Best PlacesPoint Arena, CA Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Point Arena, scored on 40 measures of daily life and ranked to fit what matters to you. The coast is close, and the measures below put a number on how close. To work out which city fits you best, start with the best places to live tool.
Point Arena ranks 34,600th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on short commutes by a wide margin, and summer heat is the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Point Arena
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.
Point Arena's strengths and weaknesses
Where Point Arena ranks high
- Short commute17.9 minutes each way, better than 93% of towns
- TransitBetter than 92% of towns
- Household income$109,241 median, better than 90% of towns
- QuietBetter than 88% of towns
- Educational attainmentBetter than 85% of towns
Where Point Arena ranks low
- Heat safetyBetter than only 2% of towns
- Voter turnoutBetter than only 7% of towns
- Crime safetyBetter than only 8% of towns
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than only 8% of towns
- Internet speedBetter than only 8% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Point Arena
A household needs to earn about $184,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Point Arena home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That runs well above the area's median income of $109,241, 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 Point Arena's effective rate of 0.82%, 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 Point Arena
Point Arena's age mix sits close to the national median, 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 Point Arena.
Who works in Point Arena, and how
Work in Point Arena centers on transportation & warehousing and construction. Unemployment is close to the national rate, and the job base is shrinking.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 72%
- Work from home 16%
- Transit, walk, or bike 13%
Life in Point Arena
The coast is about 6 minutes away. Distance to the water changes a lot across Point Arena, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Point Arena, month by month
Point Arena sees roughly 123 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 Point Arena
The nearest airport, Charles M Schulz/Sonoma County, is about 53 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Sacramento International, about 112 miles away.
The best schools in and around Point Arena
Schools across Point Arena average a D+, better than 23% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Manchester ElementaryD+ · 25% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Point Arena school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Point Arena 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 Point Arena against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Point Arena
Is Point Arena a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Point Arena ranks 34,600th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on short commutes, transit, and high incomes, and lowest on summer heat and civic engagement. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Point Arena expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $700,937. The overall cost of living runs about 59% above the national average. Set against a $109,241 median income, cost of living beats 24% of towns.
Is Point Arena safe?
Point Arena is safer than 8% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $637 per resident a year.
Compare Point Arena with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Point Arena. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Point Arena 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.
Point Arena detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Point Arena: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Point Arena: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Point Arena: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Point Arena: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Point Arena 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.