Best PlacesMadera County, CA Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in Madera County, scored on 40 measures of daily life and ranked to fit what matters to you. The averages are not the whole story, and the strongest areas score well above them. To work out which city fits you best, start with the best places to live tool.
Madera County ranks 2,491st of 3,144 U.S. counties on the BestNeighborhood index. It ranks low mainly on education levels and civic engagement. It does better on the weather, which keeps it off the bottom.
The best neighborhoods in Madera County
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.
The best areas in Madera County
The parts of Madera County, ranked by the BestNeighborhood standard score across every neighborhood, highest scoring first. Each note says how that part differs from the rest of the county.
Bonadelle Ranchos-Madera Ranchos
Local pay stretches further, more adults hold degrees, and incomes run higher.
Coarsegold & Oakhurst
It is quieter, though fewer households have young kids.
Madera
Health care is harder to reach and fewer residents vote.
Madera Acres
Disaster risk is lower and streets are more walkable.
Chowchilla
Biking is worse and more homes sit empty.
Scores across Madera County run from about the 1st to the 72nd percentile nationally. The map is where that becomes a choice of area.
Madera County's strengths and weaknesses
Madera County ranks near the bottom because several of the basics fall short at once. The weather, big-city access, and transit carry most of that.
The weak spots are broad rather than narrow: education levels, civic engagement, and thin health care access all drag on the score. Those are area averages, and the map below shows which parts run well above them.
Where Madera County ranks high
- Nice weatherabout 149 pleasant days a year, better than 92% of counties
- Big-city accessBetter than 90% of counties
- TransitBetter than 87% of counties
- Cell coverageBetter than 83% of counties
- BikingBetter than 82% of counties
Where Madera County ranks low
- Educational attainmentBetter than only 1% of counties
- Voter turnoutBetter than only 2% of counties
- Healthcare accessBetter than only 4% of counties
- Heat safetyBetter than only 5% of counties
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than only 6% of counties
What it costs to buy a home in Madera County
A household needs to earn about $99,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Madera County home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That runs well above the area's median income of $77,922, 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 County's effective rate of 0.69%, 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 Madera County
Madera County 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 County.
Who works in Madera County, and how
Work in Madera County 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 85%
- Work from home 10%
- Transit, walk, or bike 4%
Life in Madera County
Madera County has fewer places to eat and drink per resident than most counties and less parkland per resident than most counties. Dining, parks, and nightlife concentrates in some parts of Madera County and thins out in others, which the map shows.
Is Madera County growing, and who is moving in?
Madera County has grown about 8% over the last decade. The largest inbound stream comes from the rest of the Fresno, CA metro.
Where new residents come from
Where people leaving Madera County go
Move counts are the latest county-to-county migration flows, each county grouped into its metro.
What the weather is like in Madera County, month by month
Madera County sees roughly 149 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 County
The nearest airport, Fresno Yosemite International, is about 24 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Norman Y Mineta San Jose International, about 108 miles away.
The best schools in and around Madera County
Schools across Madera County average a C, better than 49% of counties.
Top elementary schools
- Webster ElementaryB− · 44% proficient
- Sierra View ElementaryB− · 42% proficient
- Raymond-knowles ElementaryC · 32% proficient
Top middle schools
- Sherman Thomas Stem AcademyA+ · 70% proficient
- Dairyland ElementaryB+ · 48% proficient
- Ranchos MiddleC+ · 37% proficient
Top high schools
- Yosemite HighA− · 63% proficient
- Minarets Charter HighB− · 43% proficient
- Liberty HighC+ · 40% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Madera County school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Madera County 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 County against the other 3,143 counties.
Who Madera County suits
Common questions about living in Madera County
Is Madera County a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Madera County ranks 2,491st of 3,144 counties. It scores highest on the weather, big-city access, and transit, and lowest on education levels and civic engagement. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Madera County expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $384,189. The overall cost of living runs about 6% above the national average. Set against a $77,922 median income, cost of living beats 24% of counties.
Is Madera County safe?
Madera County is safer than 33% of counties. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $434 per resident a year.
What is the weather like in Madera County?
July highs average about 101 degrees, and January highs near 62 with lows near 38. That works out to about 149 pleasant days a year, more than 92% of counties.
What are the best neighborhoods in Madera County?
Using the default rankings, the highest-scoring areas are Bonadelle Ranchos-Madera Ranchos, Coarsegold & Oakhurst, and Madera. The ranked list and the re-weightable map above let you re-sort them for your own priorities.
Is Madera County good for families?
Schools beat 49% of counties, crime safety beats 33%, and childcare runs $1,086 a month.
Is Madera County good for remote workers?
Cost of living against local pay beats 24% of counties, though advertised internet speeds beat only 59% of counties. About 10% of workers already work from home.
Compare Madera County with other counties
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Madera County. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Madera County 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 County detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Madera County: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Madera County: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Madera County: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Madera County: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Madera County 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.
- U.S. Census Bureau Population Estimates Program: population growth and net migration behind the population-change section.
- 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.