Best PlacesRio Dell, CA Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Rio Dell, 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.
Rio Dell ranks 47,517th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on transit by a wide margin, and the cost of living against local pay is the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Rio Dell
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.
Rio Dell's strengths and weaknesses
Where Rio Dell ranks high
- TransitBetter than 98% of towns
- BikingBetter than 93% of towns
- Nice weatherabout 149 pleasant days a year, better than 92% of towns
- WalkabilityBetter than 89% of towns
- Short commute20.0 minutes each way, better than 88% of towns
Where Rio Dell ranks low
- Cost of living vs incomeBetter than only 3% of towns
- School gradeD, better than only 5% of towns
- Disaster safetyBetter than only 5% of towns
- Crime safetyBetter than only 6% of towns
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than only 8% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Rio Dell
A household needs to earn about $81,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Rio Dell home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That runs well above the area's median income of $49,727, 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 Rio Dell's effective rate of 0.57%, 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 Rio Dell
Rio Dell runs younger than the country, and households here run smaller than average.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Rio Dell.
Who works in Rio Dell, and how
Work in Rio Dell centers on retail trade and other services. Unemployment runs well above the national rate, and employment has held roughly flat.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 85%
- Work from home 12%
- Transit, walk, or bike 3%
Life in Rio Dell
The coast is about 27 minutes away. Distance to the water changes a lot across Rio Dell, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Rio Dell, month by month
Rio Dell sees roughly 149 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 65 degrees. January highs sit near 55, with lows near 42. The comfortable stretch runs June through September.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 55° | 47° | 42° |
| April | 58° | 50° | 44° |
| July | 65° | 57° | 52° |
| October | 65° | 54° | 47° |
Flying in and out of Rio Dell
The nearest airport, California Redwood Coast- Humboldt County, is about 33 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Sacramento International, about 183 miles away.
The best schools in and around Rio Dell
Schools across Rio Dell average a D, better than 5% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Ferndale ElementaryC− · 27% proficient
- Stanwood A. Murphy ElementaryC− · 27% proficient
- Linell K. Walker ElementaryD · 20% proficient
Top middle schools
- Monument MiddleD− · 17% proficient
- Fortuna MiddleD− · 15% proficient
Top high schools
- Fortuna Union HighD · 22% proficient
- Ferndale HighD · 19% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Rio Dell school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Rio Dell 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 Rio Dell against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Rio Dell
Is Rio Dell a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Rio Dell ranks 47,517th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on transit, biking, and the weather, and lowest on the cost of living against local pay and the schools. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Rio Dell expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $320,187. The overall cost of living runs about 3% above the national average. Set against a $49,727 median income, cost of living beats 3% of towns.
Is Rio Dell safe?
Rio Dell is safer than 6% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $714 per resident a year.
Compare Rio Dell with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Rio Dell. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Rio Dell 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.
Rio Dell detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Rio Dell: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Rio Dell: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Rio Dell: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Rio Dell: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Rio Dell 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.