Best PlacesSanta Rita Park, CA Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Santa Rita Park, 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.
Santa Rita Park ranks 44,579th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on the weather by a wide margin, and civic engagement ranks lowest.
The best neighborhoods in Santa Rita Park
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.
Santa Rita Park's strengths and weaknesses
Where Santa Rita Park ranks high
- Nice weatherabout 147 pleasant days a year, better than 92% of towns
- Big-city accessBetter than 89% of towns
- Low property taxBetter than 86% of towns
- Short commute21.7 minutes each way, better than 81% of towns
- QuietBetter than 81% of towns
Where Santa Rita Park ranks low
- Voter turnoutBetter than only 1% of towns
- Educational attainmentBetter than only 2% of towns
- Healthcare accessBetter than only 2% of towns
- Tree shadeBetter than only 2% of towns
- BikingBetter than only 3% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Santa Rita Park
A household needs to earn about $166,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Santa Rita Park home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That runs well above the area's median income of $66,903, 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 Santa Rita Park's effective rate of 0.42%, 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 Santa Rita Park
Santa Rita Park runs younger 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 Santa Rita Park.
Who works in Santa Rita Park, and how
Work in Santa Rita Park centers on agriculture & forestry and education. Unemployment runs well above the national rate, and the job base is shrinking.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 72%
- Work from home 4%
- Transit, walk, or bike 24%
Life in Santa Rita Park
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Santa Rita Park.
What the weather is like in Santa Rita Park, month by month
Santa Rita Park sees roughly 147 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 100 degrees. January highs sit near 60, with lows near 37. The comfortable stretch runs April, May, September, and October.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 60° | 48° | 37° |
| April | 77° | 61° | 45° |
| July | 100° | 81° | 62° |
| October | 83° | 65° | 48° |
Flying in and out of Santa Rita Park
The nearest airport, Merced Yosemite Regional, is about 11 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Norman Y Mineta San Jose International, about 72 miles away.
The best schools in and around Santa Rita Park
Schools across Santa Rita Park average a C, better than 40% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Mcswain ElementaryC+ · 39% proficient
- El Nido ElementaryD+ · 23% proficient
- Bernhard Marks ElementaryD− · 13% proficient
Top middle schools
- Bryant MiddleD− · 13% proficient
Top high schools
- Hilmar HighB− · 43% proficient
- Buhach Colony HighC− · 29% proficient
- Golden Valley HighC− · 29% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Santa Rita Park school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Santa Rita Park 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 Santa Rita Park against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Santa Rita Park
Is Santa Rita Park a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Santa Rita Park ranks 44,579th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on the weather, big-city access, and low property taxes, and lowest on civic engagement and education levels. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Santa Rita Park expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $671,447. The overall cost of living runs about 0% below the national average. Set against a $66,903 median income, cost of living beats 20% of towns.
Is Santa Rita Park safe?
Santa Rita Park is safer than 5% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $709 per resident a year.
Compare Santa Rita Park with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Santa Rita Park. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Santa Rita Park 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.
Santa Rita Park detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Santa Rita Park: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Santa Rita Park: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Santa Rita Park: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Santa Rita Park: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Santa Rita Park 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.