% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Madera school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Madera 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 Madera against the other 2,097 cities.
Who Madera suits
Common questions about living in Madera
Is Madera a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Madera ranks 2,017th of 2,098 cities. It scores highest on the weather, low property taxes, and walkability, and lowest on education levels and thin health care access. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Madera expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $357,326. The overall cost of living runs about 6% above the national average. Set against a $71,550 median income, cost of living beats 6% of cities.
Is Madera safe?
Madera is safer than 20% of cities. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $467 per resident a year.
What is the weather like in Madera?
July highs average about 101 degrees, and January highs near 62 with lows near 38. That works out to about 145 pleasant days a year, more than 80% of cities.
Is Madera good for families?
Schools beat 45% of cities, crime safety beats 20%, and childcare runs $1,086 a month.
Compare Madera with other cities
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Madera. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Madera 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.
Madera detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Madera: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Madera: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Madera: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Madera: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Madera 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.