Best PlacesSacramento, NM Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Sacramento, 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.
Sacramento ranks 34,337th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on the weather by a wide margin, and cell coverage ranks lowest.
The best neighborhoods in Sacramento
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.
Sacramento's strengths and weaknesses
Where Sacramento ranks high
- Nice weatherabout 202 pleasant days a year, better than 99% of towns
- Local economyBetter than 99% of towns
- Air qualityBetter than 98% of towns
- QuietBetter than 97% of towns
- Educational attainmentBetter than 91% of towns
Where Sacramento ranks low
- Cell coverageBetter than only 1% of towns
- Healthcare accessBetter than only 2% of towns
- Disaster safetyBetter than only 4% of towns
- Internet speedBetter than only 7% of towns
- Crime safetyBetter than only 8% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Sacramento
A household needs to earn about $94,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Sacramento home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That runs well above the area's median income of $73,417, 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 Sacramento's effective rate of 0.56%, and insurance is estimated at 0.4% of home value a year.
Who lives in Sacramento
Sacramento 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 Sacramento.
Who works in Sacramento, and how
Work in Sacramento centers on construction and retail trade. Unemployment is low, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 96%
- Work from home 0%
- Transit, walk, or bike 3%
Life in Sacramento
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Sacramento.
What the weather is like in Sacramento, month by month
Sacramento sees roughly 202 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 96 degrees. January highs sit near 56, with lows near 29. The comfortable stretch runs March through May, September, and October.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 56° | 42° | 29° |
| April | 79° | 64° | 47° |
| July | 96° | 82° | 69° |
| October | 78° | 64° | 50° |
Flying in and out of Sacramento
The nearest airport, Roswell Air Center, is about 72 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Albuquerque International Sunport, about 166 miles away.
The best schools in and around Sacramento
Schools across Sacramento average a B−, better than 59% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Cloudcroft ElementaryB+ · 55% proficient
Top middle schools
- Cloudcroft MiddleB− · 40% proficient
Top high schools
- Alamogordo HighB− · 43% proficient
- Cloudcroft HighB− · 41% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Sacramento school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Sacramento 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 Sacramento against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Sacramento
Is Sacramento a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Sacramento ranks 34,337th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on the weather, a strong job market, and clean air, and lowest on cell coverage and thin health care access. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Sacramento expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $372,600. The overall cost of living runs about 8% above the national average. Set against a $73,417 median income, cost of living beats 24% of towns.
Is Sacramento safe?
Sacramento is safer than 8% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $801 per resident a year.
Compare Sacramento with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Sacramento. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Sacramento 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.
Sacramento detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Sacramento: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Sacramento: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Sacramento: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Sacramento: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Sacramento 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.