Best PlacesRail Road Flat, CA Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Rail Road Flat, 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.
Rail Road Flat ranks 46,120th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on quiet by a wide margin, and long commutes are the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Rail Road Flat
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.
Rail Road Flat's strengths and weaknesses
Where Rail Road Flat ranks high
- QuietBetter than 94% of towns
- Nice weatherabout 149 pleasant days a year, better than 92% of towns
- Big-city accessBetter than 87% of towns
- Household income$77,810 median, better than 60% of towns
- WalkabilityBetter than 60% of towns
Where Rail Road Flat ranks low
- Short commute45.6 minutes each way, better than only 2% of towns
- Crime safetyBetter than only 7% of towns
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than only 8% of towns
- Internet speedBetter than only 8% of towns
- Cell coverageBetter than only 9% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Rail Road Flat
A household needs to earn about $95,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Rail Road Flat home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That runs well above the area's median income of $77,810, 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 Rail Road Flat's effective rate of 0.80%, 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 Rail Road Flat
Rail Road Flat 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 Rail Road Flat.
Who works in Rail Road Flat, and how
Work in Rail Road Flat centers on retail trade and construction. Unemployment sits above the national rate, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 73%
- Work from home 17%
- Transit, walk, or bike 10%
Life in Rail Road Flat
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Rail Road Flat.
What the weather is like in Rail Road Flat, month by month
Rail Road Flat sees roughly 149 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 97 degrees. January highs sit near 58, with lows near 37. The comfortable stretch runs April through June, September, and October.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 58° | 46° | 37° |
| April | 71° | 57° | 43° |
| July | 97° | 80° | 61° |
| October | 79° | 63° | 49° |
Flying in and out of Rail Road Flat
The nearest airport, Stockton Metro, is about 50 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Sacramento International, about 63 miles away.
The best schools in and around Rail Road Flat
Schools across Rail Road Flat average a C−, better than 25% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Hazel Fischer ElementaryC+ · 37% proficient
- West Point ElementaryD+ · 25% proficient
- Mokelumne Hill ElementaryD · 20% proficient
Top middle schools
- Avery MiddleC · 35% proficient
- Toyon MiddleD · 22% proficient
Top high schools
- Calaveras HighC+ · 38% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Rail Road Flat school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Rail Road Flat 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 Rail Road Flat against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Rail Road Flat
Is Rail Road Flat a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Rail Road Flat ranks 46,120th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on quiet, the weather, and big-city access, and lowest on long commutes and crime. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Rail Road Flat expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $363,663. The overall cost of living runs about 6% above the national average. Set against a $77,810 median income, cost of living beats 28% of towns.
Is Rail Road Flat safe?
Rail Road Flat is safer than 7% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $653 per resident a year.
Compare Rail Road Flat with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Rail Road Flat. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Rail Road Flat 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.
Rail Road Flat detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Rail Road Flat: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Rail Road Flat: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Rail Road Flat: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Rail Road Flat: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Rail Road Flat 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.