Best PlacesMountain Ranch, CA Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Mountain Ranch, 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.
Mountain Ranch ranks 44,532nd of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on the weather by a wide margin, and taxes are the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Mountain Ranch
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.
Mountain Ranch's strengths and weaknesses
Where Mountain Ranch ranks high
- Nice weatherabout 145 pleasant days a year, better than 91% of towns
- QuietBetter than 91% of towns
- Big-city accessBetter than 88% of towns
- Educational attainmentBetter than 66% of towns
- Low property taxBetter than 62% of towns
Where Mountain Ranch ranks low
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than only 8% of towns
- Heat safetyBetter than only 8% of towns
- Internet speedBetter than only 8% of towns
- Crime safetyBetter than only 8% of towns
- Voter turnoutBetter than only 10% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Mountain Ranch
A household needs to earn about $114,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Mountain Ranch home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That runs well above the area's median income of $67,533, 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 Mountain Ranch's effective rate of 0.63%, 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 Mountain Ranch
Mountain Ranch 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 Mountain Ranch.
Who works in Mountain Ranch, and how
Work in Mountain Ranch centers on construction and public administration. Unemployment runs well above the national rate, and the job base is shrinking.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 68%
- Work from home 22%
- Transit, walk, or bike 10%
Life in Mountain Ranch
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Mountain Ranch.
What the weather is like in Mountain Ranch, month by month
Mountain Ranch sees roughly 145 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 97 degrees. January highs sit near 58, with lows near 37. The comfortable stretch runs April through June, September, and October.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 58° | 46° | 37° |
| April | 71° | 57° | 43° |
| July | 97° | 80° | 61° |
| October | 79° | 63° | 49° |
Flying in and out of Mountain Ranch
The nearest airport, Stockton Metro, is about 45 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Sacramento International, about 65 miles away.
The best schools in and around Mountain Ranch
Schools across Mountain Ranch average a C−, better than 20% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Hazel Fischer ElementaryC+ · 37% proficient
- Albert A. Michelson ElementaryC+ · 35% proficient
- West Point ElementaryD+ · 25% proficient
Top middle schools
- Avery MiddleC · 35% proficient
- Toyon MiddleD · 22% proficient
Top high schools
- Calaveras HighC+ · 38% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Mountain Ranch school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Mountain Ranch 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 Mountain Ranch against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Mountain Ranch
Is Mountain Ranch a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Mountain Ranch ranks 44,532nd of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on the weather, quiet, and big-city access, and lowest on taxes and summer heat. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Mountain Ranch expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $446,333. The overall cost of living runs about 3% above the national average. Set against a $67,533 median income, cost of living beats 22% of towns.
Is Mountain Ranch safe?
Mountain Ranch is safer than 8% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $632 per resident a year.
Compare Mountain Ranch with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Mountain Ranch. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Mountain Ranch 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.
Mountain Ranch detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Mountain Ranch: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Mountain Ranch: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Mountain Ranch: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Mountain Ranch: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Mountain Ranch 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.