Best PlacesMonte Rio, CA Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Monte Rio, 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.
Monte Rio ranks 33,687th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on the weather by a wide margin, and disaster risk is the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Monte Rio
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.
Monte Rio's strengths and weaknesses
Where Monte Rio ranks high
- Nice weatherabout 181 pleasant days a year, better than 98% of towns
- Air qualityBetter than 96% of towns
- TransitBetter than 96% of towns
- Educational attainmentBetter than 92% of towns
- Big-city accessBetter than 90% of towns
Where Monte Rio ranks low
- Disaster safetyBetter than only 3% of towns
- Crime safetyBetter than only 6% of towns
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than only 8% of towns
- Low vacancyBetter than only 10% of towns
- Housing crash safetyBetter than only 16% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Monte Rio
A household needs to earn about $171,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Monte Rio home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That runs well above the area's median income of $83,693, 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 Monte Rio's effective rate of 0.74%, 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 Monte Rio
Monte Rio runs older than the country, and households here run smaller than average.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Monte Rio.
Who works in Monte Rio, and how
Work in Monte Rio centers on professional & technical and arts & entertainment. Unemployment sits above the national rate, and the job base is shrinking.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 59%
- Work from home 32%
- Transit, walk, or bike 9%
Life in Monte Rio
The coast is about 13 minutes away. Distance to the water changes a lot across Monte Rio, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Monte Rio, month by month
Monte Rio sees roughly 181 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 63 degrees. January highs sit near 57, with lows near 46. The comfortable stretch runs July through October.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 57° | 51° | 46° |
| April | 57° | 51° | 47° |
| July | 63° | 55° | 51° |
| October | 63° | 55° | 50° |
Flying in and out of Monte Rio
The nearest airport, Charles M Schulz/Sonoma County, is about 11 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is San Francisco Bay Oakland International, about 67 miles away.
The best schools in and around Monte Rio
Schools across Monte Rio average a B−, better than 54% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Monte Rio ElementaryC · 30% proficient
Top high schools
- Analy HighB+ · 55% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Monte Rio school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Monte Rio 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 Monte Rio against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Monte Rio
Is Monte Rio a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Monte Rio ranks 33,687th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on the weather, clean air, and transit, and lowest on disaster risk and crime. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Monte Rio expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $658,418. The overall cost of living runs about 29% above the national average. Set against a $83,693 median income, cost of living beats 28% of towns.
Is Monte Rio safe?
Monte Rio is safer than 6% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $760 per resident a year.
Compare Monte Rio with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Monte Rio. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Monte Rio 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.
Monte Rio detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Monte Rio: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Monte Rio: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Monte Rio: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Monte Rio: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Monte Rio 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.