Best PlacesModesto, CA Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in the Modesto metro, 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.
Photo by Carl Skaggs, via wiki
Modesto ranks 295th of 387 U.S. metro areas on the BestNeighborhood index. It ranks low mainly on long commutes and education levels. It does better on few empty homes, which keeps it off the bottom.
The best neighborhoods in the Modesto metro
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 Modesto
The towns and districts of the Modesto metro, ranked by the BestNeighborhood standard score across every neighborhood in each, highest scoring first. Each note says how that part differs from the rest of the metro.
Downtown Modesto
More adults hold degrees, local pay stretches further, and incomes run higher.
Oakdale
More residents vote and it is quieter.
Salida
Health care is easier to reach and fewer homes sit empty.
Waterford, Hughson & Empire
Commutes are shorter, though fewer households have young kids.
Turlock
Transit reaches fewer jobs.
Patterson & Newman
Biking is worse and disaster risk is higher.
Ceres
Crime runs higher.
Modesto shows why a single number is not enough. Some neighborhoods score in the bottom 3% of the country and others in the top 6%. Pick the area first, then the home.
Modesto's strengths and weaknesses
Modesto ranks near the bottom because several of the basics fall short at once. Few empty homes is the standout, in the top 1% of metro areas. Cell coverage and transit follow.
The weak spots are broad rather than narrow: long commutes, education levels, and civic engagement all drag on the score. Those are area averages, and the map below shows which parts run well above them.
Where Modesto ranks high
- Low vacancyBetter than 99% of metro areas
- Cell coverageBetter than 96% of metro areas
- TransitBetter than 96% of metro areas
- WalkabilityBetter than 92% of metro areas
- Big-city accessBetter than 89% of metro areas
Where Modesto ranks low
- Short commute30.8 minutes each way, better than only 4% of metro areas
- Educational attainmentBetter than only 4% of metro areas
- Voter turnoutBetter than only 4% of metro areas
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than only 8% of metro areas
- Healthcare accessBetter than only 8% of metro areas
What it costs to buy a home in Modesto
A household needs to earn about $120,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Modesto home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That runs well above the area's median income of $87,283, 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 Modesto's effective rate of 0.71%, 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 10 years, then pulls ahead as rent keeps rising and the mortgage builds equity. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Modesto
Modesto 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 Modesto.
Who works in Modesto, and how
Work in Modesto centers on health care & social and manufacturing. Unemployment sits above the national rate, and employment has held roughly flat.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 87%
- Work from home 8%
- Transit, walk, or bike 5%
Life in Modesto
Modesto has fewer places to eat and drink per resident than most metro areas and less parkland per resident than most metro areas. Dining, parks, and nightlife concentrates in some parts of Modesto and thins out in others, which the map shows.
Is Modesto growing, and who is moving in?
Modesto has grown about 6% over the last decade. The largest inbound stream comes from Stockton, CA.
Where new residents come from
Where people leaving Modesto go
Move counts are the latest county-to-county migration flows, each county grouped into its metro.
What the weather is like in Modesto, month by month
Modesto sees roughly 149 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 98 degrees. January highs sit near 59, with lows near 39. The comfortable stretch runs March through May, September, and October.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 59° | 49° | 39° |
| April | 77° | 62° | 48° |
| July | 98° | 81° | 63° |
| October | 82° | 65° | 51° |
Flying in and out of Modesto
The nearest airport, Stockton Metro, is about 21 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Norman Y Mineta San Jose International, about 55 miles away.
The best schools in and around Modesto
Schools across Modesto average a C−, better than 11% of metro areas.
Top elementary schools
- Park View ElementaryA+ · 73% proficient
- Sonoma ElementaryA− · 59% proficient
- Lakewood ElementaryA− · 59% proficient
Top middle schools
- El Portal MiddleC · 35% proficient
- La Loma Junior HighC · 33% proficient
- Roosevelt Junior HighC− · 31% proficient
Top high schools
- James C. Enochs HighB+ · 54% proficient
- Ripon HighB · 50% proficient
- Oakdale HighB · 50% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Modesto school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Modesto 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 Modesto against the other 386 metro areas.
Who Modesto suits
Common questions about living in Modesto
Is Modesto a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Modesto ranks 295th of 387 metro areas. It scores highest on few empty homes, cell coverage, and transit, and lowest on long commutes and education levels. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Modesto expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $463,202. The overall cost of living runs about 4% above the national average. Set against a $87,283 median income, cost of living beats 25% of metro areas.
Is Modesto safe?
Modesto is safer than 22% of metro areas. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $452 per resident a year.
What is the weather like in Modesto?
July highs average about 98 degrees, and January highs near 59 with lows near 39. That works out to about 149 pleasant days a year, more than 86% of metro areas.
What are the best neighborhoods in Modesto?
Using the default rankings, the highest-scoring areas are Downtown Modesto, Oakdale, and Salida. The ranked list and the re-weightable map above let you re-sort them for your own priorities.
Is Modesto good for families?
Schools beat 11% of metro areas, crime safety beats 22%, and childcare runs $1,134 a month.
Is Modesto good for remote workers?
Cost of living against local pay beats 25% of metro areas, though advertised internet speeds beat only 28% of metro areas. About 8% of workers already work from home.
Compare Modesto with other metro areas
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Modesto. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Modesto 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.
Modesto detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Modesto: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Modesto: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Modesto: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Modesto: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Modesto 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.