Best PlacesPope Valley, CA Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Pope Valley, 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.
Pope Valley ranks 37,352nd of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on quiet by a wide margin, and civic engagement ranks lowest.
The best neighborhoods in Pope Valley
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.
Pope Valley's strengths and weaknesses
Where Pope Valley ranks high
- QuietBetter than 93% of towns
- Big-city accessBetter than 92% of towns
- Air qualityBetter than 91% of towns
- Household income$107,969 median, better than 89% of towns
- Nice weatherabout 123 pleasant days a year, better than 82% of towns
Where Pope Valley ranks low
- Voter turnoutBetter than only 4% of towns
- Crime safetyBetter than only 5% of towns
- Cheap childcare$1,414 a month, better than only 5% of towns
- Disaster safetyBetter than only 6% of towns
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than only 8% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Pope Valley
A household needs to earn about $186,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Pope Valley home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That runs well above the area's median income of $107,969, 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 Pope Valley's effective rate of 0.59%, 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 Pope Valley
Pope Valley runs older 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 Pope Valley.
Who works in Pope Valley, and how
Work in Pope Valley centers on manufacturing and real estate. Unemployment is close to the national rate, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 79%
- Work from home 14%
- Transit, walk, or bike 7%
Life in Pope Valley
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Pope Valley.
What the weather is like in Pope Valley, month by month
Pope Valley sees roughly 123 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 86 degrees. January highs sit near 61, with lows near 38. The comfortable stretch runs April through October.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 61° | 48° | 38° |
| April | 72° | 56° | 42° |
| July | 86° | 65° | 51° |
| October | 81° | 60° | 45° |
Flying in and out of Pope Valley
The nearest airport, Charles M Schulz/Sonoma County, is about 23 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Sacramento International, about 46 miles away.
The best schools in and around Pope Valley
Schools across Pope Valley average a C+, better than 47% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Coyote Valley ElementaryC− · 28% proficient
- Minnie Cannon ElementaryD+ · 22% proficient
- Pope Valley ElementaryD · 19% proficient
Top middle schools
- Middletown MiddleC · 32% proficient
Top high schools
- Saint Helena HighB+ · 55% proficient
- Middletown HighD · 20% proficient
- Lower Lake HighD− · 16% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Pope Valley school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Pope Valley 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 Pope Valley against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Pope Valley
Is Pope Valley a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Pope Valley ranks 37,352nd of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on quiet, big-city access, and clean air, 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 Pope Valley expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $733,523. The overall cost of living runs about 40% above the national average. Set against a $107,969 median income, cost of living beats 37% of towns.
Is Pope Valley safe?
Pope Valley is safer than 5% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $711 per resident a year.
Compare Pope Valley with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Pope Valley. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Pope Valley 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.
Pope Valley detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Pope Valley: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Pope Valley: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Pope Valley: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Pope Valley: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Pope Valley 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.