Best PlacesOccidental, CA Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Occidental, scored on 40 measures of daily life and ranked to fit what matters to you. Local pay runs high here, and housing takes the biggest bite out of it. To work out which city fits you best, start with the best places to live tool.
Occidental ranks 17,260th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on clean air by a wide margin, and long commutes are the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Occidental
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.
Occidental's strengths and weaknesses
Where Occidental ranks high
- Air qualityBetter than 97% of towns
- Household income$129,102 median, better than 95% of towns
- Heat safetyBetter than 95% of towns
- Educational attainmentBetter than 94% of towns
- Healthcare accessBetter than 94% of towns
Where Occidental ranks low
- Short commute42.1 minutes each way, better than only 3% of towns
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than only 8% of towns
- Disaster safetyBetter than only 8% of towns
- Low vacancyBetter than only 10% of towns
- Housing crash safetyBetter than only 14% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Occidental
A household needs to earn about $287,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Occidental home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That runs well above the area's median income of $129,102, 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 Occidental's effective rate of 0.64%, 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 Occidental
Occidental 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 Occidental.
Who works in Occidental, and how
Work in Occidental centers on professional & technical and education. Unemployment is close to the national rate, and the job base is shrinking.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 50%
- Work from home 39%
- Transit, walk, or bike 11%
Life in Occidental
Occidental has more restaurants and bars per resident than 93% of towns. The coast is about 21 minutes away. That concentrates in some parts of Occidental and thins out in others, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Occidental, month by month
Occidental sees roughly 153 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 Occidental
The nearest airport, Charles M Schulz/Sonoma County, is about 10 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is San Francisco Bay Oakland International, about 62 miles away.
The best schools in and around Occidental
Schools across Occidental average a B−, better than 56% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Monte Rio ElementaryC · 30% proficient
Top middle schools
- Salmon Creek School - A CharterA− · 53% proficient
Top high schools
- Analy HighB+ · 55% proficient
- Tomales HighD+ · 25% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Occidental school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Occidental 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 Occidental against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Occidental
Is Occidental a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Occidental ranks 17,260th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on clean air, high incomes, and heat safety, and lowest on long commutes and taxes. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Occidental expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $1,121,572. The overall cost of living runs about 37% above the national average. Set against a $129,102 median income, cost of living beats 78% of towns.
Is Occidental safe?
Occidental is safer than 16% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $502 per resident a year.
Compare Occidental with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Occidental. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Occidental 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.
Occidental detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Occidental: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Occidental: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Occidental: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Occidental: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Occidental 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.