Best PlacesPanoche, CA Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Panoche, 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.
Panoche ranks 45,399th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on the weather by a wide margin, and civic engagement ranks lowest.
The best neighborhoods in Panoche
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.
Panoche's strengths and weaknesses
Where Panoche ranks high
- Nice weatherabout 165 pleasant days a year, better than 96% of towns
- Big-city accessBetter than 87% of towns
- Health outlookBetter than 77% of towns
- Household income$90,364 median, better than 77% of towns
- QuietBetter than 63% of towns
Where Panoche ranks low
- Voter turnoutBetter than only 1% of towns
- Crime safetyBetter than only 2% of towns
- Internet speedBetter than only 4% of towns
- Healthcare accessBetter than only 4% of towns
- Local economyBetter than only 5% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Panoche
A household needs to earn about $252,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Panoche home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That runs well above the area's median income of $90,364, 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 Panoche'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 Panoche
Panoche runs younger than the country, and households here run larger than average.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Panoche.
Who works in Panoche, and how
Work in Panoche centers on agriculture & forestry 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 77%
- Work from home 18%
- Transit, walk, or bike 6%
Life in Panoche
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Panoche.
What the weather is like in Panoche, month by month
Panoche sees roughly 165 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 83 degrees. January highs sit near 62, with lows near 40. The comfortable stretch runs April through October.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 62° | 49° | 40° |
| April | 71° | 56° | 45° |
| July | 83° | 66° | 54° |
| October | 80° | 61° | 48° |
Flying in and out of Panoche
The nearest airport, Merced Yosemite Regional, is about 46 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Norman Y Mineta San Jose International, about 81 miles away.
The best schools in and around Panoche
Schools across Panoche average a C−, better than 25% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Bitterwater-tully ElementaryD+ · 25% proficient
- Tres Pinos ElementaryD · 19% proficient
- Bernhard Marks ElementaryD− · 13% proficient
Top middle schools
- Mendota Junior HighD− · 17% proficient
- Bryant MiddleD− · 13% proficient
Top high schools
- King City HighC · 30% proficient
- Mendota HighC− · 26% proficient
- Firebaugh HighD+ · 24% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Panoche school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Panoche 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 Panoche against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Panoche
Is Panoche a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Panoche ranks 45,399th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on the weather, big-city access, and population health, and lowest on civic engagement and crime. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Panoche expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $985,300. The overall cost of living runs about 15% above the national average. Set against a $90,364 median income, cost of living beats 42% of towns.
Is Panoche safe?
Panoche is safer than 2% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $914 per resident a year.
Compare Panoche with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Panoche. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Panoche 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.
Panoche detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Panoche: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Panoche: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Panoche: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Panoche: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Panoche 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.