Best PlacesNorden, CA Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Norden, 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.
Norden ranks 33,554th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on an educated workforce by a wide margin, and childcare costs are the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Norden
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.
Norden's strengths and weaknesses
Where Norden ranks high
- Educational attainmentBetter than 99% of towns
- Heat safetyBetter than 99% of towns
- Health outlookBetter than 90% of towns
- Household income$106,417 median, better than 88% of towns
- Healthcare accessBetter than 83% of towns
Where Norden ranks low
- Cheap childcare$1,507 a month, better than only 3% of towns
- Housing crash safetyBetter than only 5% of towns
- Local economyBetter than only 6% of towns
- Voter turnoutBetter than only 7% of towns
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than only 8% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Norden
A household needs to earn about $248,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Norden home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That runs well above the area's median income of $106,417, 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 Norden's effective rate of 0.56%, 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 Norden
Norden 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 Norden.
Who works in Norden, and how
Work in Norden centers on professional & technical and construction. Unemployment sits above the national rate, and the job base is shrinking.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 39%
- Work from home 58%
- Transit, walk, or bike 3%
Life in Norden
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Norden.
What the weather is like in Norden, month by month
Norden sees roughly 78 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 85 degrees. January highs sit near 43, with lows near 16. The comfortable stretch runs June through August.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 43° | 28° | 16° |
| April | 58° | 40° | 24° |
| July | 85° | 63° | 41° |
| October | 65° | 43° | 25° |
Flying in and out of Norden
The nearest airport, Reno/Tahoe International, is about 33 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Sacramento International, about 79 miles away.
The best schools in and around Norden
Schools across Norden average a B+, better than 82% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Donner Trail ElementaryA+ · 83% proficient
- Alta-dutch Flat ElementaryC+ · 37% proficient
- Foresthill DivideC · 35% proficient
Top middle schools
- Alder Creek MiddleB− · 42% proficient
Top high schools
- Tahoe Truckee HighA− · 60% proficient
- Colfax HighB · 48% proficient
- Foresthill HighB · 47% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Norden school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Norden 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 Norden against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Norden
Is Norden a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Norden ranks 33,554th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on an educated workforce, heat safety, and population health, and lowest on childcare costs and an overheated housing market. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Norden expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $979,506. The overall cost of living runs about 31% above the national average. Set against a $106,417 median income, cost of living beats 57% of towns.
Is Norden safe?
Norden is safer than 21% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $468 per resident a year.
Compare Norden with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Norden. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Norden 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.
Norden detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Norden: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Norden: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Norden: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Norden: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Norden 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.