Best PlacesMckinleyville, CA Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Mckinleyville, scored on 40 measures of daily life and ranked to fit what matters to you. The coast is close, and the measures below put a number on how close. To work out which city fits you best, start with the best places to live tool.
Mckinleyville ranks 33,072nd of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on biking by a wide margin, and disaster risk is the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Mckinleyville
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.
Mckinleyville's strengths and weaknesses
Where Mckinleyville ranks high
- BikingBetter than 98% of towns
- TransitBetter than 97% of towns
- WalkabilityBetter than 88% of towns
- Air qualityBetter than 87% of towns
- Educational attainmentBetter than 85% of towns
Where Mckinleyville ranks low
- Disaster safetyBetter than only 5% of towns
- Big-city accessBetter than only 7% of towns
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than only 8% of towns
- Cheap childcare$1,269 a month, better than only 12% of towns
- Crime safetyBetter than only 12% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Mckinleyville
A household needs to earn about $122,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Mckinleyville home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That runs well above the area's median income of $74,711, 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 Mckinleyville's effective rate of 0.64%, 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 Mckinleyville
Mckinleyville'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 Mckinleyville.
Who works in Mckinleyville, and how
Work in Mckinleyville centers on health care & social and education. Unemployment is close to the national rate, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 84%
- Work from home 10%
- Transit, walk, or bike 6%
Life in Mckinleyville
The coast is about 5 minutes away. Distance to the water changes a lot across Mckinleyville, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Mckinleyville, month by month
Mckinleyville sees roughly 126 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 65 degrees. January highs sit near 58, with lows near 40. The comfortable stretch runs June through September.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 58° | 49° | 40° |
| April | 59° | 50° | 42° |
| July | 65° | 57° | 51° |
| October | 65° | 53° | 44° |
Flying in and out of Mckinleyville
The nearest airport, California Redwood Coast- Humboldt County, is about 3 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Sacramento International, about 204 miles away.
The best schools in and around Mckinleyville
Schools across Mckinleyville average a C−, better than 27% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Fieldbrook ElementaryB · 48% proficient
- Trinidad UnionB · 48% proficient
- Pacific Union ElementaryB− · 44% proficient
Top middle schools
- Sunny Brae MiddleB− · 42% proficient
- Catherine L. Zane MiddleD · 24% proficient
- Winship MiddleD · 23% proficient
Top high schools
- Arcata HighB+ · 58% proficient
- Eureka Senior HighC+ · 35% proficient
- Mckinleyville HighD+ · 25% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Mckinleyville school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Mckinleyville 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 Mckinleyville against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Mckinleyville
Is Mckinleyville a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Mckinleyville ranks 33,072nd of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on biking, transit, and walkability, and lowest on disaster risk and distance from a big city. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Mckinleyville expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $478,560. The overall cost of living runs about 8% above the national average. Set against a $74,711 median income, cost of living beats 27% of towns.
Is Mckinleyville safe?
Mckinleyville is safer than 12% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $568 per resident a year.
Compare Mckinleyville with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Mckinleyville. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Mckinleyville 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.
Mckinleyville detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Mckinleyville: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Mckinleyville: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Mckinleyville: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Mckinleyville: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Mckinleyville 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.