Best PlacesNicolaus, CA Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Nicolaus, 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.
Nicolaus ranks 31,525th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on big-city access by a wide margin, and noise is the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Nicolaus
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.
Nicolaus' strengths and weaknesses
Where Nicolaus ranks high
- Big-city accessBetter than 91% of towns
- Nice weatherabout 135 pleasant days a year, better than 87% of towns
- Household income$99,143 median, better than 84% of towns
- Cell coverageBetter than 84% of towns
- Low property taxBetter than 80% of towns
Where Nicolaus ranks low
- QuietBetter than only 7% of towns
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than only 8% of towns
- Internet speedBetter than only 11% of towns
- Housing crash safetyBetter than only 11% of towns
- Heat safetyBetter than only 11% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Nicolaus
A household needs to earn about $144,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Nicolaus home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That runs well above the area's median income of $99,143, 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 Nicolaus' effective rate of 0.47%, 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 Nicolaus
Nicolaus runs older than the country.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Nicolaus.
Who works in Nicolaus, and how
Work in Nicolaus centers on retail trade and agriculture & forestry. Unemployment sits above the national rate, and the job base is shrinking.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 75%
- Work from home 15%
- Transit, walk, or bike 10%
Life in Nicolaus
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Nicolaus.
What the weather is like in Nicolaus, month by month
Nicolaus sees roughly 135 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 98 degrees. January highs sit near 57, with lows near 38. The comfortable stretch runs April through June, September, and October.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 57° | 46° | 38° |
| April | 73° | 58° | 45° |
| July | 98° | 79° | 61° |
| October | 80° | 62° | 47° |
Flying in and out of Nicolaus
Sacramento International sits about 13 miles away. It is a medium hub and boarded 6.8 million passengers in 2025, with 85 nonstop destinations.
The best schools in and around Nicolaus
Schools across Nicolaus average a C+, better than 41% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Marcum-illinois Union ElementaryC+ · 38% proficient
- Pleasant GroveC+ · 37% proficient
- Browns ElementaryC · 30% proficient
Top middle schools
- Riverview MiddleF · 10% proficient
Top high schools
- Yuba City HighC+ · 37% proficient
- East Nicolaus HighC · 31% proficient
- Sutter HighC− · 30% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Nicolaus school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Nicolaus 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 Nicolaus against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Nicolaus
Is Nicolaus a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Nicolaus ranks 31,525th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on big-city access, the weather, and high incomes, and lowest on noise and taxes. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Nicolaus expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $577,409. The overall cost of living runs about 11% above the national average. Set against a $99,143 median income, cost of living beats 64% of towns.
Is Nicolaus safe?
Nicolaus is safer than 23% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $436 per resident a year.
Compare Nicolaus with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Nicolaus. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Nicolaus 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.
Nicolaus detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Nicolaus: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Nicolaus: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Nicolaus: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Nicolaus: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Nicolaus 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.