Best PlacesMidpines, CA Best Neighborhoods

2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026

Every neighborhood in and around Midpines, 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.

See the map of best neighborhoods

Midpines ranks 38,920th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on the weather by a wide margin, and a weak job market ranks lowest.

#38,920
of 50,333 towns
BestNeighborhood rank
Defaults weight crime safety, affordability, schools, and weather highest: the things hardest to change after a move
N/A
of 50,333 towns
Your rank
Set your priorities to see your rank

The best neighborhoods in Midpines

Map of the best neighborhoods in the Midpines area, with better matches in green and worse matches in red
Click the map to explore
National median
Worse match Better match
Colorblind friendly off
Popular priorities:

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.

Midpines' strengths and weaknesses

Top 1%The weather
Top 10%Transit
Each measure against the national median. Bars to the right beat the median; bars to the left fall short. Percentiles compare Midpines with other towns.

Where Midpines ranks high

  • Nice weatherabout 197 pleasant days a year, better than 99% of towns
  • TransitBetter than 92% of towns
  • Short commute19.3 minutes each way, better than 90% of towns
  • QuietBetter than 86% of towns
  • BikingBetter than 82% of towns

Where Midpines ranks low

  • Local economyBetter than only 2% of towns
  • Air qualityBetter than only 2% of towns
  • Internet speedBetter than only 7% of towns
  • Disaster safetyBetter than only 8% of towns
  • Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than only 8% of towns

What it costs to buy a home in Midpines

A household needs to earn about $108,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Midpines home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That runs well above the area's median income of $60,805, so buying stretches a typical household.

Income to buy the median home
$108,000
a year, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate
Estimated monthly payment
$2,516
principal, interest, tax, and insurance on a $419,500 home
Median rent
$1,300
a month, across all home sizes

Where the monthly payment goes

Principal & interest$2,139
Property tax$237
Homeowners insurance$140

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 Midpines' effective rate of 0.68%, 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.

Cumulative cost of renting versus owning the median home, first 10 years. Illustrative estimate.

Who lives in Midpines

Midpines runs older than the country, and households here run smaller than average.

Median age
57
older than the U.S. median of 41
Residents 65 and older
47%
versus 18% nationally
Average household
1.9
below the U.S. average of 2.6

Residents by age

Under 1814%
18 to 3414%
35 to 4914%
50 to 6411%
65 and older47%

Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Midpines.


Who works in Midpines, and how

Work in Midpines centers on public administration and retail trade. Unemployment runs well above the national rate, and the job base is shrinking.

Work from home
21%
above the national average
Unemployment
9.2%
above the national average
Job growth
−11.0%
/y 2019-2023, slower than the national pace

Largest industries

Public administration20%
Retail trade13%
Hospitality & food13%
Education10%
Arts & entertainment10%

How people get to work

  • Drive or carpool 65%
  • Work from home 21%
  • Transit, walk, or bike 15%

Life in Midpines

The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Midpines.


What the weather is like in Midpines, month by month

Midpines sees roughly 197 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 78 degrees. January highs sit near 44, with lows near 32. The comfortable stretch runs June through September.

Average daily high, mean, and low in degrees Fahrenheit, NOAA station data 2016 to 2025.
Show the monthly temperatures
MonthAvg highAvgAvg low
January44°37°32°
April53°44°38°
July78°69°63°
October62°53°47°

Flying in and out of Midpines

The nearest airport, Merced Yosemite Regional, is about 36 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Norman Y Mineta San Jose International, about 109 miles away.

Nearest airport
MCE
Merced Yosemite Regional, about 36 miles
Airport size
Nonprimary
7 nonstop destinations
Average drive
51 min
from the area, with no traffic

The best schools in and around Midpines

Schools across Midpines average a C+, better than 43% of towns.

Top elementary schools

Top high schools

Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Midpines school and its grade on SchoolGrade.


Midpines 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 Midpines against the other 50,332 towns.


Common questions about living in Midpines

Is Midpines a good place to live?

Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Midpines ranks 38,920th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on the weather, transit, and short commutes, and lowest on a weak job market and air quality. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.

Is Midpines expensive to live in?

The median home is worth $419,500. The overall cost of living runs about 4% above the national average. Set against a $60,805 median income, cost of living beats 14% of towns.

Is Midpines safe?

Midpines is safer than 20% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $498 per resident a year.


Compare Midpines with other towns


Sources and methodology

Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Midpines. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Midpines 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.

Midpines detail on BestNeighborhood maps:

  1. Walk Grade for Midpines: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
  2. Noise in Midpines: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
  3. Conservative vs liberal map of Midpines: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
  4. Mobile and cell coverage in Midpines: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.

Midpines detail on related sites:

  1. CrimeGrade: neighborhood crime rates behind the crime safety score.
  2. ISPreports.org: provider by provider internet availability and advertised speeds.
  3. CoverageWatch: the car insurance premiums behind the cheap car insurance score.

Federal and public data:

  1. 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.
  2. NOAA Global Surface Summary of the Day: the daily station record behind the monthly temperatures and the pleasant-day count.
  3. FAA Passenger Boarding Data: airport size and annual passenger counts.
  4. Freddie Mac Primary Mortgage Market Survey: the 30-year fixed rate used in the cost-to-buy estimate.
  5. FBI Crime Data Explorer: reported offenses behind the tangible crime cost estimate.
  6. U.S. EPA Air Quality System: five year average air quality index.
  7. FEMA National Risk Index: expected annual loss from natural hazards.
  8. CDC PLACES: disease burden, preventable risk, and barriers to care.
  9. National Center for Education Statistics: school enrollment and assessment inputs behind the school grade.
  10. FCC National Broadband Map: internet and wireless availability.
  11. U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics: employment and job growth behind the local economy score.
  12. Religious activity uses a proprietary religious signal measurement.