Best PlacesRio Vista, CA Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Rio Vista, 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.
Rio Vista ranks 23,050th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on transit by a wide margin, and summer heat is the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Rio Vista
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 Vista's strengths and weaknesses
Where Rio Vista ranks high
- TransitBetter than 96% of towns
- Big-city accessBetter than 96% of towns
- Nice weatherabout 162 pleasant days a year, better than 95% of towns
- WalkabilityBetter than 94% of towns
- Internet speedBetter than 90% of towns
Where Rio Vista ranks low
- Heat safetyBetter than only 2% of towns
- Cheap childcare$1,461 a month, better than only 5% of towns
- Short commute39.7 minutes each way, better than only 6% of towns
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than only 8% of towns
- Crime safetyBetter than only 11% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Rio Vista
A household needs to earn about $135,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Rio Vista home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That runs well above the area's median income of $89,010, 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 Vista's effective rate of 0.90%, 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 Vista
Rio Vista runs older 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 Vista.
Who works in Rio Vista, and how
Work in Rio Vista centers on health care & social and construction. Unemployment runs well above the national rate, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 81%
- Work from home 13%
- Transit, walk, or bike 6%
Life in Rio Vista
Rio Vista has more restaurants and bars per resident than 69% of towns. That concentrates in some parts of Rio Vista and thins out in others, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Rio Vista, month by month
Rio Vista sees roughly 162 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 93 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 | 75° | 59° | 45° |
| July | 93° | 72° | 57° |
| October | 83° | 64° | 48° |
Flying in and out of Rio Vista
The nearest airport, Stockton Metro, is about 32 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Sacramento International, about 36 miles away.
The best schools in and around Rio Vista
Schools across Rio Vista average a C, better than 31% of towns.
Top middle schools
- John Knight MiddleD · 23% proficient
- Riverview MiddleF · 10% proficient
Top high schools
- Dixon HighC+ · 40% proficient
- Armijo HighC+ · 35% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Rio Vista school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Rio Vista 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 Vista against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Rio Vista
Is Rio Vista a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Rio Vista ranks 23,050th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on transit, big-city access, and the weather, and lowest on summer heat and childcare costs. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Rio Vista expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $510,186. The overall cost of living runs about 13% above the national average. Set against a $89,010 median income, cost of living beats 47% of towns.
Is Rio Vista safe?
Rio Vista is safer than 11% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $570 per resident a year.
Compare Rio Vista with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Rio Vista. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Rio Vista 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 Vista detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Rio Vista: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Rio Vista: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Rio Vista: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Rio Vista: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Rio Vista 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.