Best PlacesRuth, CA Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Ruth, 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.
Ruth ranks 49,944th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on quiet by a wide margin, and a weak job market ranks lowest.
The best neighborhoods in Ruth
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.
Ruth's strengths and weaknesses
Where Ruth ranks high
- QuietBetter than 97% of towns
- Air qualityBetter than 86% of towns
- Tree shadeBetter than 79% of towns
- Health outlookBetter than 62% of towns
- Low property taxBetter than 60% of towns
Where Ruth ranks low
- Local economyBetter than only 1% of towns
- Cost of living vs incomeBetter than only 3% of towns
- Household income$37,936 median, better than only 3% of towns
- BikingBetter than only 3% of towns
- Voter turnoutBetter than only 3% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Ruth
A household needs to earn about $96,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Ruth home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That runs well above the area's median income of $37,936, 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 Ruth's effective rate of 0.65%, 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 Ruth
Ruth runs older than the country.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Ruth.
Who works in Ruth, and how
Work in Ruth centers on health care & social and retail trade. Unemployment runs well above the national rate, and the job base is shrinking.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 95%
- Work from home 2%
- Transit, walk, or bike 4%
Life in Ruth
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Ruth.
What the weather is like in Ruth, month by month
Ruth sees roughly 72 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 Ruth
The nearest airport, California Redwood Coast- Humboldt County, is about 47 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Sacramento International, about 161 miles away.
The best schools in and around Ruth
Schools across Ruth average a C−, better than 20% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Van Duzen ElementaryC− · 29% proficient
- Bridgeville ElementaryD+ · 25% proficient
Top high schools
- Fortuna Union HighD · 22% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Ruth school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Ruth 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 Ruth against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Ruth
Is Ruth a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Ruth ranks 49,944th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on quiet, clean air, and tree cover, and lowest on a weak job market and the cost of living against local pay. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Ruth expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $374,924. The overall cost of living runs about 2% above the national average. Set against a $37,936 median income, cost of living beats 3% of towns.
Is Ruth safe?
Ruth is safer than 11% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $579 per resident a year.
Compare Ruth with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Ruth. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Ruth 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.
Ruth detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Ruth: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Ruth: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Ruth: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Ruth: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Ruth 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.