Best PlacesNice, CA Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Nice, 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.
Nice ranks 46,364th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on clean air by a wide margin, and summer heat is the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Nice
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.
Nice's strengths and weaknesses
Where Nice ranks high
- Air qualityBetter than 96% of towns
- TransitBetter than 93% of towns
- BikingBetter than 92% of towns
- Cell coverageBetter than 90% of towns
- WalkabilityBetter than 88% of towns
Where Nice ranks low
- Heat safetyBetter than only 2% of towns
- Cost of living vs incomeBetter than only 7% of towns
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than only 8% of towns
- School gradeD, better than only 9% of towns
- Low vacancyBetter than only 10% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Nice
A household needs to earn about $44,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Nice home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $56,089, so a typical household can afford the median home outright.
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 Nice's effective rate of 0.75%, 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 4 years, then pulls ahead as rent keeps rising and the mortgage builds equity. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Nice
Nice 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 Nice.
Who works in Nice, and how
Work in Nice centers on construction and health care & social. Unemployment is low, and employment has held roughly flat.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 93%
- Work from home 1%
- Transit, walk, or bike 6%
Life in Nice
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Nice.
What the weather is like in Nice, month by month
Nice sees roughly 126 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 98 degrees. January highs sit near 60, with lows near 38. The comfortable stretch runs April through June and August through October.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 60° | 47° | 38° |
| April | 74° | 57° | 42° |
| July | 98° | 76° | 56° |
| October | 82° | 61° | 45° |
Flying in and out of Nice
The nearest airport, Charles M Schulz/Sonoma County, is about 43 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Sacramento International, about 74 miles away.
The best schools in and around Nice
Schools across Nice average a D, better than 9% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Upper Lake ElementaryD+ · 23% proficient
- Lakeport ElementaryD · 20% proficient
- Lucerne ElementaryD · 20% proficient
Top middle schools
- Upper Lake MiddleD− · 17% proficient
- Terrace MiddleD− · 16% proficient
Top high schools
- Clear Lake HighC− · 27% proficient
- Upper Lake HighD · 22% proficient
- Lower Lake HighD− · 16% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Nice school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Nice 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 Nice against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Nice
Is Nice a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Nice ranks 46,364th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on clean air, transit, and biking, and lowest on summer heat and the cost of living against local pay. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Nice expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $167,854. The overall cost of living runs about 8% above the national average. Set against a $56,089 median income, cost of living beats 7% of towns.
Is Nice safe?
Nice is safer than 11% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $552 per resident a year.
Compare Nice with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Nice. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Nice 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.
Nice detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Nice: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Nice: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Nice: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Nice: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Nice 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.