Best PlacesPrather, CA Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Prather, 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.
Prather ranks 11,063rd of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on quiet by a wide margin, and air quality ranks lowest.
The best neighborhoods in Prather
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.
Prather's strengths and weaknesses
Where Prather ranks high
- QuietBetter than 97% of towns
- Nice weatherabout 160 pleasant days a year, better than 95% of towns
- Household income$125,716 median, better than 94% of towns
- Local economyBetter than 90% of towns
- Cost of living vs incomeBetter than 89% of towns
Where Prather ranks low
- Air qualityBetter than only 1% of towns
- Heat safetyBetter than only 3% of towns
- Disaster safetyBetter than only 6% of towns
- Cheap childcare$1,396 a month, better than only 6% of towns
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than only 8% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Prather
A household needs to earn about $127,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Prather home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is only a little above the area's median income of $125,716; the gap is small, which keeps homes within reach of local pay.
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 Prather's effective rate of 0.69%, 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 Prather
Prather 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 Prather.
Who works in Prather, and how
Work in Prather centers on health care & social and education. Unemployment is low, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 85%
- Work from home 12%
- Transit, walk, or bike 3%
Life in Prather
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Prather.
What the weather is like in Prather, month by month
Prather sees roughly 160 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 102 degrees. January highs sit near 61, with lows near 40. The comfortable stretch runs March through May, October, and November.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 61° | 50° | 40° |
| April | 79° | 64° | 51° |
| July | 102° | 86° | 70° |
| October | 83° | 68° | 54° |
Flying in and out of Prather
The nearest airport, Fresno Yosemite International, is about 19 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Norman Y Mineta San Jose International, about 135 miles away.
The best schools in and around Prather
Schools across Prather average a B−, better than 55% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Foothill ElementaryB− · 43% proficient
Top middle schools
- Sierra Junior HighB− · 43% proficient
Top high schools
- Sierra HighC+ · 35% proficient
- Sierra Alternative HighD+ · 25% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Prather school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Prather 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 Prather against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Prather
Is Prather a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Prather ranks 11,063rd of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on quiet, the weather, and high incomes, and lowest on air quality and summer heat. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Prather expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $492,464. The overall cost of living runs about 8% above the national average. Set against a $125,716 median income, cost of living beats 89% of towns.
Is Prather safe?
Yes, Prather is safer than 69% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $258 per resident a year.
Compare Prather with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Prather. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Prather 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.
Prather detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Prather: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Prather: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Prather: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Prather: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Prather 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.